Speech by Dato¡¯ Hii Ngo Sing, President of SMA at Annual General Meeting of SMA on 18 May 2008.Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for attending the 2007 Annual General Meeting.
Due to the contributions of Council Members coupled with the support of our members, many events and activities had been carried out successfully in 2007.
We are now in the era of globalization and trade liberalisation. In order to remain competitive in the world market, manufacturers are encouraged to improve and upgrade their productivity by adapting new technologies. Besides that, employers are also urged to give opportunities to their employees to improve their working attitudes and skills. In this regard, many courses and seminars have been organized in the past two years like Talk on Computer and ICT; Talk on self-motivation; Seminar on Motivating Employees and Personal Development Training Course.
In order to improve the effectiveness of disseminating news and information, members are encouraged to use e-mail in communication. At the moment, we are in the process of collecting e-mail address from the members. So far only 40 % of the members are found having e-mail addresses.
For senior members who are illiterate in computer are also encouraged to join ICT courses organized by the association.
Recently, with the rising cost of raw materials, Sarawak manufacturers are no longer competitive with the foreign manufacturers due to their cheaper cost of raw materials, who in return export their products to Sarawak at a much lower price as compared to Sarawak products.
We propose the government to abolish the AP system for the importation of raw materials so that Sarawak manufacturers are able to import the raw materials at cheaper prices, there fore Sarawak manufacturers will be more competitive.
Other than that, the government should also extend incentives to the Sarawak manufacturers who are making use of the above raw materials which are currently being subsidized by the government for the end consumers. This measure would enable price differential between the subsidized products for the end consumers and the industrial users to be narrowed.
In addition, the Sarawak manufacturers have to pay the entire cost of the sub-station (capital contribution) whereby the ownership of it still belongs to Syarikat SESCO Berhad (SESCO). This high cost of capital contribution has incurred a huge financial burden to both the small and medium industries in Sarawak, On the contrary, the manufacturers in Peninsular Malaysia pay less than 10 %, whereas in Sabah the sub-station is free-of-charge. In line with Government policy to industrialize Sarawak, we propose that the capital contribution should be reduced to less than 10% of the total cost of the sub-station in line with Peninsular Malaysia.
SMA had submitted memorandums on the views of the above issues and proposals to Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Ministry of Industrial Development Sarawak.
Finally we hope our members could submit suggestions and opinions to us at any time other than the annual general meeting.
Thank you.
Patron, Honorary President & Honorary Advisors to SMA 2008-2009
Patron:
YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan Hong Nam,
Deputy Chief Minister, Minister of Modernization of Agriculture & Minister of Industrial Development, Sarawak.
Honorary President:
Mr. Chai Foh Chin ,
Former President of SMA, Executive Director of Lee Fah Mee Sdn Bhd.
Honorary Advisor:
Dr. Ngenang Janggu,
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Industrial Development, Sarawak.
Honorary Advisor:
Puan Sabariah Mohd. Sofian,
Director of Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Sarawak Branch.
Honorary Advisor:
Encik Asmayuddin Jamaluddin,
Director ofMalaysian Industrial Development Authority, Sarawak Branch.
Honorary Advisor:
Puan Ursla Unnie Thomas Salang,
Director of Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation, Sarawak Branch.
Honorary Advisor:
Datu Robert Lian,
Director of Immigration Department, Sarawak.
Honorary Advisor:
Encik Mohd. Abd. Kadir Johari,
General Manager of SIRIM Bhd, Sarawak
Honorary Advisor:
Mr. Ting Ming Huai,
Former Chairman of SMA.
Honorary Advisor:
Mr. Li Wing Fong,
Former President of SMA, The Managing Director of C. L. Plastics (M) Sdn Bhd.
Legal Advisor:
Mr. Sim Thong Poh,
Sim Thong Poh Advocates.
