OFFICIATING DMG MORI TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Monday January 17, 2011

OFFICIATING DMG MORI TECHNOLOGY CENTER

YB DATO' MUKHRIZ MAHATHIR DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY OFFICIATING DMG MORI TECHNOLOGY CENTER 17TH JANUARY 2010 (MONDAY) HICOM GLENMARIE INDUSTRIAL PARK Assalamualaikum W.B.T, Good Morning and Salam 1Malaysia. Dr. Jens Hardenacke, Chief Executive Officer of DMG Mori Seiki Asia; Dr. Frank Beermann, Managing Director of DMG Mori Seiki South East Asia Pte Ltd; Mr. TQ Lim, Regional Manager of DMG Mori Seiki Malaysia Sdn Bhd; Mr. Minami Toyoji, Deputy Regional Manager of DMG Mori Seiki Malaysia Sdn Bhd; Mr. Yusoff Md. Sahir, Managing Director of German-Malaysian Institute; Datuk Muhammad Feisol Bin Hj. Hassan, Director of German-Malaysian Institute; and Ladies and Gentlemen. 1. First and foremost, allow me to extend my sincere appreciation to the organisers for this kind invitation. 2. To begin, I am reminded by the words of Thomas Friedman the New York Times columnist and celebrated author of the insightful book – ‘Hot, Flat and Crowded’. He said – “Basically all the world's computer parts come from the same supply chain that runs from Korea, down through coastal China, over to Taiwan, and down to Malaysia.” 3. It certainly is true. Malaysia’s love affair with technology is nothing short of a faithful pursuit to acquire cutting-edge technology to boost our development and modernisation. We have tried everything from simply assembling components and parts in the hope of benefitting from some transfer of technology to incorporating locally created value added items into established foreign technology and eventually to creating some of our very own home grown technology in some sectors. 4. And so, today’s event indicates another milepost in Malaysia’s journey. The Malaysian Government is delighted that DMG Mori Seiki has established its new technology centre in Malaysia. The difference this time is that DMG Mori Seiki will be a participant in Malaysia’s push towards achieving a developed-nation and a high-income country. 5. It is the Malaysian Government’s hope that DMG Mori Seiki will grow with Malaysia and seek to employ and train Malaysians whom I believe will eventually prove an asset to you. Honourable Guests, 6. I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the Government’s initiatives in promoting the transfer of technology and efforts to develop our ICT service sector. 7. For your information, Malaysia is ranked as the third most favoured location for outsourcing of business processes. Malaysia is widely accepted to be an ideal destination for business processes outsourcing because of its suitable location in the heart of ASEAN and Asia coupled with the availability of a multilingual workforce. 8. Malaysia has potential to grow domestically as well as internationally in digital animation, network security, software development, mobile communication systems and in digital broadcasting. Internationally, Malaysian based ICT companies have penetrated many parts of the world such as: • Inspidea Sdn. Bhd. – 1st Malaysian company to have successfully exported animation related intellectual property to Japan, Canada and France; • IRIS Corporation Berhad – this services provider for biometric based ePassports has established business ventures in Bahamas, Egypt and Turkey; • Microlink Worldwide Sdn.Bhd – has ventured into the Middle East and North African markets by distributing its Microlink Banking Solutions (“MiBS”); and • Scicom (MSC) Berhad – manages multiple contact centers in Asia and handles interactions from 38 countries globally. 9. Furthermore, the Government has provided various incentives to promote the ICT sector. In addition to incentives offered to MSC Status Companies operating in cyber cities, such companies are also eligible under the Promotion of Investment Act 1986 for: • Pioneer Status with 50 per cent tax exemption on statutory income for a period of 5 years; or • Investment Tax Allowance (ITA) of 50 per cent on qualifying capital expenditure incurred within a period of 5 years to be offset against 50 per cent of statutory income for each year of assessment. 10. At the 21st International Advisory Panel (IAP) of the MSC which was held on the 11th of November 2009, the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia had reiterated the fact that Malaysia must quickly transform herself into a knowledge-based economy. Thus, the K-workers Development Initiatives (KDIs) developed by MDeC have been tasked to match industry demand for more and more K-workers. I believe that this is also where the German-Malaysian institute plays an important role. Honourable Guests, 11. As our Prime Minister has said that the era of ‘Government knows best’ is over; I would like to invite all of you present today to work with the Government in charting our future. MITI is always open to new ideas. Please feel free to contact our officers if you should see the need to do so. We look forward to the expansion of this facility in the future and wish DMG Mori Seiki the very best in Malaysia. 12. And with that, I hereby declare that this new DMG Mori Seiki technology centre open! Thank you.