our recent membership meeting 2010/11 was exceptionally ambitious, future oriented and at the same time down to earth and hands on. Professionalism paired with human warmth and humor was fruitfully linked with farsighted vision for engagement.

I am therefore proud to further serve our society as its re-elected president and would like to personally as well as on behalf of all other board members thank you for your trust and confidence in our team which was reflected in your unanimous re-election of our board for the next years.

I would also like to extend my warmest welcome to our new board member in Berlin, Ms Marita Sayn-Nikitaridis, and to Mr Timo Prekop, Executive Director of OAV/ APA (Asian Pacific Association), as the new member of our Advisory Council and Dr.Monica Staerk (TUV Rheinland Holding.

We have an even stronger intention to support and make use of the most valuable diversity of competencies and international experiences of our members, advisory council and DtMG- Award recipients for our DtMG activities. It is a pleasure and motivation for all of us to be part of activities in favor of creating a prosperity which is the prerequisite for the development of a viable and respected community.

In times where the pacific economy has evolved into the “promised land of unlimited opportunities” but also risks, mutual cultural understanding has turned into a vital key to success for human actors.

Due to our genuine commitment to voluntarily serve the prosperity of both of our countries, generously supported by our expert advisory council, we are perceived as valued and trusted “peers” and partners in both the German and Malaysian societies and their efforts to foster bilateral relations and reduce the risks. 

In our membership meeting we decided to extend our activities into UN fora on issues of global concern such as climate change. We thereby strive to substantiate our current activities for the benefit of Malaysia and Germany with valuable UN expertise.

Our open international attitude and sincere commitment to work independently and for the benefit of our societies is the “trade mark” of the DtMG – today as much as in the future. Beyond our engagement for sophisticated cultural activities we have also come to realize the growing importance of improving the individual life circumstances in our changing social structures. In our open and with great respect conducted dialogues on options for mutual learning, we therefore emphasize the individual personality, education, the rights but also responsibilities and discipline of each human being in such social processes.

As DtMG platform we intend to contribute to mutual understanding - between decision- makers in institutions of both of our countries, between representatives of the capital markets and financial intermediaries, between local leaders and owners of enterprises in business, between their chambers and associations and for the benefit of the great variety of freelancers and their representative organizations.

Great results can be achieved when the „industrial locomotive“ Germany pars with the cultural variety of “Truly Asia” – Malaysia -  in cases of Best Practice and Good Governance.  This has been most visibly reflected in the DtMG Award ceremonies since 2003.

Elders still remember the fascination of their pioneer times and experiences; their memories are coupled with pride of having been there when Malaysia’s development took off. Meanwhile, it has become good practice in daily life of diplomats, manages and experts with their families to stay in institutions abroad. We increasingly experience how a generation that spent its childhood in Malaysia, cultivates its friendships and partnerships and then return as adult to participate in a much more widely interlinked social and business world.

We therefore think that it is time for our society to respond to such developments and provide our members with an opportunity to participate in such development, either by learning something new, to understand what is currently a topic of concern in Malaysia and Germany, to maybe also develop alternatives and contribute to debates on solutions of challenges on mutual concern.

We have increased each and every member’s ability to communicate among each other via our homepage – via a closed community. Such community shall allow for quick information and confidential opinion making /exchange, it shall also enhance the direction and speed of our debates. Our new community platform shall contribute to making our society really vibrant while ensuring a sound focus and discipline to the topics.

Mr Sören Eichhorst, our new member who also serves as director of international youth courses at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin, has committed himself to support us as moderator of our new DtMG-community (for members only).  I would cordially ask you to support Mr. Eichhorst whose letter of introduction and explanation you will find on the web site shortly.  

A detailed account of our activities 2010 to the recent members meeting – with many suggestions on options for personal involvement from your side – can either be requested directly as before – or be downloaded at the closed section for members only on our homepage. We have finally and successfully met the new technical opportunities of our times and are looking forward to enhanced opportunities for our exchange and cooperation in the future.

With warmest wishes for a Happy Easter 2011,


Dato Dr. Achim Deja
Präsident Deutsch - Malaysischen Gesellschaft e.V.
President German - Malaysian Society e.V.