Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : CYBERJAYA, SELANGOR
Tarikh/Date : 09/07/99
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE
NTT MSC CENTRE
Good afternoon. May I first thank NTT Corporation
for inviting me to officially open this landmark
facility in Cyberjaya, which is the first full-fledged
R&D Centre of its kind to be built in the MSC's
flagship intelligent city. I would like to express my
personal appreciation to Mr. Miyazu for finding time
amidst a very busy schedule to come from Japan to
attend the third IAP Meeting and to be with us on this
historic occasion.
2. NTT is not a newcomer to Malaysia, nor is it a new
investor. It has been a strong contributor to the
development of our country's IT industry for more than
12 years. It was also one of the four pioneers in the
MSC, and NTT MSC Sdn Bhd was among the first to achieve
MSC status. Congratulations are in order for yet
another pioneering effort by this global player in the
MSC. This facility is also the first by a web shaper
in Cyberjaya. It is even more meaningful when one
considers the fact that NTT is the largest Telecoms
company in the world.
3. I have looked forward to the opening of this
impressive facility which, I believe, is poised to take
on a significant and pioneering role in catalysing the
development of the R&D Cluster Flagship Application in
the MSC. The decision by a global player in the
telecommunications sector to build its second largest
overseas R&D centre and regional hub for Asia in the
MSC is testimony of the confidence it has in this
unique development. It is also a vote for the
investment climate in MSC as a whole. This is indeed a
special occasion for Malaysia.
4. Silicon Valley companies were often seen as having
caught the first high-technology wave, and Cambridge-
based companies, the second-generation wave. Here, at
the MSC, we aim to promote the development of next-
generation multimedia technologies by forging
collaborative R&D efforts among leading-edge companies,
public research institutions, and universities. At the
same time, we shall support the growth and spin-off
activities of smaller companies - placing an equally
strong emphasis on product conceptualisation and
development, right through to the stage of
commercialisation, when the product is taken to market.
Apart from ensuring the right climate for research and
innovation, the Government takes its role seriously in
providing access to talent, facilities, funds,
partnerships and information. Our vision is to create
the first internationally-focused R&D cluster in Asia,
driven by strong governmental support and guarantees,
so that the MSC will lead the region's initiative into
the Information Age. In doing so, we hope to be able
to learn from the experiences of other successful
clusters around the world.
5. The economic downturn that swept across the entire
region last year did affect the MSC somewhat but it
did not diminish our effort to make the MSC our next
engine of growth. In pursuance of this goal, our
primary aim of fast-tracking the growth of Cyberjaya
is bearing fruits. This week alone, we have seen the
opening of Cyberjaya and the Multimedia University, two
major landmarks of the MSC, which were both completed
ahead of Cyberjaya's opening. This came against the
backdrop of a strong economic recovery, which will
naturally lead to increased investor confidence and
investment as we approach the new millennium. Apart
from NTT, we also have 33 other international world-
class companies with MSC status focusing on the
development and application of a wide range of leading-
edge technologies. These include IT/multimedia-based
subsidiaries of global leaders in varying industries;
companies such as Shell, DHL, Bridgestone, Lucent
Technologies, Bridgestone Engineering, and many others.
In addition, there are more than 100 Malaysian MSC SMEs
involved in software development, E-Commerce, Internet
Publishing, broadcast communications and entertainment,
and many other areas of high-end technology.
6. In an environment where collaboration,
creativity, innovation and risk-sharing are fostered,
companies will find the MSC the place to experiment
with new ideas and new partnership models. Today --
and even more so in the future -- the economy is made
up of networks of strategic alliances and symbiotic
partnerships, even symbiotic competitors working
together. As futurist Kevin Kelly observes in "Re-
thinking the future", the borders between many
industries are disappearing, and what is evident is an
indefinite web of related organisations, all inter-
connected and thriving off each other. Interestingly
too, he noted that in such open systems -- called
vivisystems -- every new business that comes along
actually creates the environment for another business
to come. It is not a zero-sum game -- where every new
business causes some other businesses to die -- it is
quite the opposite. The more businesses there are
around, the more room there is for new businesses.
This is the scenario I see for companies and public
institutions in the MSC, and I hope that NTT, being a
global giant in its field and an MSC-pioneer, will take
the lead in forging such alliances with other companies
and institutions of higher learning within the MSC.
7. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment has identified five research programmes
to jump-start R&D operations among local small- and
medium-scale companies and promote technology and
knowledge transfer. These are in the areas of Open
Network Infrastructure, Multimedia Services, Multimedia
Intelligent Systems, Document and Image Manipulation,
and Multimedia Collaborative Applications. We
recognise that there is a need to look beyond short-
term opportunities and build on emerging underlying
technology. We have also established a MSC R & D
Grant Scheme in October 1997 with an initial allocation
of RM100 million to support R&D initiatives within the
MSC. To date, seven companies which are involved in
telecommunications, e-commerce, computer telephony
integration, content and application software
development have received the MGS grants. In the area
of telecommunications, we feel the MSC has all the
necessary prerequisites to be a testbed for wireless
technology. In this respect, we shall actively support
R&D in wireless technology in local universities and
research institutes, as well as provide a conducive
environment for companies to conduct field trials,
especially in next-generation wideband-CDMA (Code
Devision Multiple Access).
8. I am pleased to note that the NTT MSC R&D Centre
will be the corporation's telecommunications hub for
activities such as value-added Arcstar global network
and total solution services which offer multinational
companies top quality and reliable frame relay, managed
leased line and Internet Protocol (IP) network
services. I am also glad with the areas that have been
identified for research, including next-generation
Internet, machine translation covering English-Bahasa
Malaysia-Japanese-Chinese, and digital data indexing,
among others. It has also gone a step further in
identifying areas for joint research, some of which, I
understand, have already started, for instance, R&D on
lightning-surge protection. Those at evaluation stage
include improved network management systems for
telecommunications companies and next-generation
internet joint experiment under the framework of Asia
Pacific Advanced Network (APAN).
9. We have much to learn from a corporation like
NTT, not just as a global leader in telecommunications,
but as a very successful business entity. With close
collaboration, we can learn from its experience and
emulate its success. As Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotashi
Takeuchi acknowledge in their book which analyses how
Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation
("The Knowledge-Creating Company"), what sets Japanese
companies apart in bringing about continuous innovation
is the linkage between the outside and the inside of
the organisation. Knowledge that is accumulated from
the outside is shared widely within the organisation,
stored as part of the company's knowledge base, and
utilised by those engaged in developing new
technologies and products. A conversion process takes
place where the knowledge from outside is converted and
goes out again in the form of new products, services or
systems. According to them, it is the effectiveness of
this conversion process that fuels continuous
innovation within Japanese companies, which in turn
leads to competitive advantage.
10. Another observation is that the Japanese view
knowledge as being primarily "tacit" - something that
is not easily visible and expressible -- and have
mastered the science or process of making tacit
knowledge explicit. In doing so, they moved away from
of the old mode of thinking that knowledge can be
acquired, taught and trained through manuals, books or
lectures. Instead, they paid more attention to the
less formal and systematic side of knowledge and
focused on highly subjective insights, intuitions and
hunches that are gained through the use of metaphors,
pictures or experiences. Another unique feature of
Japanese companies too, as they observe, is the fact
that no one department or group of experts has the
exclusive responsibility for creating new knowledge.
Front-line employees, middle managers, and senior
managers all play a part, although there is a
differentiation among the three roles. The creation of
new knowledge is the product of a dynamic interaction
among them.
11. I hope that through close collaboration and
networking with NTT, we can learn how the Japanese
approach "knowledge creation", which is quite different
from the Western approach. It follows that companies
in the MSC have the unique opportunity to learn from
among the best in the world. I would call on MSC-
Status companies, especially the local ones, to make
the best of this opportunity and follow the footsteps
of the leaders in becoming world-class companies
themselves.
12. I would like to end my address by thanking once
again NTT and its President, Mr. Miyazu, for its
confidence and support in the MSC. I would like to
take this opportunity to wish the Board and management
of NTT MSC every success in its operations. With that,
I now offically declare the NTT MSC Centre open.
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