From: UC580503@mizzou1.missouri.edu (Albert Foo)
Subject: MY: SEARCC 92 Report (IT Conference in Kuala Lumpur) [Long!]
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 01:21:42 GMT
X-Posted-From: mizzou1.missouri.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Here a report by Dave Kahaner on his visit to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore
during the SEARCC event in August.
 
Enjoy!
 
Albert Foo
Biometric Computer Consultant
MO. Dept. of Conservation
 
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in the articles below are solely
            the author.
 
 
-----------------> Forwarded mail below <------------------------
To: Distribution
From:
 David K. Kahaner
 US Office of Naval Research Asia
 (From outside US):  23-17, 7-chome, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106 Japan
 (From within  US):  Unit 45002, APO AP 96337-0007
  Tel: +81 3 3401-8924, Fax: +81 3 3403-9670
  Email: kahaner@cs.titech.ac.jp
Re: Southeast Asia Regional Computer Conf (SEARCC'92), Kuala Lumpur, 8/92
11 Sept 1992
This file is named "malaysia.92"
 
ABSTRACT. Summary of the Southeast Asia Regional Computer Conference
(SEARCC'92) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 11-14 August 1992. Also
general overview of the state of Malaysian information technology
activities.
 
I wish to thank
        Dr. Tengku Mohd. Azzman Shariffadeen
        Director General
        Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics (MIMOS)
        Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
        7th Floor, Exchange Square
        Off Jalan Semantan
        Damansara Heights
        50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
         Tel: +60 3-255-2700; Fax: +60 3 255-2755
         Email: TMAS@JARING.ISM.MY
and
	Prof Michael J. Olan
        Computer Science Department
        University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse
        131 Morris Hall
        La Crosse, WI 54601 USA
         Tel: (608) 785-6815; Fax: (608) 785-8221
         Email: OLAN@CSFAC.UWLAX.EDU
for many helpful comments, corrections and additions to this report.
 
  I. GENERAL COMMENTS, MALAYSIA, HISTORY & ECONOMIC SITUATION
 II. SEARCC'92
III. SEARCC'92 EXPO
 IV. STATISTICAL INFORMATION
  V. MEANWHILE, BACK IN SINGAPORE
 VI. CHIP SALES
VII. SEARCC'92 PAPERS/AUTHORS
 
I. GENERAL COMMENTS, MALAYSIA, HISTORY & ECONOMIC SITUATION------------
 
This was my first visit to Malaysia. My impressions were very different
from my expectations, the latter formed entirely by reading. I expected
to see a third world country, agriculture driven, and visibly regulated
by a strong Islamic fundamentalism. I can only report on what I did see,
hear, and learn, which were quite different. Kuala Lumpur (KL) the
capital, looks strikingly like its southern neighbor, Singapore, must
have looked only a few years ago. Large residential, commercial, and
hotel construction is everywhere. Ultramodern skyscrapers are adjacent
to mosques, minarets, and cupolas. There are many weary structures, but
also new department stores and slick malls.  A large horse-race track
complex in the center of the city is about to move to the suburbs, to
be replaced by a complex that will house the tallest building in
Southeast Asia, over 90 stories. A telecom tower is being built jointly
with a German construction firm at a cost of $250 Million Malaysian
(about $100M US); over 420 meters high, this will be the third tallest
tower in the world and the tallest in Southeast Asia. Streets and shops
are full of people and vehicles (there is no underground Metro--one
major difference between KL and Singapore--buses are packed). There are
many Malaysian women wearing traditional Moslem black garments covering
all or at least part of their faces. But many more wear bright colored
clothing, and Western jeans, pants, and tee-shirts are everpresent.
Stores are stocked with the usual cornucopia of Japanese electronics
as well as clothing from famous houses around the world.  Cafes are full
of fashionable looking people drinking cappuccino, Perrier, etc.  The
road between the capital and the airport (about 30km) is lined with with
multinational factories.  My taxi driver told me that the Hilton in the
city was busy, but not as busy as the one near the airport which is more
convenient for international business people visiting their Malaysian
subsidiaries. (A new international airport is to be constructed about
40km from the capital at an estimated cost of about $8B US; the old
airport will service domestic flights. This will be Southeast Asia's
largest airport, even larger than Singapore's, quite an accomplishment.)
The road south from Kuala Lumpur (toward Singapore) is new, multilaned
and spacious, although not completed all the way to the border. However,
I am told that roads in other areas are significantly underdeveloped,
and along with ports, energy and telecommunication systems their supply
is outstripped by demand.  There is substantial evidence of new
building, along with plenty of examples of agriculture, primarily rubber
and coconut palm plantations.  The government has earmarked about $40B
US for infrastructure, social development and defense expenditure over
the next five years.  In most areas of economic development Malaysia
leads Thailand, and per capita income is almost twice as high.
 
Malaysia, formerly British ruled Malaya, became independent in 1957.
The country is ruled by a constitutional monarch elected for a five-year
term by the nine hereditary sultans of the traditional Malay states from
among themselves on a rotational basis. It is composed of two large
parts, the southern half of the Malay Peninsula which connects (through
Thailand) to mainland Asia, and about half the large island of Borneo to
the east.  This island also contains a large Indonesian state and the
tiny country of Brunei. Malaysia has almost 18 million people, about 30%
are of Chinese extraction, 9% from India or Celon (mostly Hindus), and
most of the others Malay; almost all the latter are Moslems.  The
country is well endowed with natural resources, including lumber, oil
and natural gas; by Southeast Asian standards Malaysia is large and not
heavily populated-- there is plenty of room for growth.  British
interest was focused on tin and rubber as well as shipping (tin exports
now run at a rate of about $300M US, about one fifth the amount obtained
from palm oil). The city of Malacca (150km south of Kuala Lumpur) on the
mainland's west coast was Portuguese, then Dutch, then British, and is
at the juncture of trade routes between Europe and the Middle East. The
adjacent Straits of Malacca are still one the world's busiest waterways.
 
Originally Singapore was part of Malaysia (only about one half mile
separates these two countries, the island of Singapore being at the
southern tip of the Peninsula), but separated in 1965 after only two
years.  The then Prime Minister of Malaysia agreed to the separation of
Singapore because the Chief Minister of Singapore wanted certain
freedoms that were not allowed for under the agreement on federation,
such as education which is a federal, not a state matter.  Even today
many Malaysians feel that Singapore is a part of Malaysia and should not
have been allowed to separate.
 
There are also distinct ethnic differences between Singapore and
Malaysia (Singapore is over 90% of Chinese extraction).  Indeed, there
have been disputes between Malay and Chinese during the country's short
history. The Chinese have focused on commerce and been very successful,
the Malays have dominated agriculture and government.  Since the early
1970s explicit government policy has favored Malays in education and
wherever possible, jobs, in an effort to give them a fairer share of
their own country's wealth. Coupled with Moslem religious policies, this
has created differences between Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians,
etc. Nevertheless, I was told repeatedly that all groups now live
amicably.  Some Malaysian experts feel that racial tension in the US and
England is worse than in Malaysia, and some people would even go as far
as to say that Malaysia is a role model for racial harmony.  None of
these people would claim that there no problems but that the problems
are being tackled in an enlightened and fair manner.  Certainly the
government realizes that at least in the area of industrial progress it
must utilize all the human resources available, and a senior official
recently pointed out that "In many developing countries, political
stability and national unity were never emphasized...It is important
[our] national leadership integrate political, social, and economic
factors in the quest for modernization." The Far Eastern Economic Review
notes that the Malaysian "government will de-emphasize its long-espoused
goal of redistributing 30% of the nation's wealth to...Malay majority by
a specified date... [and] will be less inclined to provide a free ride
to [any] class."
 
Recent growth has been very strong, averaging about 8% annually since
1980. Unemployment is just over 4%, considered to be a full employment
situation, but a shortfall of more than half a million workers is
predicted by the end of the decade.  Rapid growth has generated a modest
amount of inflation (around 4%), and the country has a weak balance of
payments position, the latter fueled by increases in consumer spending
and foreign investment.  The manufacturing sector claims that its labor
pool is already short by 80,000 workers. Many foreign workers, including
more than half a million from Indonesia are employed illegally.  At the
same time, higher salaries and opportunities elsewhere are attracting
skilled Malaysians to move out of the country. This is a situation that
Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other rapidly developing countries in the
region have also faced. However, this seems to be self correcting, as
many of these people are returning to their homeland in senior
positions, now that the economic outlook is brighter.
 
As mentioned above there are many Western companies in Malaysia, and
investment from outside Malaysia is very strong, more than $6.5B US in
1990, with France and Australia involved in two large refinery projects.
Taiwan has been Malaysia's largest investor, since 1987 almost $5B US,
although the rate has been reduced recently, partially because Taiwan is
focusing on mainland China currently, and also because a $3B US steel
plant project is still on hold. (There is also a political problem
concerning the impact of Taiwanese (Chinese) capital on the government's
plan to distribute national wealth more equitably--see above, but the
prevailing attitude is "It doesn't matter where the money comes from", or
more directly, "growth will take precedence over distribution". The
Malaysian government appears to have a pragmatic view.) While I was here
Motorola celebrated its 20th anniversary in Malaysia, having invested
more than $350M US here. At the same time the company's Malaysian
subsidiary has been given the task of spearheading the entry into PR
China.  Motorola records substantially more than $1B US in turnover at
four manufacturing facilities here, between 20-30% of the company's
global output.
 
Malaysia is going to spend a great deal of money developing its R&D if
current plans are implemented. By the year 2000, the country plans to
spend 2% of its GDP on R&D expenses (1.5% by 1995). Most of this increase should come
from the private sector whose contribution is predicted to increase
to about 60% of total R&D expenditures. Five priority sectors have
been identified, biotechnolgy, automatic manufacturing, advanced
materials, electronics, and information processing. The current budget
allocates about $M600Malaysian ($250M US) to strengthen existing R&D
institutions and promote joint research between private, university, and
government institutes.
 
Four other anecdotal examples of recent activities.
 
(1) NEC has recently been awarded a $6.3M US  network system order.  NEC
will deliver three 3400/65 mid-sized mainframes and more than 250
workstations and connect them into a network linking four major customs
office centers across Malaysia. In addition to building up a network
infrastructure, the system is claimed to be needed to handle the
country's expanding trade and the influx of foreign capital.  This is
NEC's largest order to a governmental agency in Southeast Asia. NEC is
also working to build an ISDN switch in a new international telecom
gateway.
 
(2) A very interesting joint Malaysian-Australian aircraft project, the
Eagle X-TS, will be delivered this December, with about 75 aircraft to
be built in 1993 and 450 by 1997. The Eagle X-TS is a three (sic) flying
surface aircraft, with one large "wing" above and behind the cockpit and
a smaller one below and just behind the single front prop. The
Australian partner claims that this is its first project to use advanced
composite materials technology.  The Malaysian company is a joint
venture between the Malaysian government and Petronas, the Malaysia's
petrochemical company.
 
(3) Malaysia's Prime Minister will lead a trade delegation to Vietnam,
the first ever such visit to Hanoi since Malaysia gained its
independence in 1957.
 
(4) There is even an automobile industry in Malaysia. With the help of the
Japanese, Malaysia's national car, the Proton Saga has been on sale since
1985, with nearly 400,000 cars sold in Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore,
and Britain; this summer a new model was launched.
 
During the week that SEARCC'92 was being held, Malaysia was also running
a Congress & Seminar on Science and Technology, focused on the year
2020, a key date in government action plans and recommendations set forth
in R&D related policy papers. Five major topics were selected, Medicine,
Agriculture, Social, Industry, and Strategic. The last two include the
following.
     Industry:   Product, Service, Processing, Technology
     Strategic:  Energy, Environment, Advanced materials, New techniques
I did not participate in this meeting but was told that a report will be
compiled and presented to the National Council for Scientific Research
and Development (NCSRD). Interested readers can contact
        Urusetia
        Kongress & Seminar S&T Kebangsaan KE-6
        d/a Kompleks PUSPATI, Bangi
        4300 KAJANG, MALAYSIA
         Tel: +60 3-825-0510; Fax: +60 3-825-8262
 
See also my remarks about Singapore, Malaysia's southern neighbor, at
the end of this report.
 
II. SEARCC'92-----------------------------------------------------------
 
This was the 11th annual South East Asia Regional Computer Conference,
attended by about 650 delegates.  SEARCC is composed of computer
professionals from eleven countries, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines,
Australia, and New Zealand (NZ joined in 1991).  Its main aim has
been to allow Information Technology (IT) professionals to meet and
share information. SEARCC is not primarily a research conference on
computer science, although some research activities are featured. This
year's conference theme was "IT Building Information Infrastructure for
National/Regional Growth." Thus the focus was on those aspects of
computing that will have a broad impact and the importance of
information technology in the progress and development of member
countries. This includes many business related topics, such as
commercial information services (Electronic Data Interchange, Open
Systems, Value Added Networks, etc). It also includes infrastructure
topics such as security, education, standards, policies, as well as
general management and human resources issues. Other buzzwords were
object oriented technology, networking, and telecommunications.  Thus
the majority of the presentations made at the conference touched upon
these topics and their role in human development.  (Some comments about
the basic questions associated with this theme are detailed below.)
Associated with the conference was an exhibition which drew more than
20,000 visitors, as well as the meetings of SEARCC Regional Interest
Groups (SRIGs). Eight SRIGs have been identified; during this conference
papers were presented on education, standardization, and
telecommunications as part of the SRIGs. In addition there was an
International Computer Programming Competition for student teams from
SEARCC member countries.  The conference was held at the World Trade
Center in Kuala Lumpur, which is up to international standards in terms
of all facilities. A two volume proceedings (in English) is available
from the publisher. A list of titles and authors is attached to this
report and I will distribute copies of selected articles to interested
readers as time permits.
 
    Publisher:
        Gabungan Komputer Nasional Malaysia
        Malaysian National Computer Confederation (MNCC)
        46A, Jalan SS 2/66, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan
        MALAYSIA
 
The ten countries of SEARCC have a wide ranging socio-economic structure and
capability (see tables below), agriculture is still a very significant
industry (especially with respect to the number of workers), services are
important, and value-added is low in most sectors. The countries all need
vast improvements in human development services (education, health, etc),
R&D is generally weak (with some exceptions) as are the telecommunication
and data services infrastructure (again with some exceptions). In the
area of IT, consumption is very low compared to the US or Japan and the
focus is on hardware. Most hardware is exported (86%) and the region is
very weak in software production and information services.
 
In Malaysia, the 1990 electronics industry output was $8B US, accounting
for 18% of the country's GDP, and 25% of its exports. This industry has
had a compound growth rate of 22% since 1978. The computer industry
forecasts sales in 1992 of $775M US, with only about one quarter in
software or services, the rest in hardware, with per capita consumption
of less than $50 US. In other words, the electronics industry in Malaysia
is important, but not yet as a source of IT development, primarily
because indigenous R&D is insufficient.
 
The opening SEARCC session included a keynote address by Academician
B.L.  Sendov (Bulgaria), President of IFIP (International Federation for
Information Processing), who discussed the somewhat enigmatic topic of
"Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom." The main premise of the talk
was that while computers are far superior to humans in processing data
into information, it is still in the realm of humans to be able to
process knowledge in a way that produces what we refer to as wisdom. The
address was highlighted by a live videoconference between participants
of SEARCC '92 and Professors Rubenstein and Leeburg at UCLA, organized
by Telekom Malaysia. (This is the recently privatized telephone company
which is now trying to develop products and services that consumers
want. Their latest, Smartfon,  uses a direct wireless base station link
from a subscriber's handset to the public switched telephone network
allowing calls to be made but not received.  The motivation here is to
duplicate the very rapid subscriber growth seen in Hong Kong and
Singapore.) In my opinion, the primary motivation for the teleconference
was to demonstrate the technology. For large conferences like this one,
there is little audience interaction with the speakers--the session was
essentially a lecture--and having an expensive video link requiring one
group to be awake in the middle of the night appears to be overkill. A
simple videotape would have been just as effective.  A video conference
is most useful when the participants need to be truly interactive.
 
The remainder of the first plenary session included talks about
networking. The most significant fact presented was that networking
provides the key to information sharing, and access to large
international information networks, e.g., Internet and data bases, is
crucial for developing countries.
 
I found that many of the papers, not unexpectedly, were of a very
general nature, on "soft" topics, papers describing products or soon to
be introduced products, introductory papers, etc.  I was less interested
in those and confine my remarks to the more technically oriented
presentations. But to be fair, many papers were of specific interest to
members of the audience who were working in related application areas.
In my opinion, some of the best papers described problems and trends
with specific countries. It is clear that all the countries in the
region see IT as a core technology for social and economic growth and
are working diligently to build the infrastructure to support this.
Everyone admits that IT has the potential to enhance other industrial
sectors, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. A key technological aspect of
this relates to telecommunications and networking. Another aspect is
human resources, there simply are not enough trained technicians and
scientists and education and training are seen as important needs. In
some ways all of SEARCC'92 was a pep-talk for IT, with numerous
statistics cited to show its growing importance, and repeated references
to the MITI 2000 report with extrapolations suggesting that the
information industry could account for as much as one fifth of Japan's
GNP by the year 2000, the labor force involved in IT will be 3-4 times
the 1984 levels, etc. There is no doubt that IT will be one of (or maybe
the) key industry in the next century, but I suspect that at SEARCC'92
these kinds of papers were "preaching to the choir".
 
One Malaysian paper is worthy of note, if only to illustrate the state
of current thinking. Scientists from the Mechanical Engineering Dept of
the University of Technology Malaysia presented the results of a numerical
simulation of two dimensional air flow in a enclosure with heated walls.
The SIMPLE (Semi Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations) method
was used for solving the discrete equations, but the main point of their
paper was to demonstrate the integration of various existing analysis
tools, including a Fortran fluid flow solver, SAS for producing contour
plots, and AutoCad for other plots. The authors conclude "We have shown
that there is a need for an integrated engineering analysis system...
[to] provide engineers with an effective tool to design and operate
engineering systems... This may be accomplished by converting the data
generated into a format that can be exported to any engineering
package." This is true, and in the West is accepted practice within the
engineering community.
 
The conference Proceedings included the text of about twenty papers,
including the one above, that were not presented at SEARCC'92.  Most of
these were research papers and included reports on imaging systems and
natural language processing from Malaysian scientists, an interesting
computer graphics paper from Singapore, and a generalization of a
encryption scheme (proposed by Davida, Wells, & Kam and known as DWKC)
by Taiwanese scientists which replaces the Chinese remainder theorem
with an algorithm based on Galois fields. Because these papers were not
presented there was no mechanism to allow discussion with their authors.
 
One afternoon track was devoted to eight research papers.  This session
was a last minute addition, urged on the organizers by colleagues at the
National University of Singapore (NUS). Because of scheduling, all but
one of the speakers were from that country and, disappointingly there
were no Malaysian speakers. In addition, the papers were not included in
the Proceedings although one paper was made available to us on the last
day of the conference. (Frankly, I couldn't distinguish between some of
the better papers given in the Proceedings but not presented, and this
set, presented but not in the Proceedings.) Most SEARCC attendees took
the opportunity to participate in an industrial tour, but those few
dozen who stayed were extremely surprised to discover that most of
the research papers were of excellent quality, in fact among the most
coherent and clearly presented work at SEARCC'92.  Several of these
presentations were of as high a quality as those given at conferences in
the US and served as an indication that significant research is being
done in parts of the Southeast Asia region. For the more technically
minded, this session was one of the highlights of the conference, and I
expect that this component will receive expanded coverage in subsequent
SEARCC conferences.  (Next year's SEARCC will be in Hong Kong, 5-8
October 1993, as part of that country's week-long IT exposition.)
Without written papers the oral presentations (20 minutes) were sketchy,
but below a few are described.
 
Three of the most interesting of the research papers were presented by
       Prof Hon-Wai Leong
       Dept of Information Systems & Computer Science
       National University of Singapore
       Lower Kent Ridge Road
       Singapore 0511
        Tel: +65 772-2903; Fax: +65 779-4580
        Email: LEONGW@ISCS.NUS.SG
and his collaborators at NUS.  Leong whose PhD is from Illinois,
explained that there are two main groups in his department, Algorithms,
and VLSI Design Automation, but that there is good interaction between
them. For example, interest in robot motion planning can be related to
VLSI routing, which in turn relates to computational geometry. He
described the problem of a point robot in a 2D static environment with
obstacles and free regions (all rectangular) and only horizontal or
vertical motion allowed. Associated with this are problems of finding
the shortest total length path, the path with minimum number of bends,
etc.  All of these are being studied within his group, using various
graph, tree search and line search algorithms.  ("Geometric Algorithms
for Rectilinear Path Problems and their Applications"). More general
problems of finite size robots and simultaneous movement of more than
one robot are also being examined.  Leong also described work associated
with reconfigurable memory (RRAM) or processor arrays ("Efficient
Algorithms for Reconfiguring VLSI/WSI RRAMs by Row/Column Deletion"). By
introducing structural redundancy it is possible to enhance the yield
and improve the fault tolerance of these devices.  Given one or more bad
processors, the goal is to find a good repair solution (e.g., replace
one processor with a spare) or decide that the available spares are not
configured in a way that will make repair possible.  With realistic
constraints (finite number of spares, etc.) this is known to be an
NP-hard problem (Konig Egervary Theorem), but Leong and his group have
developed heuristics to speed up the algorithm, developed a new test for
irrepairability, and performed a probability analysis for perfect
(alpha, beta) covers. He claims that their new algorithm is very
efficient for RAMs.
 
In a related paper ("New Results on Channel Routing"), Leong's colleague
K.K. Lee briefly described a new channel routing algorithm for reducing
the number of "vias" (layer changes) and space between distinct chips,
and claimed that this was an improvement on the bubble sort router
developed by Chaudhary and Robinson. Details are to be presented at the
Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Simulation (Dec 1992).
 
Other papers in this session include Loh Wai Lung (NUS), ("Some
Specifications for Object-Oriented Systems"), Sally Jo Cunningham,
Waikato U, New Zealand, ("Learning Rules by Example: Finding the Rules
Hidden in the Data"), Hong Jun Lu ("Least Fixed Point Computation in
Deductive Database"), K.P. Tan, NUS, and ("Pyramid Grid Sort").
Finally, Chin Wei Ngan (NUS) presented a splendid survey (" Optimizing
Functional Programs"), i.e., no GOTOs, no global memory, no assignment
statements.
 
One invited presentation to the general conference on Massively Parallel
Computers was by
      Prof L.M. Patnaik
      Dept of Computer Science & Automation
      Chairman, Microprocessor Applications Laboratory
      Indian Institute of Science
      Bangalore 560 012 India
Although no fault of Patnaik's, this paper was out of place at SEARCC.
(In addition he had dozens of slides and was only given about 25
minutes. When combined with typical Indian rapid-fire English and no
printed manuscript it was doubtful if many of the Malaysians were able
to follow him.) He presented a good overview of the need for, and
capabilities of parallel computers, their history, and described in
detail the ICL DAP, and the Thinking Machines CM-1 and CM-2 (all
machines that have been superseded by newer models), concluding with a
discussion of how parallel computers can be used to simulate neural
networks. I have remarked in other reports, that India has an active
parallel processing research program; Patnaik's paper was an indication
that Indian scientists are carefully monitoring developments in this
field.
 
Although not really research papers, there were presentations of various
aspects of object-oriented technology. The conclusions drawn are that
object-oriented techniques are being applied to the analysis, design,
and implementation of a wide variety of information system projects and
it appears that these methods will dominate development projects for
some time to come.
 
It is difficult to generalize about a large conference such as this, but
a few points stand out.
 
(1) Malaysia has officially embraced Open Systems for public sector
procurements. This means that government agencies who are planning to
purchase computer systems, software, etc., can specify their
requirements in terms of various IEEE, ANSI, and ISO standards for
general principles, operating system interfaces, programming languages,
commands, utilities, networks, device interfaces, data management,
interchange and compression, databases, user interfaces, security and
system development methodology. They can then expect vendors will be
able to comply on the basis of satisfying the standards set out in
detail in these documents. MAMPU (Malaysian Administrative Modernization
and Management Planning Unit, the prime agency responsible for
promotion, usage, and control of IT in the public sector) has issued a
detailed booklet, explaining the steps that government organizations
should follow during their procurement and requirements specifications.
At the moment, agency participation is voluntary, and specifications are
stated as being recommended, preferred, or optional. Nevertheless, this
is really quite a different situation from say, Japan, where Open
Systems have not been as healthy as their proponents would like.
 
In general, open systems attracted a lot of attention at SEARCC '92, and
numerous presentations addressed issues related to this topic.  Talks
ranged from those touting the benefits of their particular open systems
products to a panel discussion of the pros and cons on open systems.  At
SEARCC, senior managers from both OSF (Open System Foundation) and the
Unix community made presentations.  Their key points were that the
Unix/OSF wars are over, and that the organizations appreciate that they
will need to cooperate to survive in the future. (Let's hope so.) There
were repeated comments about the relative number of MS-DOS versus Unix
systems indicating that Unix/OSF supporters have to work together.
While conclusions are difficult to make due to the wide variety of
views, there is no question that open systems will play a major role in
IT development in Southeast Asia, with several governments already
giving their support to open systems projects. At the R&D level,
W.Coelli (Queensland Univ) stressed that an OSF compliance test center
was badly needed in Asia.  Further evidence of the impact of open
systems in the region was the IT Expo held in conjunction with the
conference. This large exhibit featured over 20 vendors taking part in
an interoperability demonstration of their respective systems and was
one of the most crowded exhibits.
 
(2) Research.  The research population in Malaysia is very low, only 330
per million people, compared to 4500 in Japan, 3850 in the US, and 2700
in Germany. Opportunities and money are the best way to improve this. For
example, various science and technology prizes offered by the government
have essentially been doubled, and the National Science Award is about
$20K US.  Nevertheless, lack of research papers (especially from
Malaysia) was one complaint that I had about this SEARCC.
 
(3) Software versus hardware in Southeast Asia. This tack was hammered on
by Dr.Stan Shih, the founder and Chairman of Acer. This is Taiwan's largest
computer company (more than $1B US in sales in 1991) and the most
respected Asian computer maker outside Japan. Acer makes a line of PC
and workstation products including Unix boxes, laptops, and 486s.
Shih's strategy for economic success is to move away from hardware into
software. He pointed out that for the past ten years developing Asian
countries have concentrated heavily on the development of PC- related
hardware, to the extent that this part of the world is now one of the
world's leading PC hardware manufacturing centers. But intense
competition among PC hardware manufactures will reduce profit margins
and the future lies in the development of value-added software,
primarily in an open system environment. He detailed several specific
steps.
 
 (a) Develop highly focused and niche products first, such as firmware
bundled products (to take advantage of existing hardware expertise)
concentrating on the regional markets in Asia and use the PC marketing
channels already operational for exporting software. Regional market
penetration can occur by forming strategic alliances with multinational
companies. Shih feels that Asics are a very specific new opportunity in
the software business, and he noted that Taiwan's Computer and
Communication Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research
Institute (ITRI) is in a consortium with Sun, and the Taiwanese
companies Tatung, Acer, Twinhead, and Mitac for R&D in Asic, SPARC
workstations, and controllers for video graphics, peripheral buses, and
DRAMs.
 
 (b) Cultivate software experts by training more people. Enlist
government support in training personnel from academic or industry in
the development of highly specialized products. Establish software
development centers in countries with existing software manpower to make
use of the experience gained from their past achievements. Promote the
domestic software industry. Shih comments that in Taiwan there is a
target of $6B US in software production revenue by the year 2000, and
that a software industrial park will be established to accelerate the
development of the country's local industry and create a world-class
brand name. (Under Taiwan's recent National Development Plan, the
country's IT industry has secured $18B US in funds directed towards
speeding up technology development, increasing R&D projects, and
improving manufacturing capabilities of computer makers.)
 
 (c) Attract well known software houses for local investment, by offering
incentives to attract companies to invest locally. Shih believes that
transfer of development technology from these companies would push
software produced in Asia forward to world-class standards sooner than by
continuing to produce software independently.
 
 (d) Other strategies include joint ventures, strengthening intellectual
property rights laws and enforcing copyright protection.
 
Shih concluded by summarizing that
* Asia's new opportunities are in the software business
* Asia's future is in Open systems
 "Most importantly, is the formulation of long-term development
strategies, creative and customer-driven marketing, product quality
improvement, strong product support, and continuous product research and
development that will make a world-class competitor."  In my opinion,
this kind of philosophy has no relation to what one normally associates
with Asian software. If it is implemented, watch out Microsoft!
 
In terms of vision and philosophy, I was very impressed with remarks by
MIMOS's Dr. Tengku Mohd. Azzman Shariffadeen (address given above).
He pointed out (again) that most SEARCC members are weak in the R&D.
Malaysia in particular is strong in the electronics industry, but not in
R&D.  Dr. Azzman commented that the conference theme leads to the
questions of what R&D programs have the potential to lead to a better
information infrastructure (hence to growth), how do we conduct these
programs, and how should regional opportunities for collaborative R&D
best be exploited? His list of strategies sounded surprisingly like
Shih's-- collabortive R&D, strategic alliances, competition with
cooperation, need for standards (OSF), intellectual property rights,
regional products, intra-regional flow of skilled personnel, computer
networks for information flow. He also mentioned very briefly several
specific Malaysian R&D programs including
 
  Computers in education
  Joint Advanced Research and Internetworking Project (JARING)
  Rural telecommunication
  Natural language processing
  SCADA
  Machine intelligence
 
Some additional details about JARING and machine translation projects
are included below. SCADA stands for supervisory control and data
acquisition system.  The first version of this product was installed to
minitor and control a set of (electric) power substations in a portion
of Malaysia, but other applications are now being developed.  Azzman
made one final point worth noting because it may conflict with others'
opinions. He pointed out that the IT industry, in Southeast Asia, may
not be important for its own sake, but mostly for the opportunities that
exist to apply IT to enhance growth in other sectors of the economy. Key
technologies seen to be associated with IT are Telecommunications,
Client/Server Cooperative Processing, Multi-media and Human Computer
Interface, Object oriented processing, and CASE (Computer Aided System
Engineering).
 
Finally, Azzman placed emphasis on the potential for IT to enhance human
development, and the importance of people.  This point was highlighted
not only by him, but numerous times at this conference, "invest in
technologies that invest in people", "emphasize user training", etc.
 
JARING is a new project to establish an integrated nationwide data
communication network based on recognized international standards.
Other goals are to stimulate R&D, and provide a platform to study and
evaluate data communication technology. Plans are to provide common
network services (electronic mail, bulletin board, FTP, and remote
login). Users and researchers will define their needs, basic technology
is to be provided by equipment and telecommunication service suppliers,
and MIMOS will match these two, e.g., provide the administration and
oversight. For further information either contact Azzman or send email
to JARING@RANGKOM.MY.
 
III. SEARCC'92 EXPO----------------------------------------------------
 
More than fifty organizations were represented at the heavily attended
exposition that accompanied SEARCC'92.  These were mostly vendors
demonstrating Open System applications and PC/WS commercial hardware
products. The PC clone business is slow, and several vendors were
offering almost "fire-sale" prices for 386 and 486 systems, even
throwing in a computer table or other encouragement.  (Malaysia is
primarily an assembler of PCs, but there is one large manufacturer of
PCs which designs and manufacutures them locally--Micro Computer System.
This company recently won two large orders to supply Unisys as well as
the Olympia group of Germany.)
 
One exhibit that was particularly interesting presented the work at CICC
(Center of the International Cooperation for Computerization).  This is
a nonprofit organization founded about ten years ago by the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) of Japan. Its purpose is to
implement cooperative activities promoting computerization in developing
countries. These involve
	Education & training for trainees from abroad to develop
           software instructors, engineers, and microcomputer engineers
        Technical guidance and consultation by dispatching experts abroad
        Information services such as local seminars, promotional
           materials, texts, movies, etc.
        Studies of computerization, information systems, current status,
           policies, problems, cooperative studies on machine translation
        Information exchange, invitations for people exchange, international
           conferences, communication links with international organizations.
More than 50 Japanese companies participate and there are activities in
almost twenty countries. Education is a major part of CICC efforts,
especially conferences and training. Conference examples are
"International Conference for Computerization '91" (Tokyo), "Fifth Asian
Forum for Standardization of Information Technology" (Tokyo), "Sixth
Asian Forum for Standardization of Information Technology" (Malaysia),
various two country computerization cooperation conferences (Egypt-Japan,
Saudi Arabia-Japan, Malaysia-Japan, Sri Lanka-Japan, etc), Computer
Aided Instruction Workshops in China, Thailand, Philippines and
Malaysia.  CICC supports SEARCC conferences, computerization essay
contests, gathers statistics of computer utilization and penetration,
and conducts surveys on IT standardization. Training activities
typically involve a large number of countries with a few (rarely more
than half dozen) students from each country. Training can be in the home
country or in Japan.
 
CICC's main cooperative research activity is a machine translation
system for Asian languages (currently Chinese, Thai, Indonesian,
Malaysian, and Japanese). This work has been in progress since 1987 and
will run through 1993. In Japan it involves researchers at ETL, CICC's
Machine Translation System Laboratory, the Japan Electronic Dictionary
Research Inst, and various computer manufacturers and software houses.
Each of the four other countries also has a research institute associated
with the project. CICC has contributed over $3M US toward the project.
The main approach is to pre-edit text to make it easier to translate,
followed by morphological, syntactic, and semantic analysis, and
eventually conversion into interlingua using the rules of sentence
analysis grammar. In other words an intermediate language is used as the
pivot for translation. From this and by use of the dictionary, sentences
are generated in the target language. Main applications are to translate
technical documents at high speed. In Malaysia, this project is being
conducted jointly at three universities, Univ Technology Malaysia, Univ
Sains Malaysia, and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.  (Prof Henk Schotel,
University of Nijmegen [HSCHOTEL@KUNRC1.URC.KUN.NL], visited Sains
Malaysia on Penang Island recently, and "was amazed of the numbers of
PCs and Macintoshes available for student and staff - there are hundreds
of them. Now the first SUN work stations have arrived. They are quite
advanced users of the hardware. I visited PTMK (Projek Terjemahan
Malalui Komputer) that aims at translating Malay into English. The
project leader, Prof Zaharin [ZARIN@CS.USM.MY] is also the head of the
whole Computer Science department and very internationally oriented.")
On a related topic, S.Nirenburg (CMU) gave an invited paper on software
tools developed at CMU for machine-aided translation, implying that,
given the state of current technology, humans still need to be in the
translation loop.
 
CICC has a number of publications. Three of the more interesting are the
following.
 
  * "CICC News". Appears several times each year contains details of
CICC activities, brief summaries of conferences, training schedules, and
a calendar of computer related conferences in the region.
  * "Continuing Progress of Computerization in Japan '91-92". Describes
the computer industry in Japan, and the present status of the Japanese
software industry, trends in information service and IT in Japan, and
two "new" developments, (a) ICOT, (b) a project to integrate and
computerize health and welfare activities, allowing single source
management throughout the country.
  * "Textbook: 6th Asian Forum for Standardization of IT". Proceedings
of a conference of the same name held 10 August 1992 in Kuala Lumpur.
While focused on Open Systems, this document is still very interesting,
especially as it contains site reports from Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan,
China, Philippines, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand.
 
  Contact:
	CICC
        Mita Mori Bldg, No. 43
        13-16, Mita 3-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, JAPAN
         Tel: +81 3-3457-0941; Fax: +81 3-3457-0944
 
 
IV. STATISTICAL INFORMATION---------------------------------------------
 
Figures in the tables below were extracted from IT Asia, February 1992,
which in turn extracted them from an ASOCIO report (Asia Oceanic
Computer Industry Association) presented at the end of 1991. Some of the
data were obtained from Taiwan's Institute for the Information Industry
(III).
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Information Technology Consumption
 
                      Information                           Percapita % of
Country/   Hardware    Services    Total   Pop    Consump     Information
Region     $US M       $US M       $US M   Mil   $US          Services
 
ASIA*     9,058      4,908        14,860  165.3   89         33
  (excl. Japan, China)
Japan    37,308     37,000        74,308  123.5  602         50
US       91,209    100,000       191,209  249.2  767         52
 
 Note: ASIA    Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, New Zealand, Hong Kong,
               Singapore, Malaysia
 
     Source:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                  Information Technology Hardware Production
 
Country/   Exports   IT Production   IT Exports   IT Prod/  IT Exports/
 Region   $US M     $US M            $US M        GNP (%)  Total Exports (%)
 
Australia  46.9     900            572            0.3            1.2
China      57       892            200            0.2            0.4
Hong Kong  82.5   2,928          2,770            4.2            3.3
India      18       952            222            0.3            1.2
Korea      65     3,409          2,420            1.4            3.7
Malaysia   28.8   1,315          1,280            3.1            4.4
Singapore  52.7   6,380          6,305           17.1           12
Taiwan     67.2   6,149          5,873            3.8            8.7
Thailand   23.1   1,190          1,150            1.5            5
ASIA Tot  441.2  24,115         20,792            1.4            4.7
 
Japan     287.2  44,683         20,790            1.5            7.2
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                       Miscellaneous Statistics
 
           AUST   INDIA   INDON   MALAYS  PHIL   SING  THAI  JAPAN   USA
 
Pop M      16.8   832.5   178.2   17.4    60.0   2.7    55.4  123.1  248.8
 mid-89
 
GNP percap 14,360  340    500    2,160    710   10,450  1,220  23,810  20,910
 (US$) 1989
 
World Bank   HI    LI      LI     LMI     LoerMI  HI   LoerMI  HI     HI
 Economic Category
(LI: Low Income, LMI: Low Mid Income, LoerMI: Lower Mid Inc, HI: High Income)
 
Distribution of GDP, 1989 (%)
  Agric    4     30       23     20.4      24    0      15     3       2
  Indus   32     29       37      n.a      33   37      38    41      29
  Serv    64     41       39     42.1      43   63      47    56      69
  Manuf   15     18       17     25.1      22   26      21    30      17
 
Average Annual Growth Rate 1980-89 (%)
  Agric  3.0    2.9       3.2     3.9     2.0  -5.7     4.1   0.4    3.2
  Indus  3.0    6.9       5.5     6.5    -0.8   5.0     8.1   5.2    2.9
  Serv   3.6    6.5       6.6     3.9     1.2   7.0     7.4   3.2    3.3
  Manuf  1.7    7.3      12.7     8.0     0.5   5.9     8.1   6.7    3.8
 
Labor Force 1988-90 (% of total pop)
        63.8   37.9      39.0    40.5    36.0  48.6    55.7  51.7   49.9
 
Women in Labor Force 1988-90  (% of total Labor force)
        41.4   25.6      39.9    31.1    37.0  39.0    46.9  40.6   45.2
 
Combined primary & secondary school enrollment ratio (1988-89)
 (% of age group enrolled in primary & secondary education)
         n.a   67.0      83      77      97.0  87      58     n.a    n.a
 
Adult Literacy Rate 1990
        99.0   48.2      77.0    78.4    90.0  n.a     93     99.0   99.0
 
R&D Expenditure (%) GDP 1989
        n.a    n.a       n.a      0.2     n.a  0.89   0.21     2.9    2.8
                                                              (1988)
Education Expenditure as % of GNP 1989
         5.7   3.2       0.9      5.6     2.9   3.6    3.2     n.a    1.8
       (1986)
 
Life expectancy at birth (years) 1990
        76.5  59.1      61.5     70.1    64.2  74.0   66.1     78.6  75.9
 
Pop. with access to Health Services (%) 1988-90
        n.a   n.a       80        n.a     n.a  100    70        n.a   n.a
 
Pop. with access to safe water (%) 1988-90
        n.a   75        28         51      86   n.a   81        n.a   n.a
                               ('85-'87)
Scientists & Technicians per 1000 people (1985-89)
        50.0  3.6       13        6.9     n.a  23.6  1.2        110    55
                               ('70-'87)
Radios per 1000 people (1988-89)
       1,262   78      144        428      136  306  182        895  2,122
 
TVs per 1000 people (1988-89)
         484   27       55        144       41  372  109        610    814
 
Circulation of newspapers per 1000 people (1988-89)
         252   28       21         87       56  289   87('83)   566    259
 
Telephone Subscribers per 100 people (1983)
        55.0    1      0.4         6.6       4  34('89) 4       55.5  78.9
 
Human Development Index 1992
       0.971  0.297   0.491      0.789    0.600 0.848 0.689    0.981  0.976
 
Real GDP per capita (Purchasing Power Parity Dollars) 1989
      15,266    910  2,034       5,649    2,269 15,108 3,569  14,311  20,998
 
 
V. MEANWHILE, BACK IN SINGAPORE------------------------------------------
 
Malaysia is trying to copy those aspects of Singapore's development that
seem appropriate. There is no doubt that this little country has been a
tremendous success, and is an inspiration to other countries in the
region.  Even during the current recession its economy has expanded at a
real rate of 5% during the first half of 1992, and unemployment is 2%.
Inflation since 1974 has averaged less than 4% (US average during this
same period was about 6.5%) and this year it should be about 2.5%, about
one third of the average wage increase; 1991 per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) was $20,400US, compared to $14,900US in 1984 (this
corresponds to a gross national product (GNP) of $13,271US in 1991.  The
future also looks very bright, even if it is not guaranteed.  Economists
have predicted that Singapore is very likely to be among the 20 richest
countries in the 21st century.  To do that it has to continue to focus
on people and seven major industries: microelectronics, biotechnology,
new materials, civilian aviation, telecommunications, robots & machine
tools, computers & software.  Success will occur if other countries in
the region allow it to become the headquarters city for the region, and
at the same time are themselves moderately successful.
 
Thus regional efforts need to be enhanced, and competition between
countries in the region, while continuing at one level need to be
friendly, not adversaries. Singapore needs to have a strategy, and if
anything, the country is good at high level coordinated planning. Often
less developed countries can offer substantial perks such as cash or tax
incentives to attract suitable investments. Countries like Singapore on
the other hand, need to have a sufficiently pro-business environment to
generate higher rates of return than less developed countries. An
economic panel has been formed in Singapore, and they have identified a
number of strategic thrusts (these are very general including enhancing
human resources, promoting national teamwork, becoming internationally
oriented, etc).
 
Singapore's government has a very definite slant to economic
development, and this was spelled out recently by the Prime Minister,
Mr. Chok Tong GOH. "It is Singapore versus other countries," "Singapore
versus the rest of the world". In other words, Team-Singapore, placed
between Hong Kong's every man for himself, and New Zealand's state
welfare approach. (New Zealand is singled out as a case of what not to
do; a country that was fifth richest in 1966 and is now 19th, while
Singapore has gone from 33rd to 18th during that same period. Goh's
explanation: New Zealand's ranking fell because its welfare subsidies
increased the dependency of the people and sapped their competitive
drive.) Mr. Goh emphasizes that the key is giving people incentives to
strive, i.e., good pay and light taxes. (The beginning tax rate is 3%,
compared to 15% and 30% in Japan and Sweden, respectively; half of
Singapore's taxpayers, about 500,000, pay about $100US or less in
taxes.) Another aspect of Goh's plan is to make Singaporeans asset
owning.  Currently only 14% of adults own shares in publicly-listed
companies (compare with 21% in UK, and 27% in Japan), and Goh hopes to
increase that to 30%. The government plans to sell shares in Singapore
Telecom at a discount next year, and also plans to sell shares in the
Mass Rapid Transit, Port of Singapore, and a new company formed to run
the country's electricity and gas departments.
 
There are some worrisome signs however, and it is doubtful if Singapore
will reach its target of achieving Switzerland's 1984 percapita income
($31,800US) by 1999. This would require seven percent real economic
growth for the remainder of the decade; this is unlikely to occur, and
the days of double digit growth are also probably over. Pressure from
below (other developing countries), as well as above (the North American
Free Trade Area, European common market), will make growth more
difficult. Goh comments, "we have to make the effort and not take the
route of some other countries which tried to avoid this arduous climb
upward. We don't promise a good life without you making the effort".
But, "I can promise to make every Singaporean who completes 10-12 years
of education, middle-class and asset-owning."
 
 
VI. CHIP SALES--------------------------------------------------------
Comments from key Asean computer experts about the need to move from
hardware to software should not obscure the fact that demand for
semiconductor chips in Asia-Pacific is still very strong. Estimates are
that chip sales will be over $9B US, up over 20% in the region in 1992,
excluding Japan, will be about $11B US in 1993, and $17B US by 1996.
This year's current sales are equal to those in Europe and are expected
to be greater within a year or so.  Most of the chips are bought from
outside the region as the indigenous industry is not large enough to
satisfy demand. (US companies such as TI, HP, Motorola, etc., are
rapidly setting up chip-making facilities in Taiwan, Singapore and other
countries.) Chips that are now made locally are mostly memory chips for
PCs and most of these are exported. Korean and Taiwanese companies have
a particularly hard time; for example Korea exports 90% of the chips it
produces and has to import almost as many of other kinds ($5.7 versus
$4.8B US).  Samsung, for example, sold 93% of last year's semiconductor
output to the export market, 5% to its affiliated companies, leaving
very few to support production needed for company products (Samsung
supplies 14% and 9% of the global market microwave ovens and
videocassette players). Thus a natural conclusion is to expect a large
ramp up in local manufacture of chips for inclusion in products produced
locally. (Statistics are from Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 Sept
1992.)
 
VII. SEARCC'92 PAPERS/AUTHORS-------------------------------------------
 
People Factor in Building IT Infrastructure
     Dr. Chan Teng Heng, Malaysia
 
IT Education/Training in Software Engineering in Singapore
     Vincent Chew Chang Kang, Singapore
 
IT Needs in Human Resource Management Training
     Aurora C. Barcelona, Malaysia
 
A Cost Benefit Analysis of Telecommuting in Singapore
     Dr. Yap Chee Sing, Singapore
 
Thaicom System - Thailand's First Communications Satellites
     Wichian Mektrakarn, Thailand
 
Telecommunications in Support of National Information Infrastructures: New
Beginnings
     John A. Gilbert, Canada
 
Computer and Telecommunications Trends Affecting South-Est Asia
     Dr. A. Ronald Elliot, Canada
 
On The Approaches to Setting Up Regional and Nationwide Data Networks in "The
New Russia"
     Prof. Igor A. Mizin, Hong Kong
 
Implementing Distributed Database
     Jamaluddin Idin, Malaysia
 
Natural Language Database Feedback
     Chan Hock Chuan, Singapore
 
Future Proof DBMS Applications
     Kevin Steer, Malaysia
 
TP1: The Fact and the Myth
     Norman Revell, United Kingdom
 
Utility Information System: Graphic Data Manipulation
     Azizah Abdul Manaf, Malaysia
 
Planning for Strategic Information Systems in the 1990s
     Dr. Wei Kwok Kee, Singapore
 
GISTNIC (General Information Service Terminal - National Informatics Centre)
     C.S.R. Prabhu, India
 
Strategic Information Systems Planning and Development
Case study: The Ministry of Land and Co-operative Development of Malaysia
     Wardah Zainal Abidin, Malaysia
 
Ensuring the Pay-off Strategies for Realization of Benefits from Information
Technology
     Jeffrey Soar, Australia
 
Economic Restructuring - Software Implications for Hong Kong
     Dr. Donald F. Taylor, Hong Kong
 
Object Modelling in Policy Planning and Plan Implementation: The Sri Lanka
Case
     Dr. Maya Sittampalam Rainford, Sri Lanka
 
IT and Business Strategy
     Prof. Dipak Khakhar, Sweden
 
Object-Oriented Programming in Existing Languages
     Prof. Peter Juliff, Australia
 
Object-Oriented Database Systems: The Next Generation DBMS
     Dr. Angela Goh, Singapore
 
An Object-Oriented User Interface for ECAD Systems
     Rosli Ibrahim, Malaysia
 
Records Management - The Missing Link of Information Management Technology
     Graham Dudley, Australia
 
Probabilistic and Semantic Based Retrieval in Hypertext
     Dr. Sulaiman Al-Hawamdeh, Singapore
 
Core Competence and Keiretsus: An Information Management Model for SEARCC
     Lahmann Hans Peter, New Zealand
 
Computer Supported Collaborative Research in Computing: The RMIT Experience
within the Sunrise Research Lab
     Angela Scollary, Australia
 
Structured Modelling
     John Fisher, New Zealand
 
Group Decision Support Systems
     Dr. K. S. Raman, Singapore
 
Integration of Expert Systems and Decision Support System in Financial
Analysis
     Noraniah Mohd Yassin
 
An Approach to The Development of A Decision Support Systems Tool
     Md. Mahbubur Rahim, Malaysia
 
Law Solicits the Silicon Chip: From Odd Bedfellows to Creative Honeymooners
     David Parker, Australia
 
Increasing Industrial Efficiency and Productivity Through Computerized
Maintenance Management System
     Wan Abdul Rahman Wan Harun, Malaysia
 
Troubleshooting as Game Playing
     Ting Kai Ming, Australia
 
Productivity Breakthrough Using Simultaneous Engineering
     Philipp Schaumann, Singapore
 
ICHT: An Intelligent Referral System for Primary Child Health Care
     Prof. H. N. Mahabala, India
 
Current and Future Trends in Development Expert Systems
     Dr. Nor Adnan Yahaya, Malaysia
 
Alpha and Omega: An AI Research Perspective
     Dr. Yeap Wai Kiang, New Zealand
 
The Unix EDI Server Advantage
     Morris Rozario, Malaysia
 
Standards for Source Code Metrics
     Abdul Azim Ghani, United Kingdom
 
Client-Server Works
     Ernesto R. Del Rosario, Philippines
 
An Alternative Approach to Build Low Cost TCP/IP-Based Wide Area Network in
Indonesia
     Onno W. Purbo, Indonesia
 
A Quantitative Measurement of Testing Methodologies
     Dr. Chi-Ming Chung, Taiwan
 
Managing Change in the Implementation of Systems: Why the Role of the
Technical Writer should not be Ignored
     Julie Fisher, Australia
 
The Design and Implementation of Crosspuz: A Teaching Aid
     Vijendren Muthutamby, Malaysia
 
Vocabpo - A Teaching Tool for the Pre-schools
     Ow Siew Hock, Malaysia
 
The Design Issues on the Interaction with Multiple-Criteria Decision Support
System
     Hidayat B. Hussain, Malaysia
 
Information Delivery in Executive Information Systems
     Raveentheran Suntheralingam, Malaysia
 
An Alternative Approach to Control Software Prototyping
     Mahd Hasan Selamat, Malaysia
 
Document Imaging and Text Retrieval
     Suliman Al-Hawamdeh, Singapore
 
IT Education - Necessary Changes for Continued Growth and Development
     Peter Shackleton, Australia
 
A Doubly Modular Hashing Scheme for Letter-Oriented Keywords
     Chin-Chen Chang, Taiwan
 
Algorithm for an Efficient Calculation of the 3D Projection Matrix
     Wieslaw L. Nowinski, Singapore
 
Computer Usage in Canadian & HongKong Business: A Look at Personnel Management
     Maris G. Martisons, Hong Kong
 
IT for Human Resource Development & Economy Management - Options for
Bangladesh Computer Council
     M. Azizur Rahman, Bangladesh
 
Digital Image Acquisition with OCD Video Camera
     Azumi Hassan, Malaysia
 
Information System for Land Management: Approaches, Issues and Problems of
Developing Countries
     Noordin Ahmad, Malaysia
 
A New Technique for Quick Recognition of Aircraft
     Yah-Bin-Sim, U.S.A.
 
Creative Programming: Towards an Integrated Engineering Analysis System
     Hayati Abdulah, Malaysia
 
Controlling Changing Technology
     John A. Debrincat, Australia
 
Guidelines for Expert Systems Development
     Michael J. Olan, U.S.A.
 
Intelligent Vehicle-Highway System, The Transportation of the Future: A State-
of-the-Art Report
     Shakor B. Badaruddin, U.S.A.
 
The Challenge of Business Integration
     Andrew Tan, Malaysia
 
The Case Study Research Methodology: An Example in Information Systems
     Guy G. Gable, Singapore
 
Computer Animation of Sign Language from Chinese Sentence Input
     Horace IP, Hong Kong
 
Applications & Restrictions of Coordination in Natural Language Processing
     Ruslan Mitkov, Malaysia
 
Managing Resources in a Dataflow Computer
     Teo Yong Meng, Singapore
 
------------------------------END OF REPORT------------------------------