Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : OTTAWA, CANADA
Tarikh/Date : 21/11/97
Tajuk/Title : THE CANADIAN INVESTORS CONFERENCE
( Delivered by Education Minister,
Dato Seri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak )
1. I am delighted to be here today and to address such
a distinguished gathering of representatives from the
Canadian business community.
2. The Internet and the explosion in global
communications have brought mankind to the threshold of
the cyber revolution. Information Technology is moving
literally with the speed of light -- opening up endless
opportunities and undreamed of options for businesses to
explore. I'd like to share with you this morning some
thoughts about the forces that will shape our common
digital future B- the promise it holds and the strategic
response we in Malaysia are making to take advantage of
that promise. Specifically, I would like to introduce
the Multimedia Super Corridor which we are currently
developing, and to invite the active participation of
Corporate Canada in this quite unprecedented initiative.
3. Transforming the world as we know it are two major
forces B- the new phenomenon of globalisation and the
relentless advance of technology. We have no option
but to traverse the Information Superhighway. From the
moment the microchip was invented our whole existence
was transformed. It changed the way we live and the way
we do business. For all of us, an I.T Agenda becomes
imperative if we are to reposition ourselves for this
new Information Age.
4. Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor or MSC is not
just a physical location -- it is not just another
industrial park -- it is not a Far Eastern imitation of
Silicon Valley -- it represents a new paradigm in the
creation of value for the Information Age. MSC is
envisioned to be a hi-tech test-bed which will unlock
the full potential of multimedia. We aspire to be a
world centre for the applications and testing of leading
edge I.T. advances and discoveries. For us, this will
be primarily the vehicle for our country's entry into
the new knowledge-based economy, moving us from labour
intensive to hi-technology industry and so on to the
information age. It will also be our fast track to the
fully developed status we have targeted for ourselves in
the second decade of the next century, which we call our
Vision 2020.
5. To you, this may seem somewhat audacious on the
part of a small developing country. We are the first to
admit that we are only just taking our first steps into
the complex and sophisticated world of multimedia. But
we can provide an ideal environment for technology to
flourish. In fact, being a developing country helps. We
offer a genuinely green field site B- unencumbered by
industrial practices and legacies or entrenched
interests, a site dedicated to new age electronic
commerce.
6. We have before us the example of the U.S. Whilst
Britain fathered the Industrial Revolution, it was
America that brought it to its full development. America
was then, one huge green field site B- with the
opportunity to create the optimum conditions for
technology and business to flourish, to be the catalyst
for Industrialisation. We have taken this as a model. In
a modest way, we too, hope to assume a catalytic role.
Our task will be to create an ideal environment for I.T
and multimedia B- one which will encompass the physical,
economic, regulatory and policy framework that will
unleash the creative dynamics for innovation and
advances in this field.
7. For a country like Malaysia, which is far less
developed in the new multimedia dimension, this will
demand one giant technological leap. We have a lot to
learn. We turn to you and others like you. We know the
MSC can only be accomplished by an enormous
collaborative effort, and we seek to collaborate with
the whole world. We invite you to bring your hi-tech
operations, your R&D, your Information Technology know-
how to experiment and to try on your own or alongside
Malaysian companies in the MSC. We need a cross section
of telecommunications, information and software
companies, among many others, to help realise the vision
we both have, to exploit the potential, for the benefit
and enrichment of humankind really.
8. We are today already reconciled to the prospect of
a borderless world in terms of communication. It will
not destroy our identity but we will develop into a
knowledge-based society, which is of great significance
-- for there are no frontiers to knowledge and no
frontiers to technology. The idea of competitive
advantage disappears in favour of a universal sharing of
resources and skills -B and Information Technology will
provide the instrument to achieve this.
9. The forces that drive the Information Age B- like
the massive communication network that can transmit
information all over the world in real time -B will
serve to break down physical, social and economic
barriers. This will then stimulate growth through
mutual enrichment, should we choose to take up the
opportunity. The mechanism will be that same principle
of collaboration -B in many different ways B- across
borders, unaffected by distance, involving alliances and
permutations of alliances amongst corporations whose
economic activities can no longer be contained within
their respective borders. This is the platform on which
the MSC is premised. It will be a `web' of
collaborating companies in the I.T field -- a multi-
cultural web of mutually dependent international and
Malaysian companies collaborating to deliver new
products and new services across an economically vibrant
Asia and beyond. And like a spider, it will weave ever
more intricate webs of relationships and synergies
amongst participating companies. Such a web could be
the new model of development for the Information Age.
10. It is in this spirit of mutual enrichment that we
invite Canadian companies to join the MSC. We in
Malaysia have for some time now been advocating a policy
of `Prosper-Thy-Neighbour' to replace the `Beggar-Thy-
Neighbour' mindset of the present selfish mentality B-
where one party's gain is another's loss. Partnerships
should not be a zero-sum game. Instead both parties can
gain and the total can be more than the sum of the two.
11. We have already promoted our concept of this
multimedia haven in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the
United Kingdom, Hungary and Japan, where it received a
heartening response. We have special reason to hope
that Canadian companies will soon be represented in the
MSC, along with our other distinguished pioneers.
12. Bell Canada are already involved in the MSC. The
Chairman, Mr Lynton Wilson has accepted our invitation
to serve on the distinguished International Advisory
Panel set up to counsel Malaysia on the development of
the MSC. And Simon Fraser University is the lead
consultant recruited to help set up our Multimedia
University located in the Corridor. We are also aware
that Canada is at the forefront of fibre optic
technology and supplied the first submarine cable from
Europe to Newfoundland. A fibre optic network with the
capacity to transmit 2.5 to 10 gigabit-per-minute will
provide the backbone for the MSC.
13. We consider Canada as a world class IT country.
The 400 multimedia companies operating here in 1995,
have now increased to 600 -B serving education,
information and the entertainment industries, as well as
corporate needs. Your cable, telephone and computer
penetration is amongst the highest in the world.
Business leaders in a recent survey, ranked Canada
second amongst the G-7 countries for information
technology B- just below the U.S. It is no wonder that
you have your own answer to California -B your Silicon
Valley North.
14. Canada's Nortel was a key player from the start in
the industry=s early beginning. Today, it is among the
giants in the field, with already five plants in
Malaysia. We have a special interest in Nortel. It has
8,000 scientists and engineers engaged in every aspect
of communications research and spends 14 percent of
sales revenue on R&D -B the kind of R&D spending we want
that will translate into commercial production.
15. Although your renowned expertise in ice hockey
cannot be emulated in my country because of its tropical
climate, we look to you for technology and the transfer
of technology. Canada, I am happy to say has been
generous in this respect, and I thank you for it.
16. But I must warn you that whilst continuing to rely
on the transfer of technology, we are getting even more
ambitious. We don't want to be just passive recipients,
but active participants -- and with the help of people
like yourselves, we have set ourselves the goal of
developing new technologies indigenous to Malaysia.
Specifically, we are hoping to attract R&D operations.
We want to be part of the global industry's endeavour to
develop intelligent multimedia solutions to manage
today's exploding range of information options. But
most of all, when the world gets the next generation of
hi-tech start ups -B Malaysia wants to be there.
17. There is already some foundation, a case for
affinity between Malaysia and Canada that supports the
idea of collaboration between us. We have a lot in
common -B not least, the factor of cultural diversity.
Malaysia is a Federation. Imposing a Federal structure
on a number of widely divergent States compounded by the
multi-racial, multi-religious profile of our population,
was not easy. You will understand this. But we
succeeded to become an exponent of Federalism as a
practical solution to the management of ethnic
diversity. Our `Web' is a multi-cultural one.
18. The other consideration in coming here is the
strong reputation this country has for internationalism.
Canadian business is also no stranger to Malaysia. Two
way Canadian-Malaysian trade doubled in three years
between 1993 and 1996 from just over US$1 billion to
US$2.1 billion. In 1996, the value of Canadian exports
to Malaysia totalled US$536.5 million, while Malaysia's
exports to Canada accounted for US$1.6 billion, a
balance in Malaysia's favour. Your exports to Malaysia
include paper and paper key board, organic chemicals and
space craft. Main imports are electrical machinery
parts, machinery, rubber and rubber products, and
clothing. In addition to merchandise trade, Canadian
services exports are estimated at a further US$200
million to US$250 million per year.
19. We look forward to expanding our business links
with you. In particular, we commend to you the ample
business opportunities inherent in the Multimedia Super
Corridor. What we are proposing is a smart partnership.
It is presented not just as an exciting and innovative
idea, but as a carefully conceived and sound business
proposition. We have worked long and hard -- and
meticulously -- for the past two years, developing the
idea and deploying modern planning techniques, in which
we may justly claim we have a long-established
capability.
20. In physical terms, the Multimedia Super Corridor is
a relatively large area 15 km by 50 km, or 9 by 30
miles. By concentrating IT and multimedia operations in
one dedicated area, a very special environment can be
created, better facilitated and more efficiently
managed. The Corridor begins at the Kuala Lumpur City
Centre, which currently houses the world=s tallest twin
towers. Canadian technology contributed to the sky-
bridge at the 41st - 42nd levels. It runs south down to
the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which when
it opens in March next year, will be the largest in the
Asia Pacific and will become a regional communications
hub.
21. Two futuristic, future proof, intelligent cities --
Putrajaya and Cyberjaya -- will form the nuclei of the
Corridor. Putrajaya is the country's new administrative
capital; the other is a cyber city B- a Mecca for IT
companies providing operational quarters for
multinationals to direct their worldwide manufacturing
and marketing activities in multimedia, as well as their
production and marketing of multimedia products and
services.
22. It is not easy to describe in a few words the wide-
ranging concept of the MSC. It will be purpose built
with the intent to provide a fertile base for business
to focus their unique skills and resources to develop
the new age communications industry. It will have to
incorporate many technologies and a technologically
oriented business focused setting. We hope this
concentration of companies in the one place will enable
a strong collaborative environment to be created that
will encourage linkages. But we are not just talking
buildings, facilities and systems. The idea is to
provide both the physical and the psychological space
for creativity. We see the MSC as a place of enquiry
and of intellectual curiosity. The concept is not new.
The Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge is just such an
assembly of scientific intelligences. It has produced
some of the world=s greatest physicists. The MSC, being
more business oriented, will be developing the practical
applications of the multimedia for commerce and to meet
the business and personal needs of the 21st century
knowledge worker. It will be a global test bed where
new technologies can be tried out.
23. Putrajaya, the new administrative centre will be a
test-bed for Electronic Government -B providing
companies with the opportunity to provide and validate a
near-paperless bureaucracy in the conditions of a real
Government environment. Social research will be
included B- testing the implications for society of
instant unlimited information.
24. Malaysia will provide the physical setting B- 7,000
hectares of lush green tropical forest, palm oil
plantations and rolling countryside. Much of the green
space will be preserved. Government will provide the
incentives, groundbreaking commerce-enabling cyberlaws,
business friendly policies and regulations. The private
sector, it is hoped, will seize the entrepreneurial
opportunity.
25. To test out this vision, we convened the first
meeting of the International Advisory Panel for the MSC
at Stanford University, California. Industry leaders of
worldwide repute, subjected the proposal to the most
stringent evaluation. We are talking of people like Jim
Barksdale (Netscape), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Scott
McNealy (Sun) and many others. They gave it an
enthusiastic thumbs-up. This, I feel, is due mainly to
the fact that in addition to its intrinsic merit, we
were serious about removing the outdated obstacles that
Industrial Age policies, laws, practices and attitudes
had posed for them. The IAP will continue to monitor
the progress of the MSC and advise on policy at the
strategic level.
26. Work is already well underway at the MSC. The
`hard' infrastructure is being put into place on a fast
track basis. However, we see the `soft' infrastructure
as the area where we probably need to innovate most. The
Malaysian Government, always business friendly and
accustomed to dealing with foreign investors, promises
to be even more friendly to the peoples of the MSC.
- Knowledge workers who fall within the category of
special guests will get in and out of the Corridor
without hassle or delay;
- We will allow 100 percent ownership of companies and
unrestricted employment of knowledge workers from
abroad;
- Incentives are generous with up to 10 years tax
holiday;
- We will not censor the Internet -- but of course, if
you download, and distribute certain undesirable
illegal material, pornography for example, you will
be subjected to the usual laws of the country;
- Companies will find a breath of fresh air coursing
through the regulatory system. Bureaucratic
procedures will be reduced to a minimum. Official
requirements will be few and approvals expedited B-
a hassle free 30-day turn around on work permit
applications, for instance, and multiple entry
visas;
- A one-stop agency system will streamline the entire
process, handled by the Multimedia Development
Corporation, to whom all your enquiries should be
directed. This is where you obtain any official
sanctions you may need;
- We have dispensed with the traditional and often
cumbersome tenders in favour of `concept proposals'
again simplifying the whole procedure.
27. We recognised early on the importance of
intellectual property rights and the need for a special
category of Cyberlaws. The Multimedia Convergence Act
1997, already on the statute book, is designed to
support companies engaged in electronic commerce and to
resolve some of the issues with the convergence of the
communications, computing and broadcasting industries.
28. Cyberlaws already tabled in the House take the
regulatory and legislative controls further than any
tried before B- a brave attempt to control computer
crime, illegal access, commercial espionage and theft,
using methods of validating digital signatures and
computer transactions, together with a host of other
protections not covered by existing laws. We realise at
the same time that Cyberlaws are still evolving.
Amendments are sure to follow, to cater for new usages
of multi media and as new technologies pose fresh
problems. But there is sufficient legal framework
already to raise the comfort level of would be investors
and to make Malaysia a regional leader in intellectual
property protection.
29. But while the system is in place, we also recognise
that the pursuit of business is the pursuit of
opportunity. The investment potential is wide and open
ended, but we would like to draw your attention to some
specific opportunities embedded in our 7 Flagship
Projects B- key areas of multimedia use aimed at
spearheading the development of the multimedia industry
within the MSC. They are calculated to test the role
of information and multimedia in real life situations,
and in human society as we know it.
30. For instance, we are currently studying various
proposals for one national smart card to replace the
plastic tyranny of all the multiple cards we are
expected to carry in ever-increasing number. This will
be a single all-purpose card with which all Malaysian
citizens will be issued to serve as an identity card,
credit card, electronic purse and many others.
Ultimately, it will be used in all electronic
transactions with the Government.
31. The other flagship applications are equally
innovative. Electronic Government, using multimedia
technology, will be introduced in Putrajaya. Its
ultimate aim is for a more efficient and cost-effective
delivery of government services to the people. Another
example is Telemedicine. The key elements here include
remote consultation, diagnosed treatment, virtual
patient records and a natural electronic medical
network. This is quite uniquely suited to the needs of
our remote rural population.
32. Research and development, which is a top MSC
priority, will be furthered by collaborative R & D
centres and linkages between the corporate sector and
the Universities. The Multimedia University is of
course industry focused and will spearhead the emergence
of an I.T research community and the creation of more
knowledge workers. We are trying to accumulate more
intellectual assets and build up our intellectual
capital. The MSC will accelerate the process.
33. As you can see, in developing the main components
of the MSC, we have tried to be proactive in
anticipating the world of the future and the world
outside Malaysia. There are many areas here in which
forward-looking companies can engage.
34. At the same time, we realise that a concern of the
private sector is that Government does not always
understand the reality of operating a business on the
ground, in terms of operating conditions and
constraints. In Malaysia, we have a highly developed
process of consultation with private enterprise which
was built into the development of the MSC from the
outset. MSC-Status Companies have direct access to me,
as the Chairman of the MSC Implementation Council and
International Advisory Panel, and to the Deputy Prime
Minister, who heads the Founders Council.
35. If any further proof is needed of our serious
intent and the good faith behind our business friendly
philosophy, it will be found in our ten-point Multimedia
Bill of Guarantees. The Government of Malaysia formally
commits to all companies receiving MSC status, the
following:-
- Malaysia will provide a world class physical
information infrastructure;
- Malaysia will allow unrestricted movement of
knowledge workers in and out of the country with no
employment restrictions;
- Malaysia will ensure freedom of ownership of
companies;
- Malaysia will allow freedom of sourcing capital
globally for MSC infrastructure and freedom of
borrowing funds;
- Malaysia will provide competitive financial
incentives including no income tax or an Investment
tax allowance for up to ten years, and no duties on
the import of multimedia equipment;
- The MSC will become a regional leader in
intellectual property protection and cyberlaws;
- Malaysia will ensure no censorship of the
Internet;
- The MSC will have globally competitive telecoms
tariffs;
- Malaysia will tender key MSC infrastructure
contracts to leading companies willing to use the
MSC as their regional hub; and
- Malaysia will provide a high powered implementation
agency to act as an effective `one-stop' shop to
ensure the MSC meets company needs.
36. All that remains is a forward look. Phase Two of
the MSC project will see the Corridor linked to other
cities in Malaysia and around the world. By then, we
expect in excess of 250 companies within the MSC. By
2020, the entire country will be a Multimedia Super
Corridor with a total of at least 12 intelligent cities
linked to the global information super highway and thus
becoming a global link to all the other smart cities on
this planet Earth. MSC participants will have risen to
500 world class enterprises.
37. It will even have a Cyber Court of Justice. And in
terms of social concern, we hope that in addition to it
being a test bed for new technologies it will help to
develop and influence the new culture of global
information, grappling as we must with the conflict
between control and licence and offsetting the adverse
social effects of a massive unremitting onslaught of
instant, uncensored information.
38. There is nothing new B- no technological
breakthrough in what we offer B- but we believe that
this initiative is organised on a scale and is of a
comprehensiveness hitherto unrivalled. When we invite
you to participate, it is first as a matter of
collective self-interest. Quite simply, we think it is
a good deal for all, for you and for us.
39. We therefore invite you, Ladies and Gentlemen, to
be with us as we seek to catch the dawn of the 21st
Century.
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