New Economic Policy +Iskandar region = MUM ? plus a little GM history

Bob Lutz retiring from GM. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian publication wrote a nice article:
GM will be a poorer company with Lutz gone. Not everyone agrees with him both within and outside GM, but he is universally respected. His legacy at GM is a stack of new models with good interiors and strong ride manners. And what he has helped create at GM during the past eight and a half years has a chance of continuing under GM's new president for North America, Mark Reuss. He's a car guy, too, just like Lutz.


I don't know Bob Lutz. He was and is famous in automotive circles. I have done work for Mark Reuss. About 20 years he was a GM product engineer. I did a manual drawing for him. A full size side view of the Oldsmobile Aurora. This was done in Troy Michigan.
Later, I worked on the same project on the computer in Flint Michigan. The design facilities in both Troy and Flint are both now 'Closed".
The Flint Tech Centre was recently auctioned off. Click this link to view the abc12 video
The Aurora was supposed to save the Oldsmobile brand. That too has now been 'closed".
The 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora


Mark has done well for himself. Now he is president of the North American portion of GM.


Enough looking back!

In todays NST Business Times they have an article on Malaysia's New Economic Model (NEM).
CRITICAL reforms on the education front would be an important signpost for Malaysia's structural turnaround, says Morgan Stanley Research Asia Pacific.

"In our view, the crux to Malaysia's reform agenda and the structural inflexion point lies in the skill-set upgrade, either raising the quality of the labour force either via education or via import of foreign talent," it said in a report.

"Without a suitably qualified labour force, other policy initiatives of creating a competitive domestic economy, jump-starting private-sector-led growth and enhancing other growth sources would be futile," it added.

The Malaysian government has long called for Malaysia to become the educational hub for the region. It has earmarked the Iskandar development corridor as one of it's growth areas for among other things 'Education".

Motorsport University Malaysia

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If you view slide 4 you will see Creative Industries and Education head the list of desireable industries the government wants to attract to the area.

Alex Yoong kindly allowed me to use him as an endorser of my project. You will see his picture on the front page of my webpage.
Today, he got a full page in the New Strait Times. He mentions his new autobiography 'The Drivers line'. It's F1 weekend here in Malaysia, and Alex is responsible for driver development for LotusF1.

A little support from Moneyweek Asia reporter

Not too much to report.
I replied to a recent article in Moneyweek Asia.
The reporter Cris Sholto Heaton answers the comments!
He viewed my presentation (MUM) and was positive in his assessment.
This the reply:

Thanks John. Your proposal looks interesting and I hope it suceeds - that kind of skills development is what they'll need to make Iskandar a success.

*(Niether the reporter [Cris Sholto Heaton] nor Moneyweek Asia are endorsers of my proposal... On my webpage, I have an endorsement from Alex Yoong. Alex is a supporter of my proposal and gave me his permission to use him. No fee was involved)*

I would hope that this view is held by others in a position to positively influence events.
Obviously, this has not always been the case! But I won't go into that here...
I have embeded the slideshare version of my web page below:

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

Motorsport University Malaysia flyer ready

I have been asked by ASLI, the Asian Strategic Leadership Alliance Institute to promote their upcoming Conference on:

2nd Kuala Lumpur Automotive conference 2009



I have had a flyer made, which I have sent to the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute.
It outlines my Asean + 1 proposal.
I am 100% focussed on this project.

official-flyer-for-motorsport-university-malaysia

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In the past, I have contacted Universities both in Malaysia and abroad regarding this project. They have always been very positive.

If you go into slide share presentation above, and view page 2 you will see the Bernama survey results.

The results of this survey suggest that it is not only the Universities that support the setting up of a Motorsport University in Malaysia.

I would like to think that if a similar survey were to be conducted in China a similar result would be recorded.

Hence my ASEAN + 1 strategy makes sense on many levels

It is my intention to promote the MUM project at this conference. It would be nice to think that educational institutions both local and foreign would take the opportunity to attend this conference and make there support for Motorsport University Malaysia known to local Automotive companies supporting this conference.

Should you be interested here is a sample attendees/ speakers/role players:

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia:

Tan Sri Dato’ Muhyiddin bin Haji Mohd Yassin

Industrial players/politicians:

Dato’ Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh

Chairman, PROTON Holdings Berhad, Malaysia

Dato’ Kamaruddin Ismail

Deputy Secretary-General (Industry), Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI), Malaysia

Mr Dilip Chenoy

Director General, Society of Indian Automobiles Association (SIAM), India

Mr Carl Rajendram

Chief Executive Officer, ISM Insurance Services Malaysia Berhad

Mr Kavan Mukhtyar

Partner & Head - Automotive Transportation & Logistics Practice, Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan

The list goes on and includes local media representatives, as well as representatives of non Malaysian automotive players.

There are several contacts for this conference:

We trust that the above are in order and if there's any way that we can be of any assistance, kindly get your office to contact me or Ms Kenanga Simon, Vice President – Special Events at 603-2093 5760 (dir) / 603-2093 5393 ext 211 / fax: 2093 3078 / 2094 8461 / mobile: 012-212 3441 / e-mail: kenangasimon@asli.com.my / simonkenanga@gmail.com / skenanga@yahoo.com

If you are serious in supporting 'MUM' please come along use this conference to let the relevent people know!

*** I would like to make it clear I am not a speaker at this event. I am not receiving payment for promoting either the conference, or the Motorsport University Malaysia project.

I have written to several institutions and people who I feel would benefit from this conference. I am pleased to report that a well known driver and media personality has agreed to come on Wednesday. The person says that my vision for motorsports in Malaysia is the same as his.