Editorial: Malaysia – Escape Velocity

Public Policy

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By: Editor, localhost/muslim

localhost/muslim’s first Special Country Spotlight on Malaysian Science and Innovation is here.

This is the first in a series of Country Spotlights – with Pakistan to follow later this year and Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar planned for 2012 – and Special Topical Issues designed to bring into focus some of the most critical issues and capabilities across the Islamic World.

Malaysia is an apt country to kick off localhost/muslim’s Country Spotlights with. Not very long ago, Malaysia was not much different from the rest of the OIC member countries in terms of education, health, science and technology, and socio-economic development. Yet, Malaysia went through at least 2 decades (1980s and 1990s) of nation building with focus on investment in its people, building infrastructure, attracting foreign direct investment, and creating a competitive manufacturing-based economy.

Malaysia became one of the Asian success stories of the 1980s and 1990s  and certainly the only OIC member country that did not depend upon crude oil alone to migrate from a developing to a middle income status within this very short span of time. Today, Malaysia boasts a middle income economy with fairly high literacy levels and more than 65% of its exports comprising high technology products – primarily electronics and computing equipment.

The history behind some of these developments and the factors that were responsible for these – most notably a clear vision and a strong political and scientific leadership – are documented in Profiles in Leadership Series feature on Tan Sri Dr. Omar Abdur Rahman – Mahathir Science Advisor for sixteen and a half years during the 1980s and 1990s and – the “prime mover” behind Malaysia’s thrust into science and innovation.

While Malaysians have much to be proud of, there is a long way to go before Malaysia can realise its goal of becoming a high income country. In order to do so it is critical that it succeeds at creating an innovation-based knowledge economy.

A number of exciting developments in this respect have made this an opportunate time to discuss Malaysia’s Science and Innovation.

Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation – Malaysia Study

The first in this series of developments is the recent release of the Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation (AIWSI) first country study on Malaysia. This is an important document not the least because it is first in a series of country studies using a common methodology and language that will allow comparative analysis and learning between OIC member countries.

The Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation (AIWSI) is a landmark study (see also: Royal Society’s Document on the New Golden Age; and Atlas Summary) that will explore the changing landscape of science and innovation across a diverse selection of countries with large Muslim populations in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including in-depth case studies of fifteen geographically and economically diverse countries. It aims to draw important cross-country conclusions to help national policy-makers, international stakeholders, and development planners to chart the way forward. Working closely with partners in each of these countries, the project will chart the delicate interplay between science, innovation, culture and politics, and explore new opportunities for partnership and exchange with the wider world.

The project is a true partnership between OIC family institutions and member countries and partners in Europe, Canada and the US. With oversight by the Secretary General of the OIC, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and jointly managed by the Royal Society in the United Kingdom and SESRIC in Turkey, this project draws upon a wide range of OIC institutions, local country partners, independent experts and other partners such as the British Council, IDRC (Canada), and Qatar Foundation.

We believe that the launch of the Atlas Report on Malaysia presents an important opportunity for a dialogue on Science and Innovation Policy in Malaysia. The depth and breadth of the Atlas Report – in particular, its willingness to address issues such as religion, culture, and social influences on science, innovation, and entrepreneurship – could provide an important way forward for an open, vigorous, critical, and constructive dialogue on science and innovation in the Islamic societies.

Co-authored by Ms. Natalie Day of the Royal Society and Dr. Amran Mohammad of University of Malaya, the Atlas Report was a partnership between a team of researchers from the Royal Society and Malaysian partners at Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) and University of Malaya. Natalie Day and Amran Mohammad contribute a special piece titled Malaysia: Time to put plans into action for this Spotlight.

A Confluence of Events

There are other equally important and worthy events – at both the national and the international arena – that have elevated the debate on science and innovation in Malaysian society make the timing of this Spotlight.

Last year, Malaysia created a special entity within the Prime Minister’s Office to advance the agenda of innovation forward. Prime Minister’s Special Unit on Innovation (UNIK) is yet to fully define its structure and modus operandi but its existence points at both an opportunity and a challenge facing the Malaysian society today. Although UNIK is likely to chart a different – more “hands-on” – course for itself, it could certainly learn from at least a decade of experience in promoting innovation entrepreneurship at Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC). In MTDC: Learning from Malaysian Venture Capital Experience some of these learning points about what works and does not work in Malaysian context are summarised for both Malaysian and non-Malaysian OIC member countries to learn from.

Most recently, Malaysia embarked upon an ambitious agenda to create a Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) to enable it to navigate the treacherous challenges of migrating from a middle income country to a high income one.   The raison d’etre of GSIAC is to bring forth senior government, business, and scientific leaders of international repute from around the world to help Malaysia navigate the “middle income trap” and do so in a manner that is sustainable. The Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak himself chairs the high level Council created in collaboration with The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS).

Dr. Zakri bin Abdul Hamid, the Science Advisor to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib bin Tun Razak, contributes a piece that lays out the Expectations from GSIAC. This is a tall order and Malaysia would have done itself a great service if it is able to achieve all the objectives set out for the Council. However, as we learn from Natalie and Amran’s piece, implementation has often been the Achilles heel of Malaysia’s extremely comprehensive strategic planning system. While GSIAC’s “intellectual” value to Malaysia is unquestionable simply by virtue of the high calibre brain trust it brings to the problem at hand, it would be well-advised to create a clear roadmap of how to get there and a set of quantifiable milestones to guage its performance against.

An Inflexion Point

Today, Malaysia stands, perhaps, at an inflexion point. Science Advisor Dato Zakri bin Abdul Hamid believes that this is Malaysia’s moment – its very own Sputnik Moment to draw parallels from the cold war scientific rivalry between United States and USSR that resulted in President Kennedy’s historic speech to send man to the moon within a decade. America’s Sputnik Moment resulted in a $24B Apollo Programme that resulted in cementing America’s superiority in space.

Malaysia’s Sputnik Moment, Dato Zakri bin Abdul Hamid argues, needs no arch rivals and relates to Malaysia’s quest to race against time to enter the elite club of developed high income countries. There is a lingering feeling that Malaysia must make a concerted effort today to make it happen or it runs the risk of becoming trapped in the middle income forever.

What must the world look for to assess the veracity of the above argument? Perhaps first, and foremost, is the acknowledgement and understanding that science and innovation provides an important ingredient – if not the key ingredient – to reach the aspired goal of becoming a high income country. This must be followed by a proportionate commitment of resources and political will to follow up on the above. Malaysia Vision 2020 and the New Economic Model (NEM) provide a starting point for this important conversation but we believe it will need to go farther than that.

An honest reflection on the set of factors – social, cultural, and economic, among others – the “gravitational forces”, so to speak, that have thus far hindered the country’s advance into the elite club of high income developed nations of the world will have to be undertaken and acted upon. This will require exceptional leadership and the courage to make tough choices along the way.

Such an honest reflection, however, will provide the necessary fuel and intellectual firepower for the Malaysian society to gain the escape velocity necessary to leave the middle income trap forever. – Ed.

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