Your fellow workers are human beings. They are not factors of production. Leading them and
or aspiring them requires 'people skills' as well as the ability to connect emotionally
and intellectually at the same time.
Because of this, it's vital to combine two sets of perspectives that are too often
separated from one another: one the one hand, the economic and technical and on the other
hand, the humane, the moral and the social.
I fully approve and support the way that managers in this course are forced to consider
the deeper personal context of their actions and the broader social context of their
leadership. Being asked to reflect upon the full meaning of your humanity against the
backdrop of a world in need as an important challenge.
Interestingly, I feel that the course has an immediate connection with my Ministry and the
kind of challenges we are faced with on daily basis as we seek to provide the basis of
country development.
Of course, in Malaysia, we have always held to a broader notion of development. You can
and should ask whether we have lived up to this ideal but we have always held that social
welfare and economic development go hand in hand. Development must be development with
justice.
Hence we want to teach our children not just how to create value but what to value.
To my mind education is not just about numbers and knowledge in the narrow sense. It's not
just about material that you'll be examined on at the end of the year.
As
the Minister of Education, I am concerned to develop students who are able to reflect on
themselves individually and collectively just as you have done over the last six days.
However,
today we face a more complex scenario for Education.
In
fact we are facing a difficult and crucial transition to a Knowledge Economy.
Frankly,
ladies and gentlemen, in recent years, Malaysia's global competitiveness ranking has
fallen, The 'production-based' economy on which we relied will not be able to sustain us
into the future. As a consequence we must make the transition from a 'production-based' to
a 'knowledge-based' economy.
Because
of this human resources have become infinitely more important. Human capital remains at
the heart of Malaysia's development strategy.
With
each passing day, it becomes increasingly clear that our greatest assets are our people.
Our economic future relies more and more on the quality of our workforce.
I
should add that assessing issues of 'quality' purely on the basis of some narrow set of
indicators will be insufficient. Why? Well, because trustworthiness and creativity are as
important as efficiency and diligence.
There
are two important consequences of the advent of the knowledge economy and since we are all
in a reflective mood I'd like to outline them to you.
a)
Education becomes the engine of prosperity for nations:
b) A new relationship between soft and hard factors in economic growth:
a) The
advent of the global Knowledge-based Economy is-a huge challenge the way each country runs
its Education system.
Education
- the ministry under my care - has become a key instrument of national prosperity.
Everyone knows that the quality of a nation's school system is a key marker of its
competitiveness, but as knowledge becomes a greater and greater component of economic
value, the same school system becomes more and more a direct participant in the economic
process. The education system becomes the engine of the economy.
There
is no escaping the need to keep re-thinking and improving the way we educate our children.
We
must raise citizens capable of participating at the forefront of Science and Technology.
The stakes are very high. Clusters of knowledge and technique are forming and converging
around information technology: one such convergence involves nanotechnology,
bioinformatics and the health sciences. We cannot afford to be left out of these things or
we will be mere bystanders in the most powerful and important global developments of the
next fifty years.
At
the same time, we must ensure that as we prepare our children for a very different world
than the one in which we grew up, we do not neglect to equip them with the core human
values which have not changed since the time the Prophet Muhammad - may peace be upon him,
Aristotle and Confucius.
This
is not merely a task of time-management: so many hours for technical knowledge, so many
hours of moral education. We are expanding the means of delivering knowledge and
technology is becoming a powerful instrument for change.
The
introduction of computers into the classroom -puts billions of pages of information at the
fingertips of the student. However, this only makes the challenge of communicating and
inculcating core values all the more complex.
However,
there is one very pleasant surprise which I would like to share with you this evening
namely the way that a 'soft' factor: our multiracialism, is suddenly becoming an
increasingly important part of our global competitiveness.
The
multiracial nature of Malaysian society, and our continuing ability to work across the
racial and religious chasms that have polarised global politics (especially since 9/11) is
an important national competitive advantage.
Indeed,
you could compare this factor to the incredible biodiversity of our forests. Our jungles
are crammed with a remarkable number of different species. At the same time these species
also co-exist amidst a dense network of relationships. These relationships and the ability
to maintain them have now become positive values in themselves.
The
sum of a diverse system is more than its parts and what could be argued for our
bio-diverse forests is equally true of our towns and cities with their extraordinary
cultural and religious diversity.
Ladies
and gentlemen, Malaysia possesses real cultural diversity. We are living a kind of
multi-communalism. The cultures are real, thriving and productive. However, we cannot take
these relationships for granted. We need to appreciate them and teach this appreciation to
our children.
At
the same time we must get beyond seeing the diversity as a mere a compromise (however
successful), between the different races and religions. I would argue that we are
experiencing something far more exciting and it should be celebrated. We must remind
people of the uniqueness of our experiment the way that we are working together to create
a unique society.
Thus
the old tension between the two aims of national unity and educational excellence can now
be reconciled. We never could do one without the other, but now we would not want to. We
are used to the saying that our national diversity is a challenge; even a danger. If we
took care of it, we could have stability, and stability was good for business. Well,
that's of course true, but it is a merely negative way of looking at our diversity; as
something merely to be managed. It's like saying if you keep crime down, business will
prosper, or if you keep the drains clear the mosquitoes will not breed.
We
need no longer think of the relationship between prosperity and diversity only in those
terms. While we must, continue to remain vigilant the challenge now is to look beyond the
stability we now enjoy and see what else we can do with a country so blessed with cultures
as ours. We have something of value in itself, and of great economic value in the broadest
sense of economy.
What
had seemed to be our weakness is now our strength. If we continue to prosper in our grand
experiment of multiracial, multicultural prosperity, the world will flock to our doors.
Our local challenge, as international events, particularly since the end of the Cold War
show, is now a global challenge.
We
must be proactive about our diversity. I'm tired of being defensive about our diversity,
of seeing only the potential sensitivities and pitfalls. I want to be proud of it. I want
to teach our children -to see the opportunities in it, to benefit from it, make capital
out of it, leverage it. Why shouldn't we value this about ourselves, when the rest of the
world values us for this?
Ladies
and gentlemen, socially diverse environments foster open, inventive minds. Industrial
giants such as Korea and Japan are having difficulty globalising their economies because
of the homogeneity of their culture. They are used to doing things in one correct way.
However,
in Malaysia with our unique mix of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures among many others,
we have the conditions to foster creative, inventive people who can participate with
others in global value chains.
Moreover
we must face facts and get used to the idea of being able to converse and communicate in
many languages.
Ladies
and gentlemen, you have had the opportunity to step outside your office responsibilities
for a week. I hope that the ideas and enthusiasm you have generated will be replicated and
fostered- Malaysia will only be able to progress if we can constantly regenerate and
revive ourselves. Your week-long exploration of ideas and of the breadth of landscape of
human possibility is important. We will need the same level of excitement for the future
of Malaysia.
Related links:
'Welcome Address by YABhg Tun Hj Mohd Hanif Bin Omar, President of the
Court of Fellows, Malaysian Institute of Management - Closing Ceremony of the Tun Hussien
Onn Renewal Awards (THORA) Programme'
'Address by YBhg Tan Sri Osman S. Cassim,
Vice President of the Court of Fellows, Malaysian Institute of Management - Closing
Ceremony of the Tun Hussien Onn Renewal Awards (THORA) Programme'
'Closing Ceremony of The
7th MIM Tun Hussien Onn Renewal Awards Programme (THORA)'
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