YAB. TUAN CHOW KON YEOW FOR THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY OF THE FMM NEW BUILDING

 SPEECH BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG

YAB. TUAN CHOW KON YEOW FOR THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY OF THE FMM NEW BUILDING

13 February 2020 FMM Penang Branch

 

YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Soh Thian Lye

President of FMM

YBhg. Dato’ Dr Ooi Eng Hock

Chairman of FMM Penang Branch

Yang Berhormat Dr Afif Bahardin

Exco for Agriculture, Agro-Based Industries, Rural Development and Health

Yang Berhormat Sdr Soon Lip Chee

Exco for Youth & Sports

Ir. Hjh Rosnani Mahmod

Secretary, MBSP

YBhg Dato’ Jimmy Ong

Organising Chairman

Representatives from the Government Departments and Agencies

 

FMM Members

 

Members of the Press

 

Distinguished Guests

 

Ladies & Gentlemen

 

Salam sejahtera and good morning to everyone.

Let me first thank the Chairman of FMM Penang Branch, Dato’ Dr Ooi Eng Hock, for inviting me to join all of you here today in the groundbreaking ceremony for your new building, a built testament of FMM Penang Branch’s journey for the past 50 years and the future.

As a pivotal trade association, FMM has always been a close partner of the Penang state government, various government agencies and departments.  For decades, we have worked hand-in-hand to improve on the manufacturing capabilities of our workforce and to have in place, the necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of the various industries. Without this synergy, Penang would not be what it is today.

We are here to witness FMM’s significant milestone, one that befits the vital role the FMM has played over the decades at the national and state levels. In becoming the voice of the manufacturing sector on public policies, FMM’s contributions through the regular public-private sector dialogues and constructive engagements provide avenues to address the changes and effects of government laws, policies and procedures. By bridging the gap between the government and the manufacturing sector, it is not surprising for FMM to receive strong support and enhance good rapport among the stakeholders of the manufacturing industry.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Penang is one the key FDI contributors to Malaysia for the past decades and the State has performed exceptionally well in 2019. Penang’s 10-year average approved manufacturing investment is RM6.6 billion. In the first nine months of 2019, the State recorded an all-time high of RM13.3 billion approved manufacturing investments, up 247% year-on-year.

The State government is mindful that our focus is to attract high quality investments that are involved in cutting edge technologies and high value products. The State’s competitive edges lie on our robust ecosystem and strong talent pool. The latest addition of LAM Research and Smith & Nephew to Penang is a testimony of our capabilities. 

Undeniably, our large local companies like Inari, Vitrox and UWC as well as the SMEs also play critical roles in the ecosystem. Our comprehensive supply chain would not have been possible if not for the presence of these home-grown companies.

That being said, the recent strategic investments by international giants would have a lot of supply chain localization opportunities. I am hopeful that these high-quality FDIs would elevate Penang’s status in the global value chain, upscale the local firms and transform the industry as a whole.

I take this opportunity to also applaud FMM Penang Branch’s high commitment towards its corporate social responsibility programmes. One of the main beneficiaries is the state’s Penang Future Foundation whose scholarship programme receives regular contributions from FMM in ensuring that outstanding Malaysians from financially-deserving backgrounds receive support to pursue their tertiary education.  

Today, FMM has again risen to the occasion by their interest to explore collaboration prospects with the state government to set up a digital library on the upper floor of your existing premises.  While Penang already has 3 digital libraries and the fourth one to be launched in Butterworth soon, there is an ongoing need for more digital libraries as platform for connection and space for creativity and innovation in the current digital era. This partnership should materialise for the benefit of the local community.

As we embrace the digital age, Industry 4.0 and fuelled by the need to move up the value chain, I look forward to many more years of smart partnership, support and collaboration with FMM so that our local industries can be globally competitive.

May today’s ground-breaking ceremony of FMM Penang Branch’s new building bring us to higher heights.

Thank you.