Some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley met with Malaysia's prime minister at Stanford University Thursday as part of an advisory panel on developing the country's Multimedia Super Corridor - a venture that promises to provide high-tech companies in Malaysia with tax breaks, strong encryption, and clear copyright laws.
The panel is in a unique position - as the first high-tech leaders to directly influence the future of a nation. Recognizing the economic benefits they can bring to a local economy, international leaders appear to be more willing to hold court with the exuberant CEOs of these companies.
"No country has brought everything together as much as Malaysia has. Their planning has been impeccable," said panel member Robert Bishop of SGI.
The panel, which also includes Netscape's Jim Barksdale, Scott McNealy of Sun, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Alvin Toffler, IBM's Louis Gerstner, and other high-tech leaders will convene again in 1998. At that time, the panel will counsel Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamed on such meta-issues as infrastructure, environment, cyberlaws, marketing and incentives, and the development of domestic industries. Panel members will meet with the prime minister one-on-one in the US or Malaysia in the coming year.
The MSC is a 9-by-30-mile stretch of land that the Malaysian government hopes will make the small Pacific nation of 20.6 million people the Switzerland of the Information Age - expected to open for business in 1998.
Smart cards, smart schools, smart transport, and "smart partnerships" are all in the works, Mahathir said. For example, the Malaysian government will not require companies to go through the Request for Proposal process requiring a blueprint of business plans; instead, companies will simply be asked for "concept proposals" describing business approaches. Companies with "MSC status" will operate tax-free for up to 10 years, or will receive 100 percent investment-tax allowance.
"Intellectual property is key," said McNealy, alluding to recent skirmishes with the Clinton administration regarding copyright law and encryption export policies.
Four acts liberalizing business practices while implementing high technology have been designed to draw high-tech companies from all over the world. Most notably, the Digital Signatures Act provides laws for an electronic commerce system, a strong encryption policy, and severe punishment for fraud. The Intellectual Property Act clearly defines copyrights in multimedia products and includes strict punishment for copyright infringement. The Computer Crime Act addresses such offenses as hacking, and the Telemedicine Act promotes the manufacture of medical equipment using advanced technology.
Today, about 20,000 residents of Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur, are hooked up to the Internet - and this number is growing by 20 percent each month. Some estimate that by 2000, every citizen of Malaysia will be online.
But the panel raised concerns about the shortage of skilled-knowledge workers and how to market products. In Malaysia, which is the world's largest exporter of semiconductors, the per-capita income is US$9,470.
Like the Silicon Valley leaders, the prime minister would not elaborate on specific recommendations. But he invited Stanford students to "submit your resumes" and "fill out the employment application on our Web site."
