The Prime Minister said every Malaysian must be sufficiently exposed to ICT so that they could use it to improve their way of life, be it for agricultural activities, business dealings, research or schoolwork. He said with the greater adoption of ICT by the people, the Government could use ICT to provide better and more timely services to the people.
"Indeed, we cannot expect greater speed and efficiency if we do things in the same old way. We all need to upgrade ourselves, add value to ourselves and learn how to use technology to make our lives better," he said at the launch of Penang Cybercity and the "My Malaysia, MyMSC" campaign, here.
Present were Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali and MDC Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Mohamed Arif Nun.
Abdullah said with the progress of ICT in the country, it was timely for the Government to support the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) roll-out outside the Klang Valley, with Penang Cybercity and later with the Kulim High Technology Park.
He said the launch of Penang Cybercity in Bayan Lepas marked a significant milestone in the growth of the MSC and further dissemination of ICT to the rest of the nation.
He also said that to serve the national ICT agenda, the MSC would no longer be confined to the original 15km by 50km zone which was set up during its inception.
"Building on its experiences of the last seven years, the MSC will expand its borders to the rest of the country in order to spread the growth of MSC and ICT to more parts of Malaysia."
He added that the expansion comprised a hub-and-spoke network of cybercities and cybercentres, which would be created in phases until its completion in 2010.
"With this launch, I hope to see an ICT renaissance of sorts in Penang. From this expansion of the MSC, I hope to see a new growth trajectory of value-added ICT-driven business in Penang, a development which will complement Penang's traditional electronics and semiconductor industries," he said.
Abdullah said the MSC continued to play a vital role in developing Malaysia's ICT industry and had succeeded in creating 19,000 knowledge-based jobs, generating RM1.2 billion in ICT exports and attracting RM419 million of investments in research and development (R&D) expenditure.
Malaysia had also been ranked the third most attractive location in the world for outsourcing and had managed to attract 49 outsourcing companies and created 8,000 jobs.
"There is much more that we can achieve in this field. The success of the MSC needs to be deepened and enhanced. I believe that more knowledge-based jobs, more technology companies and more ICT export earnings can be created if the MSC continues to improve itself, not just geographically but also operationally," he said.
Thus, he said, the MSC needed to be more attractive and more effective than its competitors in other countries. Only then would it be able to grow the ICT sector towards a truly global scale.
The Prime Minister said the MSC was not only about immediate job and revenue generation, but also had socio-economic objectives to achieve, especially to work hard to reduce the digital divide between the Klang Valley and other parts of the country, as well as between urban and rural areas.
He said the Government would allocate sufficient funds in the coming Ninth Malaysian Plan to ensure the successful implementation of the "MSC-The Next Leap" programme, which will focus on electronic-government (e-government) and e-communities, particularly in services delivery to the rural areas.
He said although Cyberjaya would remain an important core to the MSC project, the future performance of Cyberjaya versus other MSC cybercities would depend on the effectiveness and determination of the people at the local level.
"I look forward to seeing how this will develop. I believe that coordination and some friendly competition between MSC cybercities is healthy and will benefit the country as a whole," he said.
Penang Cybercity is managed by the Penang State Government and it encompasses the Bayan Lepas industrial parks, Bayan Mutiara and part of Bayan Baru.
Quelle: Daily Express, 30.01.2005
