[MSC sudah menelan belanja 3.7 bilion tetapi masih belum mampu memulangkan sebarang kejayaan yang membanggakan. Ia semakin tertinggal dan ditinggalkan. Kerajaan begitu galak membina bangunan dan infrastruktur sedangkan pembinaan orang dan kepakaran adalah kunci sebenar kejayaan. Dan itu semua berada di universiti tempatan, kerana di sanalah tersimpan khazanah yang terpendam. Kebanyakkan syarikat hebat di Amerika menjalin keakraban (partnerships) dengan pusat pengajian tinggi seperti MIT dan Stanford Univercity tetapi di sini keakraban lain pula yang menjadi prioriti.

Amerika berjaya di bidang IT kerana ia dipelopori oleh muka-muka baru yang berasal dari pusat pengajian tinggi tetapi MSC gagal kerana dipelopori oleh orang lama dan muka barua yang berasal dari sarang kroni. Bukankah ramai yang berjaya di USA adalah mereka yang tidak terkenalpun sebelum ini dan bermula dari projek di dalam rumah sendiri?
- Editor]

The Asian Wall Street Journal
26th March 2001

Malaysia's 'Super Corridor' Fails
To Attract Financial Attention

By CHEN MAY YEE

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Malaysia's so-called multimedia super corridor hasn't attracted substantial interest from global technology companies, nor has it had a significant impact on the country's economy, according to a confidential study by international consultants McKinsey & Co.

"Key gaps still exist in attracting sizable and pioneering operations from leading companies and facilitating knowledge and wealth transfer, especially to the broader economy," McKinsey said in a 15-page summary of a study prepared for the state-owned Multimedia Development Corp., or MDC.

The MDC is responsible for overseeing Malaysia's four-and-a-half-year-old effort to build an Asian Silicon Valley aimed at transforming the country's economy to one reliant on technology from a manufacturing base that is increasingly under threat from lower-wage countries such as China. A copy of the McKinsey summary -- addressed to the MDC's executive chairman, Othman Yeop Abdullah -- was obtained by The Asian Wall Street Journal.

The report, dated Feb. 5, is the first independent analysis of the super corridor. Among other things, McKinsey recommends reducing bureaucracy and bringing in more technical and venture-capital expertise to the multibillion-dollar project.

The super corridor is a 15-by-50-kilometer strip that runs from the 88-story Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur south to the city's international airport. It includes the new administrative capital, Putrajaya, a software-development center called Cyberjaya and a new Multimedia University. The corridor is intended as a test bed for new technologies, which would eventually be rolled out nationwide. As of September, the project had swallowed $3.7 billion in state funds.

McKinsey helped draft the corridor's blueprint. That 1996 document identified subsections of the project such as electronic government and so-called smart schools, which were defined as flagship applications. Local and foreign consortia were invited to bid for contracts within the flagship applications.

Impatience With Project

Despite setbacks caused by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, much of the physical infrastructure has been built and many of the contracts have been awarded. But public impatience for signs of more tangible benefits to the wider economy has mounted in the past year, with much of the unhappiness aimed at the MDC.

In October, the MDC re-engaged McKinsey to prepare a status report on the project.

When contacted on Friday, Nikolai Dobberstein, a McKinsey partner based in Kuala Lumpur, declined to comment, citing client confidentiality. The MDC's executive chairman, Tan Sri Othman, didn't respond to a request for comment that was faxed to his office on Friday.

In its summary report, McKinsey acknowledges that Malaysia has "made significant progress" on the super corridor. But the consultant also points to an array of shortcomings.

While many international technology companies are represented in the corridor, "the level of investment and employment of knowledge workers is, with some exceptions, not very significant," McKinsey says. What's more, the MDC has trailed rivals such as Singapore and Israel in customizing investment incentives to attract leading foreign technology companies. McKinsey recommends that the MDC confer closely with the corridor's International Advisory Panel -- which includes the likes of Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates -- to figure out what it would take for them to invest in and do more in Malaysia. The report suggests "a more direct awarding of selected high-value contracts to the highest priority companies, e.g. through a 'beauty contest.' "

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Stimulating the Corridor

According to McKinsey, the Multimedia Development Corp. should:

1. Directly award high-value contracts to high-priority global technology companies
   
   

2. Hire top managers with a strong industry track record
   

3. Hire top venture capitalists to manage its venture funds and nurture start-ups
   
   

4. Give special incentives to big local companies to entice them to work with technology companies within the corridor
   

5. Build more office, commercial and residential buildings
   

6. Build a stronger talent pool by bringing in top universities

Source: McKinsey report on Multimedia Super Corridor

McKinsey also says many companies view the MDC as "too bureaucratic." Technology companies complain that the process to apply for multimedia-super-corridor status -- which confers incentives such as tax holidays -- is too complex and that the MDC's staff lacks the expertise to evaluate applications, the report says. It recommends that the MDC hire top managers "with a strong industry record" and other experienced managers to deal with priority clients.

Further, companies that have bid for flagship applications complain about a "cumbersome awarding process" and hint that they might not take part in future tenders, McKinsey warns.

McKinsey also recommends that the MDC hire top venture capitalists to manage its venture funds and nurture start-ups, because such capabilities "are developing only slowly in Malaysia."

Anchor-Company Incentives

The consultant adds that while many local companies have set up shop in the corridor, Malaysia's biggest non-technology-related corporations haven't. These companies haven't become customers of or suppliers to companies within the corridor, nor are they using the corridor to develop information-technology solutions. McKinsey says such participation is "essential to ensure real productivity improvements ... particularly in the manufacturing and service sectors." McKinsey recommends special incentives for companies with so-called anchor potential, such as Malayan Banking Bhd., the country's biggest bank, and national car company Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd. to entice them to work with technology companies within the corridor.

In other areas, McKinsey says that:

Telecommunications infrastructure is "still not consistently at world-class levels." The MDC should push national phone company Telekom Malaysia Bhd. to improve its services.

The MDC should speed up construction of office, commercial and residential buildings to ensure "an attractive working and living environment." It should impose "more stringent cost and quality guidelines" and compensate affected companies if these aren't met.

The local Multimedia University alone isn't enough to pull in the region's best talent. McKinsey recommends that Malaysia try to bring in top universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University of the U.S., by designing special incentive packages or awarding flagship applications to them.

Write to Chen May Yee at may-yee.chen@awsj.com

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