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If there is one phrase that can best capture the reasons behind the success of Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Lim Kok Wing, it would be “Dare to be Different”. As the leading advocate for the use of creativity and creative thinking, Tan Sri Lim has been at the forefront of showing both Malaysians and the world at large the importance of thinking out of the box. International Business Review sits down with the man heralded as Malaysia’s Father of innovation to hear his views on why embracing change is the key to progress.

According to Tan Sri Lim, one of the most popular phrases spouted by people - in particular bureaucrats - is, “if it ain’t broke, why fix it? “This is reflective of a desire not to rock the boat. After all, if something is working just fine - even if it is not perfect or close to it - why bother to change it?

A good example would be Malaysia. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with the country - it is peaceful, there is no crippling poverty, no major social problems. Yet, as Tan Sri Lim pointed out, the nation cannot afford to carry on business as usual. “The world outside is changing rapidly,” he warned, ” and Malaysia risks losing its place as a top trading nation.”

Stating that Malaysia needs to “relook and rethink everything and every process”, Tan Sri Lim highlighted the Government Transformation Programme and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) as being steps in the right direction.

However, even the best laid-out plans need a driving force, and as Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing so aptly puts it, the engine behind Malaysia’s transformation would be innovation, which he described as “sitting in the very centre of this grand plan.” With the entire nation embracing the call for transformation, and with the powers of the government pushing it forward, what could possibly derail the process?

The answer, according to Tan Sri Lim, is compliance. “Compliance does not see eye to eye with innovation,” he opined, “and blind compliance especially can be a stumbling block to progress.” In his view, the problem in Malaysia is that the regulatory system has no provision for the assessment of new ideas.

In other words, the bureaucracy is either unable or unwilling to think beyond the strict interpretation of the letter. One example he gave was how Limkokwing University was unable to get accreditation for a course until it changed the name from ‘classical animation’ to ‘traditional animation’. There was nothing wrong with the syllabus per se; the only problem was that it was the norm to call it by the latter name.

Definitely, in the eyes of a bureaucrat, a rose by any other name will not smell just as sweet. As Tan Sri Lim pointed out, the horrors of res tape are such that if Steve Jobs were in Malaysia, he’d never have gotten the iPad off the ground. The irony though is that while there are plans and programmes to facilitate the private sector in becoming more innovative and productive, the inability or unwillingness of those in the middle-levels of government to embrace change is blocking the process.

Ultimately, as Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing highlighted, both the upper-echelons of government and the private sector are in full support of transformation and innovation. What is important is to change the bureaucracy. “They must,” he said, “accept that there are many ways of achieving outcomes and many ways of measuring excellence.” All in all, Malaysia’s Father of Innovation believes that “people must see how to translate ideas into reality, how to bring something into existence that was never there before. We will need a lot of determination to do what has never been done before.”