Well, as I have promised the other day, I am going to blog about this event and here it is, exclusive details of the event.
When I arrive at the Crowne Plaza hotel on the day of the event, it did not start well. Firstly, I rode a motorcycle to the place and the moto's seat was weat and as I was wearing a non-dark pant, it left a mark on my buttocks it looked as if I -was unable to hold it and splashed! - and that was embarrassing. I had to cover the mark with my suit. luckily, it worked.
Anyway, to a more serious detail about the event, I like the directions provided by the whole initiative of holding the event. It is to foster closer understanding and collaboration between Malaysia and Europe. Both realized the potentials posses by one another and therefore, the right steps and strategies must be taken to ensure
that both parties benefit from the relationship that exist.
We had tea/coffee and a few other foods before heading into the main hall. Here, in the lobby you can see a mixture of our locals and lots other Europeans coming for this event. Overall, 300 people attended the event, attended by government representatives, business leaders , NGO's and a few other students.
There were 2 sessions, the first one is entitled "The path to better business and trade between Malaysia and Europe" and the second session is a special keynote delivered by Dr. Mahathir entitled, "The Malaysian Political Landscape - Experiences, Perspectives & Thoughts".
They have lots of interesting speakers on board, where the forum was moderated by Volker U Friedrich, CEO and Managing Partner GBP International. There were discussing about what each other has to offer and how best to form a more fruitful relationship with each other.
But here's the thing though, I have an exam at 3 pm later that day and during the talk itself, I brought along my notes and read it there! :D Well, at least it kept my brain busy and I had to attend this event because I really want to meet Tun Dr. Mahathir, Malaysia's Fourth Prime Minister.
While the first session mainly discussed about trade opportunities between Malaysia and Europe, Dr. Mahathir on the hand spoke about his experience during his time as Prime Minister. He started off in his speech, emphasizing about Malaysia's success in handling a complex multiracial , multicultural, multireligious and multilingual country.
True, he was very outspoken in his speech and he went on to say, in his speech that it is time Malaysia, if the country is serious in achieving Vision 2020, cannot depend on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) anymore and concentrate more on developing local industries and distributing various incentives and benefits provided to foreign investors and offer them instead to the locals.
A reason being why FDI seems much out of relevance at the moment as the country had run out of labour and have to depend on foreign labour and we have to bear in mind, as the whole nation is progressing and prosper, Malaysia labour costs have gone up and therefore, lose to countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
One other thing that I noticed from Dr. Mahathir's speech was that, he clearly was very dissatisfied with the fifith prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Badawi where he said, "incompetent leaders can not only stall development but also destroy the achievements of past leaders."
He went on to say,
After that, all of us headed into another hall for lunch. The foods were awesome and super delicious! Butter prawn, sweet sour fish, beef (rendang), mixed vegetables, hmm, I think the chefs understand my taste after all. i'm lovin it!
Well, it was a very interesting event indeed, it opened up my mind to lots of different perspectives which is essential in order for me to understand how our world works. Misunderstanding often leads to conflicts, and conflicts can turn violent and that's why there are many unpleasant things that's happening today.
Right, so that's my review.I am looking forward to more activities with the Malaysia - Europe Forum again in the future.
For now, thanks for reading.
Cheerio!
clive
When I arrive at the Crowne Plaza hotel on the day of the event, it did not start well. Firstly, I rode a motorcycle to the place and the moto's seat was weat and as I was wearing a non-dark pant, it left a mark on my buttocks it looked as if I -was unable to hold it and splashed! - and that was embarrassing. I had to cover the mark with my suit. luckily, it worked.
Anyway, to a more serious detail about the event, I like the directions provided by the whole initiative of holding the event. It is to foster closer understanding and collaboration between Malaysia and Europe. Both realized the potentials posses by one another and therefore, the right steps and strategies must be taken to ensure
that both parties benefit from the relationship that exist.We had tea/coffee and a few other foods before heading into the main hall. Here, in the lobby you can see a mixture of our locals and lots other Europeans coming for this event. Overall, 300 people attended the event, attended by government representatives, business leaders , NGO's and a few other students.
There were 2 sessions, the first one is entitled "The path to better business and trade between Malaysia and Europe" and the second session is a special keynote delivered by Dr. Mahathir entitled, "The Malaysian Political Landscape - Experiences, Perspectives & Thoughts".
They have lots of interesting speakers on board, where the forum was moderated by Volker U Friedrich, CEO and Managing Partner GBP International. There were discussing about what each other has to offer and how best to form a more fruitful relationship with each other.
But here's the thing though, I have an exam at 3 pm later that day and during the talk itself, I brought along my notes and read it there! :D Well, at least it kept my brain busy and I had to attend this event because I really want to meet Tun Dr. Mahathir, Malaysia's Fourth Prime Minister.
While the first session mainly discussed about trade opportunities between Malaysia and Europe, Dr. Mahathir on the hand spoke about his experience during his time as Prime Minister. He started off in his speech, emphasizing about Malaysia's success in handling a complex multiracial , multicultural, multireligious and multilingual country.
True, he was very outspoken in his speech and he went on to say, in his speech that it is time Malaysia, if the country is serious in achieving Vision 2020, cannot depend on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) anymore and concentrate more on developing local industries and distributing various incentives and benefits provided to foreign investors and offer them instead to the locals.
A reason being why FDI seems much out of relevance at the moment as the country had run out of labour and have to depend on foreign labour and we have to bear in mind, as the whole nation is progressing and prosper, Malaysia labour costs have gone up and therefore, lose to countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
One other thing that I noticed from Dr. Mahathir's speech was that, he clearly was very dissatisfied with the fifith prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Badawi where he said, "incompetent leaders can not only stall development but also destroy the achievements of past leaders."
He went on to say,
Unfortunately the fifth Prime Minister decided to abandon the strategies and policies which had worked so well. Even the projects already in the process of implementation were halted. The policies and strategies which replaced the old ones failed.I have always wanted to meet Dr. Mahathir and to hear him speak was one thing I have waited for so long, only thing was I never had the proper opportunities to do so. Well, I can now "tick" it as Done! :)
The result was disastrous. For example a project to double track and electrify the railway lines from Johor Bahru in the South to Padang Besar on the Thai border costing RM14 billion was stopped.
After several years the Government decided to complete the northern part from Ipoh to Padang Besar, a distant that is less than one third the original Johor Bahru to Padang Besar line. But due to the increases in the construction cost the short line will cost the Government 12 billion Ringgit.
Other projects planned or even approved by the previous Government were also stopped ostensibly because of a lack of fund. This is very strange ecause Malaysia had always managed its finances conservatively and well. It borrowed little from foreign sources. Even during the financial crisis it was not under pressure to repay loans.
Despite the 2004 Elections held a few months after the change in leadership giving the Barisan Nasional an unprecedented majority, the 2008 election saw the BN doing extremely badly. It lost five states, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and failed to get the two thirds majority needed to form a strong Government.
The rank and file felt that the leadership was mostly to be blamed for the debacle. They demanded for a change of leadership. Despite strong resistance the leadership of the BN and the Government changed.
But the damage done was so serious that attempts to recover support failed initially. The term of office of the new leader of the Federal Government is short. Very soon it would have to face the people again.
After that, all of us headed into another hall for lunch. The foods were awesome and super delicious! Butter prawn, sweet sour fish, beef (rendang), mixed vegetables, hmm, I think the chefs understand my taste after all. i'm lovin it!
Well, it was a very interesting event indeed, it opened up my mind to lots of different perspectives which is essential in order for me to understand how our world works. Misunderstanding often leads to conflicts, and conflicts can turn violent and that's why there are many unpleasant things that's happening today.
Right, so that's my review.I am looking forward to more activities with the Malaysia - Europe Forum again in the future.
For now, thanks for reading.
Cheerio!
clive
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