Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	MAHSURI INTERNATIONAL 
			EXHIBITION CENTRE  
Tarikh/Date 	: 	01/12/96 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE LANGKAWI 
			INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW 1996  


    
    1.    Saya merasa amat gembira kerana dijemput untuk
    merasmikan   the   Second   Langkawi   International
    Motorshow 1996, sekarang dikenali sebagai LIMOS `96.
    I  would  like to welcome all participants to  these
    islands of many legends.
    
    2.    Malaysians  love cars or automobiles  as  some
    call  them.  On a per capita basis we buy  the  most
    number  of  cars  per  year by comparison  with  our
    neighbours. Still when we decided to build  our  own
    national  car,  many thought we  were  quite  silly.
    Even now some think that we did the wrong thing.  We
    should  just assemble foreign cars and export  them.
    We  would  make more money that way.  Perhaps.   But
    then  we  would  be just skilled labourers  and  not
    automotive  engineers able to design,  engineer  and
    build  our own cars ourselves.  We may not be making
    so much money this way, but we made enough to buy  a
    great automotive engineering company like Lotus Cars
     of  the United Kingdom whose products are on display
    at this exhibition.  This acquisition will enable us
    to  learn more about automotive engineering. We  are
    not  tired of learning.  Engineering is not a static
    science.   It  advances and we want to advance  with
    it.  The great economic analysts who know better  of
    course believe that we should know our station.  But
    we  are of the view that the worst thing to do is to
    take  the  advice  of advisers who have  never  done
    anything but advise.
    
    3.    Anyway  Malaysians have  developed  a  greater
    interest  in automobiles since we began  to  produce
    our   own   cars.   This  exhibition,  the  Langkawi
    International  Motor  Show  or  LIMOS  1996  is   an
    expression  of that keeness.  We are sure  that  our
    guests from abroad will enjoy the show as much as we
    do.
    
    4.    LIMOS 1996 is bigger and hopefully better than
    LIMOS  1995,  the  first such show  to  be  held  in
     Langkawi.  The number of participants has increased.
    And  of  course the stars of the show are the  Lotus
    Cars, the unique and limited cars which should  draw
    much attention.  They were not readily available  in
    the  East  before but I expect Proton will  want  to
    market them in this region now.
    
    5.    Saya  berbangga dengan sokongan yang diberikan
    kepada  Ekspo  ini oleh ramai yang  terlibat  dengan
    pengeluaran  dan pemasaran kereta bermotor  termasuk
    Persatuan  Pengimport dan Peniaga  Kenderaan  Melayu
    Malaysia   (PEKEMA)  dan  Malaysian  Motor   Traders
    Association yang menghantar lapan ahli masing-masing
    ke  LIMOS  1996  ini.  Sokongan  seperti  ini  bukan
    sahaja   akan   menjayakan  LIMOS  tetapi   membantu
    mempopularkan Langkawi sebagai destinasi pelancong.
    
    6.    Saya  harap  semua  yang datang  akan  gembira
    melihat  kereta-kereta bermotor jenis  yang  terkini
    bersama  dengan  peristiwa-peristiwa sampingan  yang
     diadakan  oleh Le Proton Exhibition Services  selama
    sembilan hari Ekspo ini diadakan.
    
    7.    Dengan  ini saya dengan sukacitanya merasmikan
    Langkawi International Motorshow 1996.