Guan Eng: MaGIC has role to play in Malaysian economy
CYBERJAYA (20 June 2018): Amid talks of the possible disbanding of the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the government agency has a role to play in the Malaysian economy as it helps to seek out future productivity centres to help the country.
Lim who attended MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Programme launch yesterday noted that he is the first finance minister who had attended a MaGIC event.
Figure 1: Lim who attended MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Programme launch yesterday noted that he is the first finance minister who had attended a MaGIC event. Yesterday’s pic shows Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng speaking with MaGIC CEO Ashran Datuk Ghazi at their HQ in Cyberjaya.
“I know this is the first time the finance minister has come for a MaGIC event. You may be wondering what is the Finance Minister doing here?
“Should he not be looking after the country’s finances especially after we have our debt issues and financial scandals. But I think we also have to look at the future,” Lim said in his speech.
“I don’t have to explain what revenue and cost centres are, but I think productivity centres are where we look forward to the future. It is where (we find) new sources of revenue, to design so that we can (focus) on creativity and innovation from our talent pool,” he added.
“This is so that we can have not just new sources of revenue but so that we can also survive.
“And of course MaGIC is part of that effort to find more productivity centres. It is basically all about creativity and innovation and this includes art, culture and heritage. The challenge is how do you marry art, culture and heritage with innovation and creativity.”
He said the next digital revolution with the advent of Industry 4.0 will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and play with one another in terms of scale, scope and complexity.
“Industry 4.0 will be unlike anything we have seen and we do not know yet how it will unfold but one thing is clear that the response to it must be comprehensive to involve all stakeholders from the public and private sectors, academia and civil society,” Lim said.
“And I would think that it should be private sector led that whilst government regulation is important but in terms of creativity and innovation: the government’s role should be limited. It’s best not to interfere and to leave it to the experts.
“While we think that if we put in money we should have a say, sometimes this say is the voice that stifles progress.
“So I would like to see a new mindset that while the government supports but the private sector should lead the effort but you must show us results,” he added.
Lim said the country’s economy should be transformed to achieve sustainable growth through being an entrepreneurial state and a welfare state to achieve equitable growth.
“Growth that everyone has a share as we do not want to see income inequality. There is where technology helps to bridge that gap to the future.
“In the future, as Jack Ma says it will no longer be Made in China, Made in Malaysia or Made in America: it will be made by the Internet,” he said.
“To be an entrepreneurial state means the government’s role is to facilitate collaboration between partners: a four way partnership: public, private, people and professionals.
“No point having it without professional inputs and of course no point if you cannot get a buy-in from the people. No people buying in, no hope for success,” Lim added.
[Source: “Guan Eng: MaGIC has role to play in Malaysian economy” published by Star Media Group Berhad]
