Gates Lauds Malaysia's Technology Efforts

C Y B E R J A Y A, Malaysia, Sept. 13 -- Software magnate Bill Gates paid his first visit to the Malaysian prime minister’s fledgling multimedia city modeled after Silicon Valley today, declaring it “really awesome.”

“I applaud this move,” Gates told reporters in Cyberjayatownship, 50 miles south of Kuala Lumpur.

A pet project of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s, Cyberjaya ispart of the Southeast Asian nation’s hugely hyped Multimedia SuperCorridor, or MSC.

The smart city starts at the southern edge of the capital, KualaLumpur, and connects a 30-by-9-mile zone to a newmultibillion-dollar international airport. Officials envisagehigh-tech offices, homes and shopping centers here, and they expectthe MSC to generate 35,000 jobs and attract $5.2 billion ininvestment over the next five years.

Open Market Emphasis

Gates on Monday praised Malaysia’s plan to gather as manymultinational corporations as possible in the MSC. He warned,however, that it is crucial for Mahathir’s government to let marketforces determine the kind of software projects and high-techinitiatives that would be implemented there.

“You don’t want the government to be picking. You want themarketplace to do it,” Gates said following an official tour ofthe zone.

Gates arrived in Malaysia early Wednesday and was slated toleave later in the day. The world’s wealthiest man is here to touthis company’s latest corporate strategy, dubbed Microsoft.NET,which will change the way Microsoft writes software and handlescustomers.

Within five years, Microsoft hopes customers will paysubscription fees to download software from the Internet instead ofmaking one-time purchases at stores or Web sites.

The Microsoft chairman, who last visited Malaysia in early 1998,is here for the third time. He sits on an advisory panel that helpsMahathir formulate the country’s information technology policies.