Bureau. In 1974, Tun Razak appointed me as Senator and a year later, I was nominated to contest for a post in the Supreme Council and won a seat. I was an UMNO Supreme Council member from 1975 until my retirement from politics in 2013.
DR. MOHD SHAH WAH I D During your tenure as the Minister of International Trade, Malaysia became the 20th largest trading nation in the world and the world’ s largest exporter of semiconductors. What was the role of MITI in helping to facilitate Malaysia’ s trade?
TA N SR I R AFIDAH A Z I Z Market opening was one thing, removing trade barriers was another. But the most important factor is the competitiveness of our products and services. There is no point getting into somebody’ s market with a lousy, high-priced and low-quality product. No one will buy our products. Even if the market is not duty free, if we are cost competitive, that tax element should not really matter. You have to be competitive in the context of the market in which you are operating. Today, as you know, margins are becoming smaller. Therefore, efficiency of production, quality, and integrity of services and products are demanded by an increasing number of consumers. Consumers do not mind paying a higher price for products that are of good quality.
Everything eventually will have to be translated into sales. If you cannot translate a trade agreement to sales,
LEFT TO RIGHT | Dr. Mohd Shahwahid Othman( UPM), Dr. Normaz Ismail( UPM), Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Puan Zarina Abu Bakar( PLF)
There is no point getting into somebody’ s market with a lousy, high-priced and lowquality product. No one will buy our products. Even if the market is not duty free, if we are cost competitive, that tax element should not really matter. You have to be competitive in the context of the market in which you are operating... If you cannot translate a trade agreement to sales, it would be a waste of time. it would be a waste of time. Thus, for MITI, it was also important for us to help the private sector become more competitive. We helped them with market intelligence and valuable market research information.
I believe we need to return to the function of helping the private sector boost their competitiveness in the regional and global markets.
DR. MOHD SHAH WAH I D There were a lot of rumours saying Malaysia sometimes lost in( trade) negotiations because of our officials.
TA N SR I R AFIDAH A Z I Z I had experiences where officials from other ministries failed us, because they were not proficient in English or didn’ t attend the negotiations, perhaps because they didn’ t understand what was going on. There was nobody manning the fort. When politicians are too busy“ politicking”, their own staff will be disorganised, and work will be neglected. Corruption may take place when no one is paying attention. This is a problem in today’ s world. It is human failures that cause systems to fail.
I once had the opportunity to work with( the late) David Marshall 3. I represented Malaysia as head of delegation at the UN’ s Decade of Development Conference in Copenhagen, while David Marshall headed the Singaporean delegation. David Marshall was a brilliant lawyer. I knew that I could depend on him on the legal aspects of the UN documents, and as Malaysia did not bring a lawyer, I worked with him. I spent about a week in Copenhagen and learnt quite a bit from him. It was something I never imagined – sitting down together with David Marshall to discuss important issues.
He was very professional, and never once brought in politics. That is also where I learnt to depoliticise things. Not everything should be political;
3 The first Chief Minister of Singapore( 1955 – 1956)
24 PERDANA MAGAZINE 2016