Winging it (to stir the soul, fire the imagination)

The Sun magazine, Vox, 10 March 2002

Design and communications guru Tan Sri Dato’Lim Kok Wing shares his thoughts with Irene Leong on his book and Malaysian design.

Wings of Creativity, the 340-page book by design and communications guru Tan Sri Datuk Lim Kok Wing, has been described by Datuk Mustapa Mohamed as a publication that "aims to stir the soul, fire the imagination and spur Malaysians to attain the highest standards and achieve distinction in various fields".

I am not sure how many Malaysians would go to the extent of waxing lyrical over the publication, but I’d give it this much credit: the book is effective in opening people’s eyes to the usefulness of design.

Through the book, most readers would now know the active role played by Lim’s team over the years in terms of contributing to large-scale national campaigns and product designs.

The publication, edited by Ann Lee, is essentially about "creativity that was put to work over the past two decades".

And, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his speech at the launch of the book says: "Putting his work into book form will enable more people to access the skills and knowledge in terms of the creativity that has been developed by Lim and his students".

Take away the frills, and indeed the book, first and foremost, delivers in terms of highlighting the practical and effective application of creativity to Malaysian industry, business realm, sports promotion, government campaigns, charities and life in general.

The reader’s first impression could be that the book is unabashedly a tribute to Lim himself, and why not? Lim, after all, has always been linked to large-scale public information, nation-building and sports projects such as the national youth programme, Rakan Muda, the Commonwealth Games and the Global Humanitarian Appeal for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But Lim who makes it no secret that he is a big admirer of the Mahathir administration, would also tell you the book is a deliberate effort to show Dr Mahathir’s contribution to the country. The book says: "Beginning that year (1981), the nation enjoyed and unprecedented surge in opportunities for creative expression. The catalyst for this was the Malaysian Prime Minister".

"It’s not a tribute to him," Lim says, "but it’s difficult not to reflect positively on the work of the PM because in the past 20 years, development has taken place so rapidly in every sphere of life. The country is a direct result of what he has done.

"If not for him, pages would be empty."

The book explains further that: "Best of all that happened was the unleashing of creative power as millions of Malaysians got caught up in the enabling of Vision 2020. This was the blueprint to transform the country into fully developed nation status by 2020"

Some would wonder about Lim’s predilection for the word "wings". Pages are devoted to "wings" and the concept of flying may be lost on the reader.

But upon reading on, it would become clearer that through the loud use of symbolism (Hermes of the Greek mythology to illustrate the concept of flight, for example) the book hopes to drive home the importance of having a vision and daring to dream before one can succeed.

The book hopes to enlighten further on the concept of flight: "We are fascinated by flight. Why?

"It has been said that our fascination with flight is a fascination for the unknown. To fly is to try something new. In the English language, physical and intellectual flights are often fused. We talk about how ‘the sky’s the limit’. We refer to the search for ‘new horizons’. We measure success in terms of flight, ‘There goes a flight flyer’.

It is further explained that "creativity is primarily invention’ – stating the obvious but nevertheless driving home the point that without creativity there can be no innovation.

Part One of the book focuses on a series of "case studies", proving how creativity can solve a variety of needs and concerns.

Eye-opening also are the pages explaining Limkokwing Integrated’s role in South Africa’s first democratic elections. It reads: "In helping to produce voter education materials for the first democratic elections in South Africa, it was necessary to create a visually-driven campaign…"

A letter from Nelson Mandela thanking Lim and his team is reproduced in the book, confirming the important role played by the latter.

For the average Malaysian, the book strives to give them a better perspective of creativity – of its purpose in our lives. After all, this is Lim’s attempt to educate all on the importance of creativity.

Asked about what he hopes to achieve with the book, Lim, 55, says, "If we do not document what we do, it will be lost. This is an attempt to document what we’ve done. It’s of value to people who read it.

"The business community gets to go behind the brand and understand better how things were created. Now they can read about it."

Lim describes the book, which is distributed by an Australian publishing house, as the first of its kind in the country. "It serves the country well to have a publication of this quality. It gives a foreign person a fairly good idea about the way we think and why things have developed and how we look at issues… a Malaysian perspective.

"The quality of a place is not only judged by the buildings it has but the people who live there. Malaysians are not encouraged to produce books because it’s a small buying market. Malaysians don’t believe there’s an international market waiting for them. Hopefully, the book will change the mindset of the people."

When I interviewed Lim for a magazine 11 years ago, he lamented the fact that Malaysians in general fail to appreciate the importance of art and design. Today, he still talks passionately about it. "I have been advocating the practice of creativity all my life -– that due attention must be given to it and how it will contribute to good business.

"We look to countries like the US and Germany to provide what the world perceives as good products. These are inventive countries. They are driven by creative energy. Even restaurants (there) are cultivated in such a way that the atmosphere is about a celebration of life.

"The role of design is prominent in the goods they make. The enjoyment of all these is enhanced by design.

"I’ve worked my entire life on this. The MDTC (Malaysian Design Technology Centre to be located in Cyberjaya will open next year and I believe it will make Malaysia a creative hub. We are positioning it as a regional creative hub and it will be an experimental centre for all forms of design. It will be the staging ground for designers to venture abroad."

"But the process of encouraging people to think design, to break the norm, has been slow. Manufacturers are not keen to originate. They go for the short term, resulting in there being very few brands known overseas. So, we are a long way off."

The book, of course, is but another step towards promoting design. Through it, Lim says, the reader can see how the use of design can change the mindset of the public. "And doing it subtly, not talking down to them," he says. "It’s about making a point but making it politely."

The next big thing for Lim that is in the pipeline is having the 340-page book in audiovisual form and having it placed on the Internet. "There have been a lot of enquiries about the book and the timing of the book’s release is good as well."

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