IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

The promise of smart cities has been an ongoing conversation in the nation’s digitalisation agenda for some time now as new technologies are constantly being integrated into communities, especially post the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, concrete efforts have yet to be launched due to an assortment of reasons which include the time and resources needed to build efficient smart cities.

TM ONE, the enterprise and public sector business solutions arm of Telekom Malaysia Bhd, hosted the City LEAP Summit 2022, which is aimed at boosting smart city execution by local city and municipal councils (PBT).

In a statement, the company said the two-day event was the second time the summit was organised and was attended by a total of 60 participants from 26 PBTs nationwide.

Faded documents and wrinkled receipts were peppered across the floor of the room. Stacks of folders sat precariously on the narrow dining table.

Teary eyes, weary fingers, and two coffee-stained cups remain the only evidence of a caffeine-filled day, and it was still a couple of hours away from lunchtime.

Son Eun-ji’s newborn son will begin the first months of his life in a sci-fi-like home in the middle of a sparse river delta that was until recently sprawling fields of scallions.

The young family will move early next year into an experimental project showcasing South Korea’s ambitions for the city of the future.

Miri mayor Lawrence Lai said such support is needed in order to ensure the objectives set by the government through implementation of ICT development can be fully achieved.

Lai pointed the greater convenience of internet web development in all business levels championed by the government such as e-banking, e-payment and e-government had contributed to a surge in the number of users.

Planning and Resource Management Assistant Minister Mohd Naroden Majais said rural folk should not follow the current trend of using blogs or websites to spread incorrect information and humiliate others.

“There have been many incidences where the IT tools are being used to smear others, giving inaccurate information, which can confuse people and causing division among us,” he said.

Standing at a size of 1.62 million, the question of Malaysia’s civil service being bloated has been raised time and again, while downsizing is not on the cards, digitalisation may be the way to go when it comes to improving efficiency and productivity.

Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie told SunBiz that while electronic-government (e-government) services have already been in place, there is a need to step up the efforts in that segment. This, he said will eventually lead to the rationalisation of the size of the manpower.

Its group chief executive officer Tengku Farith Rithauddeen said the assurance given by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak will definitely encourage more to embrace IT, especially in those related to the e-government and e-commerce initiatives for which the government is pushing very hard.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) requires at least 20,000 CCTV cameras installed throughout the capital to monitor crime and traffic congestion.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said at present, there are only 5,000 units around the city.

He said the installation cannot be undertaken solely by DBKL but requires the cooperation of various ministries, departments and agencies, especially the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).

Malaysia is experiencing a broad-based digitalisation drive across government and business, and management consultancy 27 Group is aiming to support this process through its new transformation subsidiary – 27 Digital.

Launched in the first quarter of this year, the new outfit is charting out the high-impact areas of Malaysia’s digitalising economy – spanning business transformation, innovation and entrepreneurship, smart city development and agricultural technology (agritech).

The deployment of 5G in Malaysia is poised to benefit the end users in numerous areas and create jobs for the people.

Prof Ir Dr Hafizal Mohamad, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia head of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said Malaysia could see the acceleration of new jobs with the advancement of the network, coupled with the new artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) applications, particularly in the education, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Digital Nasional says initial rollout covers KL, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, followed by 5 major cities and districts in 5 states by 2022

The national fifth generation (5G) network will be launched by the end of 2021 beginning with Kuala Lumpur (KL), Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, according to Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB).

Smart buildings are no longer a futuristic dream. With the emergence of 5G and the array of technological solutions in the market, the reality of a smart city is closer than it seems. But baby steps are needed to reach that potential and a good place to start is by normalising smart buildings.

A smart building is one in which systems are connected to automate and improve the productivity and efficiency of the building. It is something that is already happening today but on a limited scale.

The Covid-19 pandemic may have delayed the rollout of the fifth generation (5G) of mobile networks (a crucial enabler of digitalisation) in some countries for various reasons but at the same time, it has highlighted the need to fast-forward its adoption.

At a time when “the less contact the better” is becoming a common practice, the need for the kind of high-speed high bandwidth connectivity that 5G promises has become even more crucial.

The fifth-generation network (5G) is an enabler for the emergence of smart cities in Malaysia, said an academician.

A lecturer at the School of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Associate Professor Dr Leow Chee Yen said smart city basic building blocks consist of good infrastructure equipped with an advanced comprehensive network infrastructure embedded in 5G technology among others.

Another 98 5G network sites will be established in the greater Ipoh region covering the Kuala Kangsar municipality as well as Kampar and Batu Gajah districts by October.

Perak Youth and Sports, Communications and Multimedia Committee chairman Khairul Shahril Mohamed said 5G access is expected to cover the entire state, making Ipoh the first town in the northern region to have 1GBps internet access speed.

Many years have passed since we gained the privilege of staring into the expanse of cyberspace. In the early days, we had only one main player. Since then, more Internet service providers have jumped on the bandwagon. But despite numerous “upgrades” and “maintenance” episodes on all sides, there really isn’t much to show for their efforts. I remember dial-up being very slow those many years ago but surely connectivity should have improved with all the other service providers in the market now? So where exactly is the problem here?

Johari Yusof says AI can play a significant role in smart city governance, transportation, healthcare, and waste disposal.

The government should intensify its efforts in creating smart cities driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to help the public embrace this new technology, says an academic.

Putrajaya aims to transform the three federal territories into smart cities by 2030, with an emphasis on sustainability.

Censof Holdings Bhd is collaborating with Microsoft as one of its partners to advance the digital transformation of Malaysia’s key industries, including the public sector.

Under the collaboration Censof will be working together with Microsoft for its Government Resource Planning (GRP) system, which will run on Microsoft Azure.

More Malaysian users have opted for internet services related to e-Learning, e-Health, e-Government, e-Commerce and e-Entertainment in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Access to mobile phone and computer by households also increased to 98.6 per cent and 77.6 per cent respectively in 2020, according to the Department of Statistics.