The Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia's own Silicon Valley, will not fail because it has the personal interest of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and a set of other advantages over its competitors in the region.

According to NR Narayana Murthy, chairman of India's leading software company, Infosys Technologies, the MSC offers good infrastructure which is further enhanced by the many bright entrepreneurs in the country.

He said the Malaysian government has been pro-active in encouraging the application of information technology and the Corridor could attract the best companies in the world.

"But I must say that Malaysia has a great advantage because tremendous interest was taken by the prime minister in information technology and the MSC, This will make the chances of it succeeding even better," Narayana said today.

The government launched the MSC project - a test bed for IT companies at a designated 15-by-50km strip south of Kuala Lumpur - in 1996 with the target of securing 500 companies to be based there by 2003.

Currently, it has roped in about 554 MSC-status companies, of which 46 are multinational companies.

Criticisms

However, there have been criticisms of this version of the US Silicon Valley, which has since guzzled more than RM10 billion in state funds.

Among them are the lack of IT-educated graduates, a stoic bureaucracy, almost non-existent venture capitalist funds and the country's low Internet penetration rate.

Narayana, who attended his first MSC International Advisory Panel meeting yesterday, was speaking to journalists at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

He and a number of the panel members had accompanied Mahathir today to visit the MSC-Multimedia Asia Expo 2001. The annual event, which started yesterday, ends tomorrow.

When asked how the MSC can retain its competitiveness in the future, Narayana said Malaysia could learn from its competitors.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. As long as we have an open mind, as long as we are willing to learn from our competitors, as long as we respect the competitors, I think the MSC will become stronger," he said.

Other countries in Asia have embarked on projects similar to Malaysia's MSC, among them Hong Kong with its Cyberport and Singapore's Singapore One.

Competition good

The sub-continent's computer industry captain said he believed in competition because it improves the performance of a company.

"Competition, as long as it's done legally and ethically, is very good," he said.

"It's good for the world because it lets the best man, and best woman, win," added the technopreneur who said he was "capitalist in mind, socialist at heart".

Narayana explained that while governments have a tremendous role to play in developing countries, eventually companies would have to learn to compete and sell their products in the global marketplace.

"A gynaecologist can only make the delivery less painful but it's the lady who has to deliver the child," he quipped.