„Without cultural sensibility sustainable business would hardly be possible“ said Dr. Walter Schlebusch, Board Member of Giesecke & Devrient, the German award recipient of the German-Malaysian Society’s this year. And Ir Lee Wee Eng, founder and CEO of the KNM Group Berhad and the award recipient from Malaysia stressed that “We should profit from each other and use cultural synergies to increase the value of our enterprises.”

vlnr: Karl Georg Nickel, Konrad Nassauer , Dato‘ Dr. Achim Deja, Ir. Lee Swee Eng, H.E. Ambassador Datuk Zakaria Sulong,
H. E. Datin Hazizah, Dr. Walter Schlebusch, Dr. Martina Timmermann
Zweite Reihe: Peter Hütz, Dr. Christian Hauswedell, Alexander Stedtfeld

After some welcoming words by the Ambassador from Malaysia, H. E. Datuk Zakaria Sulong, the Director Asia Pacific of the Foreign Service Academy, Dr. Christian Hauswedell, and Executive Director of the AHK / Malaysian German Chamber of Commerce (MGCC), Alexander Stedtfeld, Honorary DtMG President, Mr Peter Huetz, outlined the beginnings of the society. They reach all the way back to 1962 when he first founded the Malaysian-German Society (MGS) in Penang. After his review of the history with its roots extending all the way to the German sister society DtMG, the award ceremony was taken on.

The current president of the DtMG, Dato’ Dr. Achim G. Deja, explained the background rationale of this year’s DtMG award. In 2009, the DtMG prize was awarded for outstanding contributions to promoting cultural understanding in the process of integrating business procedures in Malaysia and Germany. Dr. Deja underlined the importance of individual personalities in the process of bringing cultures with their values of integrity and sustainability together. This could only be done through a convincing “walk the talk” - an attitude and behavior being essential requirements for trust between entrepreneurs and consumers. Trust and confidence is also fundamental for restructuring the world economy into the so-called “clean economy”, a process with outstanding responsibility of enterprises in the process of avoiding climate risks while providing the foundation for future growth and success. The award recipients 2009, Ir. Lee Swee Eng and Dr. Walter Schlebusch, have been role models - personally and as representatives of their companies.

KEYNOTE SPEECH ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE AWARD 2009 OF THE GERMAN‐MALAYSIAN SOCIETY E.V. (DTMG)
FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS PROMOTING CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND GERMANY

The honorary words for Ir. Lee Swee Eng were provided by Mr. Konrad Nassauer, Director of Borsig GmbH in Berlin. Dr. Schlebusch was honored by Mr Karl Georg Nickel, Chairman of Bayerndruck-Verband & Medien Bayern. Both speakers emphasized that mutual trust and respect for each other’s culture lead to greater motivation, increase in efficiency and thereby to extraordinary achievements within the enterprises as well as in their social environments. The courageous path taken by the two honored personalities was consequently crowned with economic success.

Finally, Dr. Martina Timmermann, executive board member of the DtMG, welcomed two new board members, Consul Roswaidin from MIDA and Consul Sabri from MATRADE who took over their positions from former board members Director S. Sivasuriyamoorthy (MIDA) and Consul Raja Badrulnizam Raja Kamalzaman (MATRADE). Both, Director Siva and Consul Badrulnizam, were warmly thanked for their great support during their time on the DtMG board. “We will miss them.”

With humorous words Dr. Timmermann then invited to the authentic Malaysian buffet which - like last year – had excellently and with great care been prepared by the ladies of the Malaysian embassy. Such buffet proved again to be another highlight of the overall event. And as Dr. Deja had mentioned in his prior speech:: "Human beings first – consumption second "the evening was concluded in a warm and relaxed atmosphere with plenty of opportunities for meeting and networking.

Thus, the DtMG would like to express a „selamat makan and terima kashi banyak banyak“ for a very successful evening -which marks another milestone in the history of its efforts towards fostering social cooperation and understanding between Malaysia und Germany.