Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : LANGKAWI, KEDAH
Tarikh/Date : 09-10-2001
Tajuk/Title : THE LIMA 2001 OFFICIAL OPENING
CEREMONY AT THE MAHSURI
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION CENTRE
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
Welcome to the Langkawi International Maritime and
Aerospace Exhibition 2001 or LIMA `01. I am indeed
very proud and honoured to be here once again to
officiate such an important event and in the presence
of so many distinguished personalities, especially
those from the aerospace and maritime industries. LIMA
is 10 years old this year, and is recognised as among
the most important and successful aerospace and
maritime biennial international events in the world. I
would like to congratulate the organisers for not only
being able to sustain the quality of the exhibition
over the last 10 years, but also being able to increase
the participation of exhibitors and sponsors every
time, despite the recent proliferation of such
exhibitions all over the world. However I must admit
that the events of 11th September have affected LIMA.
2. Still we believe LIMA will continue to be the most
effective meeting point for aerospace and maritime
exhibitors and traders to showcase their latest state-
of-the-art products and technologies and make crucial
inroads into the growing defence markets in this
region.
3. LIMA is held in the beautiful islands of legendary
Langkawi because it is a combined air and maritime
show. A maritime show of this size must be held in
spacious seas of course. But an air show should be
held away from built up areas and avoid using busy
airports. The airspace in Langkawi is eminently
suitable for unlimited aerial displays to exhibit the
capabilities of the aircrafts without annoying
residents too much.
4. Besides, Langkawi is also a beautiful island
resort removed from the main crowded population
centres. Here exhibitors and the potential clients can
meet and discuss business in a very pleasant
environment. This show is of course about promoting
business deals although others too can enjoy the static
and aerial displays.
5. I also foresee LIMA continuing to serve as an
effective market place for Malaysia's aerospace as well
as maritime industry which has grown quite considerably
since the first LIMA. They can showcase their products
and capabilities under one roof to potential
international customers, suppliers and partners, and
also to each other. It is a place where our local
companies can look for strategic global partners for
their technologies and to enhance our competitiveness
as well as theirs. I urge international exhibitors,
traders and guests to visit Malaysian exhibitors and
engage in constructive dialogues with them with the
view to establishing synergetic, strong and viable
business relationships.
6. LIMA, I believe, can serve as an effective gateway
for international aerospace and maritime corporate
players seeking for smart partnerships with Malaysian
companies to gain competitive advantage. As you are
well aware, Malaysia has many strengths which we can
and we should jointly exploit to our mutual competitive
advantage. Manufacturing is certainly one of our key
strengths for over the years we have transformed our
country from an agricultural nation to an industrial
nation. Today 82 percent of our exports of nearly 100
billion U.S. Dollar consist of manufactured goods,
electronics in particular. We have physical
infrastructures which are as good as in developed
nations. At the same time, our overheads, including
the manpower costs, are very much lower. Our workers
are well educated, young and easily trainable. English
is widely used in Malaysia. In view of this, over the
years many manufacturers have moved their manufacturing
activities to Malaysia. They have clearly been very
satisfied because many of them have expanded their
operations and their investments in Malaysia. We have
now very special facilities for the I.T. industry and
other hi-tech industries including aerospace. I hope
you will see beyond Langkawi to the mainland where we
still manage to maintain an attractive and stable
environment for FDI.
7. With the recent unveiling of the Eighth Malaysia
Development Plan, the Malaysian Government will be one
of the most important potential customers for
exhibitors at this exhibition. The amount of money
involved will be substantial. Under the Industrial
Master Plan 2 which ends in year 2005, the Malaysian
Government is committed to further develop our
aerospace industry and the marine transport industry as
priority industries. To this end, and in order to
accelerate the industrial growth, we will look very
favourably to defence equipment suppliers who could
offer attractive industrial offset programmes along
with their proposal. The supplier offering the most
attractive offset programmes in terms of value and
types of technology with sustainable business
opportunities will command substantial weightage. We
will be looking for more local contents and more
sincere efforts in the transfer of technology process.
This transfer of technology process should be more
industry focused, and not merely offering some
unproductive training programmes that do not address
specific industrial or project requirements. We
encourage vendor development or joint venture with
Malaysian companies in the manufacture, design and even
R&D of OEM products or of completely new products. In
the past, we do have some good offset programmes being
managed here in Malaysia, such as the BAE Systems Hawk
aircraft offset programme, which in 1992 helped in the
creation of SME Aerospace, an aerospace manufacturing
company here in Malaysia. SME Aerospace today has an
excellent facility and capability to manufacture a
variety of metal-based aerospace products for the
export market. We need more of such programmes. I
would like to see more OEMs responding positively
towards their offset obligations. We should focus on a
win-win strategic partnership between the international
vendors and the Malaysian companies. Our defence
requirements are not big but for us they are still
considerable. Like everyone else we need to make the
most out of buying things, costly things which we hope
we will never need to use but which will need
replacement and renewal as new technology render them
obsolete.
8. There has been some progress in the development of
the Malaysian aerospace industry over the last few
years. We are currently capable of designing and
manufacturing certain aircraft parts under subcontract
from the OEMs. We have also ventured into high-tech
areas such as systems integration and simulator
development.
9. To showcase this modest development, the first
ever Malaysian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will take
to the air during this LIMA. The aircraft is the two-
seater Malaysian Eagle 150 aircraft manufactured by
Composites Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM). The
electronics and associated systems were supplied by BAE
Systems while the aircraft modification and systems
integration were carried out jointly by our local
company Excelnet and BAE Systems. There will be an
interesting display for all to see as the aircraft will
taxi, take off, do its circuits and land totally
unmanned.
10. The importance of UAV in operations and the
unprecedented variety deployed today is growing. I
will not be surprised that one day battles will be
fought primarily using UAVs. The UAVs can also be used
for non-military purposes including coastal
surveillance and monitoring of open burning, illegal
logging, piracy and the movement of illegal immigrants.
Indications are that there is a growing market for this
type of aircraft. Congratulations to CTRM, BAE,
Excelnet and all those behind this project.
11. Although our technical capabilities have
broadened, our business turnover is still relatively
small. Malaysian companies need to market their
capabilities and products worldwide. They should for
instance participate in international aerospace,
maritime and defence exhibitions in other parts of the
world such as Le Bourget Paris Air Show, Farnborough
Air Show and IDEX in Abu Dhabi. They have to develop
an aggressive marketing strategy in order to compete
successfully in the international market today.
12. The Malaysian Government will always be supportive
of such efforts. Recently, we have established The
Malaysian Aerospace Council which sat for the first
time in July 2001. This Council, chaired by me and
attended by several of my cabinet ministers, top
Government officials and representatives of the
industry, will provide the necessary top level
policies, directions and support for the rapid and
orderly development of the aerospace industry in
Malaysia. At the Ministry of Defence level, we have
the Malaysian Defence Industry Council chaired by the
Minister of Defence to oversee and assist the
development of the Malaysian defence industry including
the aerospace and maritime industry. Similarly, at the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the
Minister will preside over the overall development of
both the aerospace and the maritime transport
industries within the ambit of external trade and
investments and under the Industrial Master Plan 2.
The Government's commitment to the development of the
aerospace and maritime industry in this country is
unequivocally clear. We invite OEMs and traders all
over the world to develop a true, enduring and
sustainable partnership with key aerospace and maritime
companies in Malaysia to realise the competitive edge
and advantage that we could jointly derive from this
partnership.
13. On September 11 the World Trade Center in New York
and the Pentagon in Washington were hit by airliners
carrying 83 tons of fuel each. They were not the
guided missiles which we know of, the sophisticated
radio and laser guided purpose built missiles which the
powerful countries have armed themselves with, and
which they believe will deter attacks against them and
deliver their response to any attack against them.
Nevertheless the airliners guided by suicidal pilots
were as effective, or even more effective than all the
highly touted missiles which we read about and fear.
The airliners as guided missiles have damaged not just
concrete and mortar and steel buildings but have thrown
the most powerful economy and the whole world into a
recession that is unheard of. The way of life of the
peoples of the world have been changed in one
cataclysmic moment. Everything that we are familiar
with; our way of life has been changed radically. And
the concept of war and defence as we know, it has also
changed. Conventional weapons have been rendered
practically obsolete.
14. Of course we will have to retain the conventional
weapons because we still believe in the old adage that
to have peace we must prepare for war. We must arm
ourselves to the teeth in order to deter our enemies.
15. Unfortunately against terrorists it is not enough
to arm ourselves to the teeth with the weapon we are
familiar with. The weapons against terrorists will be
very different. There will have to be new systems for
intelligence gathering, new electronic devises, new
surveillance capacities, better photography from outer
space, more sensitive listening devices, early
detection of poisonous chemicals, remote controls of
aircrafts and a whole lot of new ideas and gadgets.
The great research institutions will have to apply
themselves to these things even as world leaders try to
identify the causes of terrorism and try to remove
them.
16. LIMA and other shows in the future will probably
be very different but in the meantime we will have to
go on with our Air and Maritime Show. I would like to
thank all of you for your attendance and participation
at LIMA 01. I do hope that you will find your
participation profitable and enlightening. The MOU's
you will be signing should presage greater cooperation
in the industry. And in addition to a fruitful
exhibition, I hope you will enjoy the salubrious resort
Islands of Langkawi.
17. It is now my great pleasure to declare open the
Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace
Exhibition 2001.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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