Redesigning the Malaysian Mind
By Lim Kok Wing
I believe, and always will, that creative people are the most important people in the world.
All over the world, it is creative people who create new business, new enterprise, new markets, new brands, new life styles and new trends. It is creative people who build successful companies and drive successful economies around the world. It is creative people who discovered, who connected, who invented, who innovated, who communicated. Creativity is without doubt the world's most important single resource.
A creative country will be a successful country. An innovative economy will be a successful economy. That is the reality. We know the world's richest and most advanced nations are also the world's most creative, most innovative. These are countries with well-developed creative industries which provide effective on-going research and development support to their industries.
All, with no exception, consider creativity and innovation a strategic propeller of their national competitiveness. These are countries whose governments have built economic and social infrastructures that encourage creativity and innovation. Their people are highly educated, highly skilled, and highly motivated. They are trained and encouraged to be innovative in whatever they do or produce - be it the music they compose, the shoes they design, the computers they make, even the fast food they sell. These countries generate immense wealth from the products and services they have created, and the brands they have promoted right around the world. These countries produce goods that are perceived to be the best in the world, everywhere in the world.
As a result, these countries themselves have become synonymous with quality, and enjoy the most positive image in the minds of millions right around the world. And this, in turn, reinforces the perception that whatever they produce must be the best in the world; so whatever they produce simply command premium positioning and pricing everywhere in the world.
When you think of the United States, you think of cutting-edge information technology. Germany exemplifies precision engineering. Italy stands for fancy cars and lifestyles. France the world's most expensive perfumes and Switzerland the world's most expensive watches. In Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong stand out as the most successful in the competition for a share of the global market. It is no surprise that all five are ranked among the most innovative and richest economies in the world. Size of population does not matter at all in a country's capacity for innovation and wealth creation.
In Malaysia, we debate that one reason our country lags behind in innovation is because we are a small country with a small domestic market. However, countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland and Holland all have populations that are much smaller than Malaysia's. Yet, they are miles ahead in their capacity to create and innovate.
Sure enough, they also have many times more wealth. Here is where size does not matter at all. This is where performance matters the most.
Redesigning the Malaysian mind - The Way Forward
For us to move forward, pervasive and innovative thinking must take hold throughout our society, and right through our Government and management machineries.
As I see it, to make this happen, we need to bring about a major shift in the mindset of our people - starting from children to parents, from teachers to government leaders, from farmers to corporate leaders. It may have to start with the redesigning of the Malaysian mind, which has remained largely conservative.
It is often said that being inventive or being innovative is not part of the Malaysian culture. It is said that the Asian tradition of subservience and conformity is incompatible with the culture of creative thinking, which often is about changing. It is also said that as people who adhere strictly to religious teaching, thinking creatively goes against the grain. It is said that, as Asians, we have a cultural inclination to blend in and not to be heard or seen. What rubbish!
The East and the Middle East were centres of inventions; they were leaders of innovative thinking and inventive creativity for thousands of years. So groundbreaking were their discoveries that many of their innovations survive to this day and are part of our everyday life. And the Malaysian nation is a fusion of Asia's greatest civilisations.
Innovative thinking has no boundaries, and it respects no borders. It can bridge the digital divide as much as it can level the globalisation playing field. It can come from the slums of Africa, or from the most sophisticated labs in America. It certainly can come from Malaysia.
So what is holding us back?
Empowering the Education System
Going forward, we need our people to think and live outside of the box, people who are prepared to challenge the norm and rearrange the rules if the rules have become stumbling blocks. To be able to build this innovative human capital, we must empower a system of education that is driven by the motivation to learn, and rewards for accomplishment.
The learning environment therefore must be one that is inspiring and not stifling. We must develop a culture in our education system that recognises and celebrates creativity, and promote a culture in our teaching system that encourages innovative thinking.
In advanced countries, school children learn about design technology from year one and move on to innovation a few years later. The moment you get into design technology, you are already into the process of ideation (idea creation); you learn about the purpose of differentiation and innovation. Thinking creatively becomes a habit. We need to develop a system of training that motivates and inspires the young generation to be people who want to achieve greatness. Being good is not good enough in today's environment.
Rules and regulations that force people to concentrate on not making mistakes will lead to conformity and blind compliance; that stifles creativity and inhibits innovative thinking. Rules and regulations that attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all structure will hamper the efforts of institutions of higher learning to become innovative, and to be truly competitive. Rules and regulations that do not promote innovation should be changed and removed.
Innovative thinking is about changing for the better. It's about breaking the norm, and seeking better and more practical solutions and options. If we keep doing the same thing over long periods of time, we will be, as a country, out of step, out of touch and out of the loop with what's happening around us.
In business, to be sure, innovation must be industry-led and driven. This is because entrepreneurs are by nature creative thinkers and they know what the market wants, and how to drive the market to open up new avenues. But, to be certain, the process of innovative development must also involve the approval systems. Government agencies should work hand-in-hand with the private sector to enable industry to operate at its competitive best.
Everyone involved must understand the competitive nature of today's environment, and the speed at which the private sector must move in order to remain in competition. Everyone should know that if our private sector loses a battle abroad, it is the country that loses the battle.
Transforming Rural Industry Through Knowledge
Let me give you an illustration where innovative thinking can expand the entrepreneurship base and bring about a national transformation.
Malaysia has the potential as well as the credentials to be a major halal food production hub, and we already have most of the ingredients to succeed. Every year, we host one of the world's largest halal trade expositions. Malaysia has the longest established and most widely recognised halal certification in the world. Malaysia trades with practically every country on earth. To add to this, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, both by birth and adoption. It is estimated that the Muslim population will double to exceed 3 billion spread across the world by the next decade.
If we were to achieve a 10 percent share of the global halal food market, it will bring in an estimated RM200 billion in revenue. That is almost half of Malaysia's current GDP. That achievement alone will change forever the ethnic balance of economic ownership in this country.
However, to arrive at that achievement, we must first move our rural economy into a 21st century environment; and that means to effectively transform Malaysia's rural industry into one that is modern and innovative.
The rural economy runs on knowledge and skills that are hundreds of years old. Adding new knowledge and new skills of the modern era will, undoubtedly, transform the sector to perform more vibrantly and commercially. What is needed is a cohesive enabling platform designed to bring about effective modernisation; a platform that will empower rural-based enterprise with new knowledge and new know-how, and enable them with new technology and new machinery. What is needed is innovation.
With this transformational process will bridge the innovation gap that now exists between the rural and the urban sectors, and it does not need a lot of time if well-designed enabling drivers are put in place to ensure end-to-end delivery.
Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato' Lim Kok Wing is the founder and president of Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology. Read more here.