In this cybernaut's paradise, multinational corporations will be allowed to set up shop under a special set of rules granting temporary immunity from the onerous taxes, laws and restrictions the Malaysian government inflicts on its people. Because the indigenous workforce does not yet have the advanced skills necessary to support such a colossal endeavor, unrestricted importation of foreign knowledge workers will be permitted for the next 10 years. A 10-point Mu ltimedia Bill of Guarantees provides an odd assortment of rights, campaign promises and entitlements for digital migrant workers as well as the corporations that employ them--provided they stay inside the MSC. In the end, knowledge will leak out into the surrounding countryside, transforming the Malaysian people into leading members of the global village.

When Cultures Collide Let me see if I understand this. A nation in which pervasive censorship laws ban any "article, caricature, photograph, sound, music, statement or any other thing which is prejudicial to public order, morality, security, or which is likely to alarm public opinion" is going to become a world leader in the multimedia business? Highly prized engineers who can write their own tickets are supposed to flock to an enclave carved out of the jungle to toil at below market wages on projects assigned by benevolent bureaucrats brewing up some weird amalgam of capitalism, socialism and Islam?

I wonder if Dr. Mahathir ever had a chance to study the history of the cargo cult ures that sprung up on remote Pacific islands during World War II. The impoverished natives, convinced that the blessings of civilization came from cargo planes, built dummy landing strips to lure aircraft. I suppose it made sense from their point of view; after all, they could see the goodies being unloaded on American bases with their own eyes. But there was clearly something missing from their model of how the world worked.

The same is true for the MSC, which embodies an absurd contradiction. The whole point of economic development enabled by public network computing is that cyberspace transcends geography. Employees, employers and consumers will be freed from local and regional constraints, using advanced technology not as an end in itself but as a tool to pursue their private interests. This implies we will all be able to live here and work there, and vice versa. How does technology-based ghettoization advance this goal?

If nothing else, Malaysia is going to provi de an interesting laboratory exper iment in economic policy. What a contrast to the American experience during the industrial revolution, when we opened our doors to the world's "huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Bill Frezza is a general partner at Adams Capital Management. The opinions expressed here are his own.

He can be reached at frezza@alum.MIT.EDU or techweb.cmp.com/nc/frezza/frezza.html.