Create New Markets For Local Products, Says Mahathir

CYBERJAYA, April 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to create new markets for its products and services as the traditional markets have been affected by the global economic crisis, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
He said Malaysia needed to keep in mind that the world has become poorer and the things that the country used to produce might no longer be able to find markets like before. "Perhaps we could look domestically or at countries that were not involved with playing with money to make money," Dr Mahathir said at the first leg of the MSC Malaysia Leadership Talk Series 2009 here.
According to him, the current crisis worldwide was not related to the real business of producing and manufacturing but due to the "shuffling of papers" between people who gained huge profit from it. "The effect (of the global financial crisis) in Singapore is greater because they also invested in hedge funds. We decided very early that we should not invest in hedge funds or play around with money," he said. He also said that in a way, Malaysia's economy was in a much better position than most other economies as it is in the real business of producing goods and supplying services.
On a question on how to make information technology (IT) firms and their products more competitive, Dr Mahathir suggested that they "imagine the most ridiculous things and continuously invent new things".
"But please be aware that it (invention) will not last forever. You may have a market for a short while but someone will come up with something better," he said. Dr Mahathir also encouraged the development of animation and robotics in the country. "One area where there will be competition but you still can survive is animation. In future, there will be more animation that actual action by people," he said. "The other thing is robotics. We can replace human skills with more robots and more automation and this is an area which appears to provide more opportunities." Dr Mahathir said Malaysia could change negative perception that its products, especially in IT, were inferior by concentrating on perfection and precision.
"If it is not good enough, then don't even think of selling it or selling it a cheaper price. Demonstrate your capacity beyond doubt and do that each and every time," he said. "At the moment we have not really established ourselves, but it will take time before we get recognition."
Dr Mahathir said in entrepreneurship, "you have to understand what is needed in a society". Therefore, he said, it was important to collect and study data in order to come up with solutions needed.
"Malaysians are still not very sufficiently aware of the importance of information. They are not looking into information to improve whatever it is they are doing," he added.
Dr Mahathir said firms needed to list down their assets in order to know what they lacked for potential businesses.
"People can do business because they understand what is needed. We have to know what other countries have and don't have and match their needs," he said. Asked about his perception of the government's handling of the economic crisis, Dr Mahathir said the thing to do was to "understand the crisis", the causes and effects and see how to take advantage. "That may be the line the government should take," he said. Dr Mahathir also urged IT firms to enhance their research and development (R&D) activities although it is difficult to guarantee a return on investment. "The funds expended on research are never wasted. At the very least we would be adding to the sum total of our knowledge. So if you have money, spend it on R&D," he said.
Asked on developing the country's economy as a whole, Dr Mahathir said there was a time when the government emphasised on agriculture but not so much on ICT.
"I don't mind agriculture, but it should be modern agriculture. We should take into consideration whatever power and assets we have, like the usage of microchips, for agriculture," he said.