Take advantage of what China has to offer – Darell
KUCHING: Manufacturing industry players in Sarawak in particular and Malaysia in general have been urged to take full advantage of what China has to offer in terms of technology to move development forward.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Darell Leiking when making this call yesterday said Sarawak should not just allow China to come in without offering technology transfer.
“When I was at Water Genesis (Sdn Bhd) and Elim Industries (Sdn Bhd), I asked them about the machines that produced the water bottles. I was told they are from China and have been here for 15 years.
“We must take full advantage of what they have. They cannot just come in to take over our land and we cannot allow them to dictate terms. We should ask for technology transfer.
“Maybe they can start opening their robotics and machinery here. From there Sarawakians can take advantage of what they have and we become the manufacturers of this machinery,” he said when launching the ‘Automation and IR4.0’ seminar at a leading hotel here.
Darell thus called on the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance (MIDF) to collaborate with the Sarawak government, the relevant ministry and trade chambers in Sarawak towards ensuring that Sarawak will not be left out of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
He believed that both Sarawak and Sabah can reach the same level of development as that of Peninsular Malaysia if concerted efforts are made.
Darell said industry players in Sarawak must fully utilise the soft loans provided by MIDF given that the scheme ‘is a rolling fund’.
“I hope there will be more programmes by MIDF. Exim Bank will facilitate import and export, and there is one more good news which I shall announce later,” he said.
He pointed out that gone were the days when there was a lack of communication given that people today get to enjoy fast travel and the Internet of Things (IoT).
He said Sarawak and Sabah can work together to ‘put on new walls, windows and curtains’ for Malaysia by building up their industry in terms of automation, machines and robotics.
He added that the aim of MIDF “is to make sure Sarawak and Sabah will not be left out this time around”.
Established in 1960, MIDF is Malaysia’s premier development finance institution and has played an important role in accelerating the development and modernisation of the country’s manufacturing industry.
It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Berhad.
MIDF Group offers a competitive and diversified range of financial services including investment banking, development finance, asset management and Mezzanine financing.
It offers soft loan schemes for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), automation and modernisation, services sector, Bumiputera automotive entrepreneurs, services capacity development and services exports as well as SME Emergency Fund.
MIDF defines SMEs as sales turnover not exceeding RM50 million or full time employees not exceeding 200 (for manufacturing sector), and sales turnover not exceeding RM20 million or full time employees not exceeding 75 (services sector).