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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : NEW YORK, USA
Tarikh/Date : 28/09/99
Tajuk/Title : THE MALAYSIA -- US BUSINESS
COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE AND
INAUGURAL MEETING
" MALAYSIA AND THE UNITED STATES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
-- CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES "
Malaysia just celebrated its 42 years of
independence last month. Within that time span the
world saw Malaysia transformed from an agro-based
economy to an industrial-based entity, swiftly moving
into high-tech and plunging into the information age.
Today, the search for and use of knowledge has become
the most prominent preoccupation of our time. It was
only a few years ago that we were so engrossed with the
manufacturing industry and, hardly have fully extended
it when we find ourselves in the information age.
2. Before our very eyes, the typewriter has become
obsolete, the fax machine will eventually face the same
fate and e-mail, which used to be an astonishing
fascination only just six years ago, has now become as
common as posting a letter. The number of Internet
users and providers is growing like mushrooms and we
are overwhelmed by information from every direction --
not just from newspapers, books and magazines but
through dozens of cable channels, thousands of Internet
sites, and millions of pages of data from research and
education institutions.
3. This knowledge era is all about sifting through
this glut of information for the nuggets which can
contribute to heightening the standard of living and
quality of our life. This is the age not just of
change but of ever more rapid change. No sooner is a
new product on the shelf, when they become obsolete as
newer products replace them. Billions of dollars are
lost as expensive new systems are installed only to be
found inferior to a newer system. And ideas and values
change with equal rapidity so that what is now regarded
as good will become bad tomorrow and soon after that
will become good again. Adjustments have to be made
continuously.
4. Malaysia and the United States differ in very many
ways. Malaysia is comparatively a very young nation.
The United States has been around for over 200 years,
and within that period, its society has gone through a
process of social, cultural, economic and political
change which had transformed it from a newly
independent backward country into the richest and the
most powerful nation that it is today.
5. However our two countries are entering the
information age together on almost equal footing. It
is not likely that Malaysia will gain more from this
age of information but it is possible for certain
niches to find a home in Malaysia. We do have certain
advantages in that we do not have many with vested
interest who see in the changes and advances a threat
to their own businesses or positions. We are young
enough to embrace new ideas without conditions or with
minimal conditions. We also have a different view of
the role of Government and the private sector. We
think they complement each other closely. The success
of one is dependent on the other and vice versa. And
the gains made by one also results in gains by the
other. Certainly the Government has a share in all
profits through corporate taxes. And when the
Government expends the taxes collected the private
sector must benefit from sales of goods and services
and also from Government contracts. We see no need for
a confrontation between the Government and the private
sector. We see a need for their cooperation and
collaboration instead, a symbiotic relation.
6. During the recent economic turmoil we in the
Government worked hard in order to restore the health
of the private sector. We know that if they fail,
Government must eventually fail for much of our revenue
comes from them. It is easy to say that we should let
them bleed to death. But the private sector is not
just the owners and the managers. The workers, the
suppliers of goods and services; they all make up the
private sector. When a company fails a whole lot of
people will suffer. As a Government we have a
responsibility to oversee everyone's welfare.
Bleeding companies may show that the Government is
serious about good business practices, about so-called
reforms. But is it absolutely necessary that the
companies bleed? Are there no other way to promote
good business practices and reforms other than through
allowing them to bleed and die? We think there are.
We think that it is possible to ensure good business
practices and reforms, without bleeding companies to
death. Companies do not practice bad management.
People do. The owners, the CEOs and sometimes the
staff do. We will act against these people even as we
resuscitate the companies.
7. Our belief in working closely with the private
sector extends to foreign companies. Foreign investors
and managers in Malaysia know very well that we go out
of our way to attract them and to help them set up
their businesses. Indeed we were among the first in
Asia to welcome foreign investors before FDI became
well-known.
8. When we invited foreign investments in productive
industries, we the Government were not expecting to
gain anything by way of revenue. Tax incentives were
given freely for we were only interested in creating
jobs for our people. And we succeeded so well that
today we have two million foreign workers in our
country. For the locals there is really no
unemployment even during the recession. Job
opportunities exceed the numbers retrenched.
9. But we do want to see our workers earn more - not
through strikes over pay increases but through
upgrading their skills and increasing their
productivity. Obviously the higher the pay, the
higher the per capita income and the better will be the
living standards of our people.
10. We do not believe in confrontations and tests of
strength. In developed countries workers unions and
management lock horns and do not mind destroying their
industrial capacities in the attempt to prove who is
stronger. It is a primitive way of settling disputes.
Imagine what would happen if the only way for people to
settle their problem is to fight each other until one
drops dead or surrender? In a civilised society we
settle disputes by going to the courts or by
arbitration. We all agree to accept the decision of
third parties, of judges or arbitrators.
11. But in industrial actions, settlement is achieved
through work-stoppages or lock-outs. When settlement
is finally reached, not only will the cost of the new
wages be included in the new price of the products,
but the damage done to the company's property and
intangibles will also have to be factored in. As
others will also have to increase this prices in order
to compensate for the higher price of products and
services i.e. as inflation increase, the higher pay
will not purchase much more. It is not the company
which has to bear the cost of strikes, it is the public
and the whole country.
12. That is why in Malaysia we tend towards
arbitration rather than industrial action. As a result
the cost of manufacturing in Malaysia has always
remained relatively low. I believe foreign investors
appreciate this. That is why Malaysia has always been
able to attract direct foreign investments.
13. Now we are moving into the Information technology.
Again we want to encourage foreign direct investments.
The Multimedia Super Corridor which we created is
acknowledged by people in the industry as unique. The
International Advisory Panel on which sit most of the
successful people involved in multimedia business,
research and development has enabled us to keep track
of the latest thinking and advances in the Information
Age and to make provision for them in terms of cyber
laws, practices, infrastructure needs and policies.
14. Despite the economic turmoil we have not slowed up
on the development of the Multimedia Super Corridor.
In fact it is ahead of schedule in terms of
infrastructure and even in terms of our targets for
investments by world-class companies. We aimed for 50
such corporations by 2003 but we already have 33 of
them.
15. Cyberjaya is the city dedicated to multimedia
industries and business and the Information Age. It is
already taking shape and the first research laboratory
has been set up by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Corporation (NTT). A Multimedia University located in
Cyberjaya will not only produce the knowledge workers
required but will work with the industries in research
and development, in testing products and in training
personnel working with multimedia companies. Many
major international multimedia companies have endowed
chairs and funds for the University because they are
impressed not only with the potential but also the
quality of the students being trained there.
16. The most attractive feature of Cyberjaya is the
working and living environment. It is beautifully
landscaped and will have clubs, restaurants and
recreational facilities where the research workers and
others involved in the industry as well as outside the
industry can meet and exchange ideas and information
and interact.
17. An entertainment village will also be located
nearby dedicated to the modern film and television
industry. It will have an appropriate theme park to be
built by the people involved in the production of the
Star Wars series in the United Kingdom. It will have
post production facilities to cater to the needs of
computer animation, a business which the Multimedia
Super Corridor project has already attracted.
18. As you can see Malaysia is preparing itself for
the Information Age. As with the electronic industry,
when we have no technology, capital or market, we are
willing to open our country to foreign investors. It
is not a small achievement for an agricultural country
to become one of the biggest producers of things
electronic in the world. I believe we are the third
biggest producer and exporter of microchips in the
world.
19. Now we are aiming to be a major player in
Information Age industry. For this we will welcome
with open arms foreign investments. Those who have
experience doing business in Malaysia know that we are
ever willing to listen and to act to meet the
multifarious needs of foreign investors. And so the
Multimedia Super Corridor is created to become a giant
test-bed for the soft and hard products of the cyber
age.
20. But we are orthodox in our belief regarding
business. We think that business should not be a zero-
sum game. We do not want to lose so our partners will
gain nor do we want to see our partners lose so we may
gain. We believe in a quaint philosophy that we should
not beggar our neighbours but rather prosper them. We
believe that the more we help our partners to prosper,
the more prosperous we will be.
21. When foreigners invested in our country, even if
it is merely to create jobs, we became prosperous.
Because we are prosperous we become good markets for
the products of the country investing in our country,
even for the products of the investing companies. Our
prosperity is good for our partners and vice versa.
22. That is why we do not like currency traders. They
contribute not at all to our prosperity. Worse than
that they destroy our wealth in order to make just a
fraction of what they destroyed as their profit.
23. During the currency turmoil caused by the attacks
on our Ringgit and the Malaysian share market we lost
approximately 200 billion US Dollars. I doubt if the
currency traders made more than 10 billion US Dollars
from their almost clandestine activities. The currency
traders destroy much wealth in order to make a
relatively small profit for themselves.
24. When Malaysia was prosperous it was a good market
for the products of the world, including those from
America. When you destroy your market you must lose in
the end. That is what the currency traders and the
short term investors did to your market. I hope one
day someone honest would sit down to quantify the
losses suffered by the countries of Asia and the world
as a result of the abuse of the free market by the
avaricious financial manipulators, and the profits
these manipulators made.
25. I believe that stability and predictability is
good for business. It is not good only to gamblers.
Malaysia tries to provide this environment. In our
dealings with investors we never make sudden reversals
or 180-degree turns in our policies. That is why we
decided to have selective capital control. You will
find doing business in Malaysia will no longer be a
gamble, nor will you need hedging. It should keep your
cost down and make budgeting easier.
26. It is sad that as we approach the end of this
century the world is not very much better than when we
entered it. The world finances are in a mess. The
disparity between the rich and the poor is much
greater. Technology has made tremendous strides but
the people making use of these new technologies are
still not much more advanced. Misuse and abuses are
rampant.
27. All over the world we see injustice and mayhem.
And we seem quite unable to handle these now any more
than before.
28. The greatest need in the world today is
understanding. This requires some restraint on the
part of everyone. Unrestrained and uncalled for
criticisms of others will not contribute towards
understanding each other. It would be difficult to do
business if we don't appreciate that other people may
do things differently. If we do appreciate, then
understanding each other would be easy.
29. I hope that the Malaysia-US Business Council will
help foster understanding of each other. I do think it
will be good for business between Malaysians and
Americans. It may even be good for Malaysia-US
relations generally.
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