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During this special visit to the Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology, design was in full play at various parts of the campus “the extravagant Hall of Fame, the gym, the hair salon and Wings Coffee.

The brains behind this trans-formation is Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing. He has used creative ideas to control the university’s financial budget, reduced electricity bills by using natural light and taken advantage of open-space ventilation.

To him, creativity has no limits. He has come up with a large wrap around the university, featuring art, design and culture. He plans to change this skin once a year.

After a two-hour tour of the campus, we returned to his office, where black was dominant. He spent time to discuss how creativity could benefit Malaysia. He spoke calmly about the university’s rationale, showed his high spirits and analysed some key issues.

Creativity is not restricted to art; it is actually a kind of pursuit, a sense of life. Just look at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Cyberjaya surrounded by greenery. Its dark background is mixed with creative design, and the campus stands out. The master of creativity, Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing, gloriously talks about creativity that sparks innovation.

Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing is a legendary character that wields a painter’s brush to produce gorgeous colours at his campus. From the early start, the cartoonist turned entrepreneur had planned the university carefully. Creativity is his foundation and strategy.

Creativity is not abstract, Tan Sri Lim tells Oriental Daily News in a special interview. It is wrong to think that creativity comes from inspiration. You need to think and plan using knowledge, not a trial-and-error approach.

Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing believes that many solutions to life’s problems can be solved through creative thinking. The person of course must be well-informed. With a creative mind, he says, you can even compose music after listening to its melody.

Power of creativity

Through creativity, you can be innovative. That is how some advanced countries practise creativity “they innovate things. Their economies are not based on knowledge alone; they are highly successful because they apply the power of creativity. As a result, their economies are creativity-based leading to many innovations.

When you are creative, you can turn something old into something new and innovative. You merely improve upon it. The product becomes better. That is innovation, influenced by creativity.

One good example is Japan. It did not actually invent cars, the Walkman, TV brands and cameras. Its people innovated these products into brand names which have since become popular.

Nowadays, the Koreans are following in the footsteps of the Japanese . They have become innovative and their products well recognised for quality.

On the other hand, Malaysians spend too much time trying to invent things when they should be innovating them. What will their inventions do? Which markets are they aiming at? A more simple, more creative way is to innovate things to suit Asian consumers, Tan Sri Lim says.

Malaysian thinking remains conservative. In education, for example, students are encouraged to memorise what they read, follow instructions and arrive at the same answers. It is like working on accounts; everything must add up. You must follow the norm, or there will be mistakes.

At one time, he recalls, the Ministry of Education thought that liberal arts did not need written examinations or instructions. It later realised that, in the field of art, students also had to take written exams, not just paint or draw.

The importance of design is still misunderstood and underrated in Malaysia. In the West, he points out, pre-school children start to learn about design even before attending school. They are encouraged to think creatively and they appreciate design at a tender age.

Malaysia’s education system has to change if Malaysians expect to be creative and innovative.