Investors of MSC status companies continue to pledge their support for the project.
"Malaysia is the right place for us to build our technology, to innovate and to do the very complex development work," said Biztone.com CEO Darryl Carlton. Carlton is pioneering the delivery of Java-based Enterprise Resource Planning software over the Internet, and shifted base from Australia two years ago.
He admitted that Malaysians lack skills in international product management and marketing but is optimistic "that this will change over time".
Content aggregator Alam Teknokrat Sdn Bhd, which operates the Alta Vista search mirror for the Asian region, spent US$7 million in the last two years and plans to expand staff from 20 to 60 by the year 2001.
"The implementation of capital controls did not affect us. In fact, the fixed exchange rate helped plan our business with more certainty. The latest positive indicators justified the policy," said Aimi Aizal, director of sales and marketing.
Boston Tan, a director of software developer Software International Sdn Bhd, another MSC
company, said the project had taken a lot of flak due mainly to the stalled economy which caused a chain reaction of delays.
"There were high expectations because of the hype," he said. "But the vision of a single location to share knowledge and exchange ideas has not been lost."
He agreed that the venture capital market is still under-developed, but the MSC "is not a ticket to money and companies should not wait for hand-outs".
"The government and MNCs can't play Santa Claus. Companies must have sound business plans," he added.
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