Time to overcome the resistance to change

by Tan Sri Dato' Dr Lim Kok Wing

Malaysia has to change. The goal has been set – to become a high income, innovation-led economy by 2020. The plans have been made – through a combination of the New Economic Model as well as the Government Transformation Plan that are embedded into the 10th Malaysia Plan.

It sounds good. It sounds right.

But is every Malaysian on board? Does every Bakar, Ah Boo and Muthu understand their roles in the scheme of things?  Besides the call for unity through the pervasive 1Malaysia drive, do Malaysians really know how we are going to achieve this transformation into a high-productivity, high-value, high-income economy that our Prime Minister has envisioned?

Getting every Malaysian on board the national innovation drive

I think what will help is to break the aspiration down into tiny portions that every Malaysian can consume and digest.

And for most people the big picture eludes their understanding. They need to know how such an ambitious plan by the government will help them. “What is in it for me?” That is the question we have to answer to convert the ideals of government plans into doable strategies that will rally every Malaysian to lend support and actively participate.

But even then it is not as easy as that.

There are many layers and segments to society and while we may go on a campaign to educate with a “one-size-fits-all” message there is still a lot of work to be done to address the various parties involved.

Need for public and private sectors to intensify collaboration

The private sector, which is entrusted with the task of driving the transformation, is itself a complex group of nationally and internationally interconnected service providers and manufacturers.

Certainly the private sector has been grappling with innovation to build its advantage in the market. It is the only way forward and each enterprise or conglomerate has tackled innovation in its own way.

The stakes get higher for the private sector

But now the private sector is being asked to review its operations to change its game plan so it may move to another field where the game is being played to higher stakes. The competition is tougher, the investment is higher, the risks are greater but the rewards are better.

Given the incentives the private sector will find its level. It always has because it is the only way it can survive. Certainly it is not going to jump aboard just because the government says so but because it must make good business sense to do so.

Which then leaves us with the public sector, another complex group of agencies and departments with a wide array of tasks to keep the peace, provide the services that support enterprise, build infrastructure, sustain the environment and maintain cordial foreign relations.

How is innovation understood by the rank and file of bureaucracy and how would they incorporate it into their work style?
Do they grasp the crucial stage that Malaysia is in right now? Do they know that if the Malaysian economy begins to slide the downward momentum picks up speed and chances are that by 2020 our economic status could be behind that of Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar?

Public sector support will make or break innovation drive

The Prime Minister’s push for innovation-led economy will motivate the private sector to upscale but will it move the public sector to embrace innovation in the same spirit?

As I have always said both the public and private sectors are two sides of the same coin. They must move together in tandem.

The public service must see very clearly that innovation does not mean increased regulation. It must see a more liberalized environment that facilitates the private sector as it battles global competition.

The public sector must see that it is the wealth created and generated by the private sector that oils the government machinery so it is well-equipped to service the rakyat.

It is not by chance that the most advanced countries possess the environment that facilitates the private sector so it may work more efficiently and productively.

They know that over-regulation of any sector will stem its growth and in today’s furious global competitive market that in itself is akin to sounding the death knell of any sector.

Over-regulation kills innovation, suffocates creativity, destroys growth

Over-regulation will kill innovation because it suffocates the ability of the sector to create and originate which are the twin building blocks of innovation.

To illustrate what I mean it is like giving a child a long list of “don’ts”. What do you think will happen to the child? Yes, the child will not grow. The mind will lose its agility as well as its sense of curiosity and in the end its intellectual capability.

The drive to transform Malaysia must also include the layman, the average Malaysian. However to define the average Malaysian we must make the point of difference between urban centre and rural heartland.

We have to whittle innovation down to something that the average person from two vastly different backgrounds can adopt and adapt into his or her lifestyle?

Malaysians need to wake up and see the danger headed towards them

These are questions that must be seriously thought through because Malaysians, in general, are not just pretty laid-back in their mindset, a large number are actually resistant to any kind of change. And that is anathema to this serious national drive to transform into an innovation-led economy.

Therefore the most urgent of all tasks right now is to reach out to this corps of Malaysians and transform their mindset. Without the average Malaysian on board we are doomed to fail right from the start!