Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : BUKIT KIARA EQUESTRIAN & COUNTRY
RESORT, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 27/11/93
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL SIGNING CEREMONY OF
THE MALAYSIAN NATIONAL COMMERCIAL
VEHICLE PROJECT
It is pleasure for me to be here today to witness the
signing ceremony of a joint-venture between Hyundai Motor
Company of South Korea and Industri Otomotif Komersial (M)
Sdn Bhd (INOKOM).
2. We have looked East for a long time now and after
numerous trade promotion efforts in Korea by the Government,
a small number of Korean investors have come to this
country. The bigger organisations have come to bid for
contracts and in some instances we have supported them only
to see them depart on completion of these projects. The
involvement of Korean businesses in Malaysia so far has been
small in comparison to, say Japan, the United Kingdom,
Taiwan and so on and even then, it is somewhat tentative. I
must say that the bilateral interaction in investments
between Korea and Malaysia has been rather disappointing.
3. This makes today's event rather special. We will
witness a ceremony that will mark the commitment of one of
the largest 'chaebols' in South Korea to invest and provide
technical know-how to local Malaysian partners. This is
testimony to the fact that the investment climate in this
country is now better understood in Korea. I hope this
represents the fore-runner to further investments by the big
'chaebols'.
4. I particularly like to welcome the Chairman of the
Hyundai Business Group, Mr Chung Se Yung to our country. I
am sure he will find Malaysia not only hospitable but also a
good profit centre for investments.
5. I understand that you and your brothers, from humble
beginnings of a small motor car repair shop in 1947, have
led the Hyundai Group to become the giant conglomerate that
it is today, with a turnover of US$55 billion in the last
financial period. I would like to point out that your
turnover is more than half of Malaysia's total trade in
1992.
6. We, Malaysians, have a strong and big heart, big
determination, big aspirations, pragmatic ideas and highly
sensitive to business needs. We want to learn from you and
aspire one day to be a progressive industrial society. We
believe we can achieve this through meaningful and sincere
partnership. Other countries which have done so have found
that the ensuing Malaysian prosperity creates a good market
for their exports. Similarly, Malaysia is now investing in
other developing economies in the hope that when these
countries prosper, two-way trade will follow.
7. The days of screw driver and spot weld assembly of
vehicles, which have been around in this country for more
than 30 years are almost over. They were useful for job
creation but they carry a high cost for Malaysian consumers
and do not contribute towards technology upgrading or true
industrialisation. With almost full employment now we need
to use our workforce in a more productive way.
8. We have now enough expertise in this area of elementary
manufacturing. We do not need more of the same. I
therefore would like to see this new partnership generate
new levels of technology as yet unavailable in Malaysia.
Towards this end, I am pleased to note Hyundai's plan to set
up a gear manufacturing facility that will eventually lead
to the local manufacture of the complete transmission, not
only for the passenger and commercial vehicles industry, but
later for the motorcycle market as well. This venture will
be undertaken by Perwaja and other Malaysian partners in
Gurun. It represents yet another downstream activity for
our steel industry.
9. The Proton project has spawned a viable component
industry that is now seeing volumes that make them more
competitive than ever before. With the advent of the
Malaysian mini-car project and this national commercial
vehicle project, the volume of motor vehicles produced in
this country will be sufficiently big to justify investments
in the more expensive components. With this, Malaysia can
aspire to become a centre for component manufacture for
motor vehicles and other motors.
10. In order for Malaysian and foreign industrialists to
benefit more from this expansion of the motor industry, I
would urge you to further assist these small component
manufacturers in development work and R&D as this represents
the single most dependable guarantee for quality and
competitiveness over the long haul for your end product.
11. Malaysia with its consistent and sustained growth,
recognises the need to produce its own commercial vehicles.
The demand for these has continued to increase year after
year, and import prices for CKDs for these vehicles continue
to increase, bringing in its wake imported inflation. The
transport industry is one of the sectors the Government is
paying close attention to in order to check inflation. So
it is very timely that we commence work to produce our own
Malaysian national commercial vehicle so that we will be
able to offer the Malaysian public a quality commercial
vehicle at a fair price. Indeed if the vehicle is of good
quality and competitively priced it should also be exported,
thus adding yet another step in making Malaysia a motor
vehicle manufacturing centre.
12. I would like to congratulate the parties concerned for
putting together this project, and I am sure we all look
forward to the launching day.
|
|