PANDANGAN YANG KABUR KERANA OTAK YANG KELABU

MSC nampaknya seperti satu kes pandangan yang kabur. Ia gagal membantu negara di saat negara memerlukannya walaupun sudah berbilion dilaburkan untuknya. Sebaliknya ia memalukan kita sahaja kerana negara India yang tidak punya apa-apa rekod gila prasarana mampu menjadi kuasa IT dunia kerana ia membangunkan benda yang sepatutnya - iaitu otak manusia!

Laman Malaysiastreet.com sudah pun gulung tikar. Ramai lagi sedang berbaris untuk keluar sebelum tertanggal seluar. Dalam dunia IT seseorang itu perlu lincah dan pandai mencari sasaran serta sentiasa memantau ke arah manakah dunia itu mahu berjalan. Jika tidak dia akan ketinggalan dan menampung kerugian. Di sinilah minda atau benak otak memainkan peranan - bukannya bangunan, dan bukannya wang. Selagi kerajaan gagal mengenal pasti yang mana dulu dan yang mana kemudian - cita-cita itu tidak akan kesampaian. Sebaliknya kita akan jauh tersasar dan terbabas sendirian.

MINDA YANG PINTAR TIDAK DITUMPU

Baru sekarang kerajaan mahu menitik-beratkan soal pendidikan. MSC kekurangan tenaga pakar kerana kebanyakkan mereka sudah jauh terbang ke negara yang lebih mengancam, mencabar dan lagi lumayan. Sekurang-kurangnya 40,000 pekerja pakar diperlukan untuk mengisi pelbagai jawatan di MSC tetapi yang tidur dan terbakar pula yang muncul datang.

Masalahnya kita tidak bersungguh untuk meningkatkan kajian dan pembangunan (R&D). R&D cuma 0.4% daripada KDNK (GDP). Nisbah saintis dan jurutera hanya 500 per 1 juta penduduk. Banyak syarikat masih terlalu bergantung harap kepada kerajaan dan IPT untuk menghulur bantuan R&D dan ini isyarat yang tidak baik untuk berjaya satu hari nanti.

INDAH KABAR DARI RUPA

Sekarang Mahathir sendiri sudah memperakui MSC gagal menyumbang apa-apa yang bermakna buat ekonomi negara. Dia sudah merasmikan pelbagai projek sini-sana tetapi gemparnya hanya di situ sahaja. Ia tidur sebaik sahaja beliau mengangkat telapak kakinya. Publisiti tidak memadai untuk berjaya kerana dunia IT sedikit lain bekerja. Inilah sesuatu yang masih tidak difahami oleh pemimpin nombor satu Malaysia yang sebenarnya sudah kabur mata tetapi melalak tidak tentu hala kununnya amat berwawasan otaknya.

Seseorang pemimpin yang betul-betul berwawasan akan membangunkan ilmu dan manusia terlebih dahulu kerana inilah kuasa yang akan menjanakan ekonomi dihari muka. Kerajaan lebih banyak berbelanja untuk kroni yang tidak pandai-pandai juga walaupun telah rugi banyak kali. Malah ia lebih sayangkan burung sehingga membina taman yang berpuloh juta nilainya untuk ia bergembira tetapi membiarkan sahaja rakyat hidup berduka sehingga ada yang terpaksa memberhentikan anak dari bersekolah kerana tidak mampu membayar tambang bas mereka (peneroka Felda). Selepas tragedi Kg Medan barulah kerajaan mahu menjenguk muka - tetapi nyawa sudahpun tiada kerana marah sudah menjadi raja.

BERANI KERANA BENAR

Projek MSC kini menghadapi krisis kredibiliti. Serangan beliau terhadap laman internet seperti malaysiakini.com telah mencemarkan imej MSC. "Laman tersebut menerima dana dari 'penyangak matawang' George Soros", tuduh Mahathir. Kerajaan begitu bimbang huru-hara politik yang bakal terjadi jika laman web berjaya membongkar sesuatu yang tidak diingini dengan berkesan sekali sehingga menjerut Mahathir sendiri.

Apa yang berlaku di laman tehelka.com di India baru-baru ini menyebabkan kerajaan menggelepar sekali. Skandal korupsi pembelian senjata itu telah mencemarkan imej kerajaan India.

TAKUT KERANA SALAH

Kini Mahathir sudah semakin resah sehingga meracau tak sudah. Beliau menuduh ada ancaman untuk membunuhnya di internet. Tetapi tidak pula menyatakan di laman mana dan kenapa kerajaan tidak memburu si penulisnya pula. Bunyi sebegitu seperti satu khabar angin sahaja yang mungkin berhembus dari dirinya sendiri jua.

Mahathir tidak perlu dibunuh kerana sentuhannya akan membunuh dirinya sendiri tanpa reformis perlu menghunus apa-apa senjata selain fakta yang tersirat di dalam bicara yang lebih tajam dari segala. Tanda itu sudah pun menjelma kerana Mahathir sendiri sudah kepanasan sukar terlena.

-TJr Man Kubur-

Rencana sandaran:

http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/CD19Ae04.html

April 19, 2001

Malaysia's Super Corridor: A case of blurred vision?

By A R Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR - Dotcom companies in Malaysia are fast catching the closure bug. Almost every day websites bid farewell to their surfers, with the latest being Malaysiastreet.com, a market research portal, citing hostile conditions in finding investors.

According to CEO Yeoh Keat Seng, towards the end of last year the portal realized market conditions were turning too hostile for them to realistically hope to break even in the near term. Yeoh adds they have no one to blame as they started the venture with their eyes open, fully aware of the risks.

The closure is another sad ending to a promising enterprise. Yeoh left his job at Merrill Lynch to start Malaysiastreet.com, but the dream was short-lived. The future of other dotcoms is also far from certain in Malaysia, which has big plans to become the Silicon Valley of the East via its Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

The 750 kilometer-square MSC was launched in 1996 to spearhead the development of the New Economy. It stretches from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur to the KL International Airport in Sepang, Selangor. But the MSC does not provide a promising picture for the development of IT related businesses in the country.

Multimedia Development Corp (MDC), the caretaker for MSC, is the biggest cause of concern among investors. The most frequently heard complaint about MDC is that it is too bureaucratic. When a newspaper obtained a draft report on the status of the MSC prepared by consults McKinsey and Co, the MDC quickly introduced some policy adjustments in an attempt to regain its credibility among the IT fraternity. However, it is highly unlikely that the MDC will meet its 2002 deadline for self-financing. Executive chairman Othman Yeop Abdullah says the corporation has submitted a proposal to the government to extend the deadline.

The MDC put some RM100 million (US$26.3 million) into nine companies, including MSC Technology Center, Optica Fiber Technologies, Knowledge Worker Exchange, MSC Management Services, Streetmarkets.com, Virtual One, G-Tek Electronics and MDC-RSLI Technologies. Through MSC Venture Corp Sdn Bhd, the MDC forked out another RM28 million in seven companies, including Multimedia Research Lab, Cosmos Discovery, Smart Transact, Go2020.com, Interbase Resources, VMS Technology and VOL Asia. The MDC anticipated good earnings from these investments, but it seems to lack the byte to download a decent balance sheet.

Some analysts say the MDC has failed in defining its role and faces an identity crisis. McKinsey recommended the company paint a more distinctive picture to potential investors within the MSC advisory panel as to why they should invest more. Lack of skilled manpower is another concern, with McKinsey suggesting the MDC hire top managers to jump-start businesses within the corridor.

According to the MDC, 477 companies had been awarded MSC status as of April 18. They are expected to make a total investment of RM6.4 billion this year. Though most of the companies pledged to invest heavily, the businesses have been slow to take off. Due to this lack of commitment, efforts to transfer skills to the Malaysian marketplace have faltered. Companies with MSC status are entitled to operate tax free for up to 10 years or receive a 100 percent investment tax allowance, and enjoy other incentives and benefits backed by the government's Bill of Guarantees.

Industry leaders are now placing their hopes on the education system to produce a new pool of highly skilled workers. The government should look into the problem seriously, says Aziz Shariff, an IT consultant with Eccus-Maxim. He adds that the education system should move in tandem with information communications technology (ICT) development in the country. If this does not happen, he questions whether Malaysia will be able to create an adequate pool of skilled workers.

A headmistress of a secondary school in the heart of Kuala Lumpur was almost down on her knees begging the state education department to supply her with more PCs to enable students to undertake IT projects. According to a recent survey, almost 70 percent of the country's primary schools still do not have computer facilities, while 47 percent of secondary schools are without such facilities. Even in schools with computers, inexperienced teachers mean that students are not getting the full benefits, and many cannot even master basic programs. In universities, IT related courses are still failing to meet the demands of the IT job market.

The brain-drain is another headache for MSC progress, preventing it from competing effectively with its neighbors. Most Malaysian ICT companies lose their skilled staff to either Singapore or Hong Kong due to handsome paychecks. While this massive exodus continues, MSC status companies are looking for at least 40,000 skilled workers to fill various posts.

In trying to impress names such as Microsoft, Dell and IBM, the MDC is receiving a poor response from local ICT companies. Despite an elaborate ceremony to mark its new signings, many businesses have failed to leave the drawing board. Companies often lack the necessary skills and are simply trying to jump on the bandwagon of the New Economy. It's easy for them to blame poor infrastructure, though many such companies refuse to spend on research and development (R&D) and shouldn't be surprised when their ventures stall.

Most companies are dependent on government research institutes and institutes of higher learning for research assistance, which is a bad signal for future competitiveness. The government says the proportion of R&D expenditure to GDP in Malaysia is low compared to countries that have successfully built indigenous capability to innovate, produce new technology as well as design new products. Public sector R&D only accounts for 0.4 percent of GDP as such efforts are partly constrained by the lack of scientists and engineers. In 1998, for instance, the number of scientists and engineers was 500 to 1 million population.

The MSC's biggest fan, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, acknowledges the problems and has admitted the MSC is not contributing much to economic growth. In response, Othman of the MDC says it will improve incentives for multinational companies that are committed to invest in MSC. However, the project is facing a credibility crisis. Many fear that Mahathir's attack on political websites in the country could lead to a government crackdown, and Internet censorship would further damage the MSC's international standing.