DIGITALISATION is the way forward as the state prepares to propel itself towards further growth and prosperity, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
He said how Penang would become attractive and relevant would depend on technology and Industrial Revolution 4.0, which involves the digital platform to be its next propeller for economic achievements.
“As I have said before, the only way forward for us is to embrace digitalisation. That is the why Penang has set up Digital Penang earlier this year to help accelerate our efforts to pursue opportunities in the digital economy,” Chow said during his participation in the FMM-OCBC Virtual Power Talk 2020 at E&O Hotel in Farquhar Street today.
Other distinguished panellists for the talk, themed ‘Managing your business in Covid-19 times: Lessons and opportunities in supply chain management’, were Top Glove Corporation founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai, KPMG managing partner Datuk Johan Idris, ViTrox Corporation Bhd chief executive officer Chu Jenn Weng and Island Hospital chief operating officer Stephanie Lee.
It was moderated by OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Ong Eng Bin, with Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers (FMM) Penang chairman Datuk Dr Ooi Eng Hock giving the opening remarks.
Chow congratulated both FMM Penang and OCBC for raising RM800,000 from the event to help organisations impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“The most important takeaway from the sharing of our esteemed panellists is that digital transformation is the way forward and the future.
“We must grasp this opportunity provided by Covid-19,” Chow said.
He said he also agreed with Chu that the governments, including Penang government, should not neglect and forget the roles of small medium enterprises (SMEs) while focusing on attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
“We also have to ensure that SMEs are able to embark on digitalisation in order to enable the talent pool to be upskilled and reskilled so that they can support foreign investors who come to invest in our state.
“Without these SMEs in the ecosystem, investors will also not be able to advance their objective in investing here.”
Chow said from the 1970s until today, the state has followed the blueprint of Penang’s economic miracle started by former Chief Minister Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.
The economic growth of Penang has depended on the manufacturing sector since the 70s but in recent years since 2018, tourism and service sector began to set in as an important source of income for the people of Penang.
However, Chow said the Covid-19 crisis has changed all the ground rules and all the tourism-related businesses are now facing a hard time.
Scarcity of land was another issue that Chow touched on.
“What we lack in Penang is land. We’re the second smallest state in Malaysia and unless we’re able to increase our land size through reclamation, we will not have this fundamental asset to support the needs of industries, housing and other developments in the coming decades.
“Through the Penang South Reclamation project, we intend to reclaim three islands comprising 4,500 acres. This will provide us with a breather to relieve us from the land scarcity and maybe for the next 50 years.
“With the new land available, Penang can continue to pursue their industrial journey that was started 50 years ago,” Chow said.
Lim, whose Top Glove company is one of the key beneficiaries during this Covid-19 pandemic, said 80% to 90% of the companies are impacted and are not doing very well.
He said 10% to 20% of companies are doing better.
Top Glove, he said, invested quite a lot in R&D and uses technology to run its business.
He also shared Top Glove’s business ethics such as Top Honesty, Top Integrity and Top Transparency and also TG’s Five Healthy Wells for a healthy and happy life, namely Clean Well, Eat Well, Work Well, Exercise Well and Sleep Well.
He also advised graduates coming out to the workforce to enjoy their work and for those looking for employment to check out Top Glove’s website.
Johan said one aspect of digital economy that he believed would play a prominent part in the next five years is the blockchain technology.
“People want to buy; people want to know where to source it,” he said.
He also shared that Malaysia was ranked fourth overall in the study done by KPMG in the United States and the Manufacturing Institute on cost of manufacturing operation (CoDB Index) around the globe.
Chu said Penang should use Shenzhen as a benchmark as the Chinese government has given very strong financial support to its start-ups in the city.
He said Penang needs to create local technological companies and for that, the quality of education in secondary schools and universities is very important.
Lee said the lockdown came timely for Island Hospital to digitalise their records.
She said during the movement control order (MCO), Island Hospital made Covid-19 testing available via drive-through.
“This gives them a peace of mind. Also, we have provided Covid-19 testing at no cost to all our patients who are going for surgical procedure. We want to make sure we are all safe,” she said.
Ooi said the RM800,000 raised would be channelled to the charitable organisations, Penang Future Foundation (PFF), Penang Covid-19 Fund and the frontliners.
Sin Chew Daily and Buletin Mutiara were the event partners of the webinar.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Alvie Cheng