Saifuddin: Govt policies, economic, social systems key in driving digital economy

CYBERJAYA: The newly formed Malaysian Digital Economy Task Force will be focusing on three key components namely government policies, economic and social systems in efforts to promote the country’s digital economy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said.

“Where the government is concerned, we will have a closer look at e-government because this is a big issue and it is here, that the government should come out with strong policies such as cloud security policies.

“Under economy of course it will be about e-commerce and we will study how far small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have embraced e-commerce transformation,” he told reporters during his first official visit to the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) here yesterday.

In terms of the social system, Saifuddin said the team would look into issues on education, training and talent development including developing the creative industries which would not be limited to just creating animations and video games.

He said the Task Force is cochaired by him and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, adding that officer-level discussions were ongoing and the first meeting would be held soon.

On MDEC’s work plans, he said the corporation is currently focusing on the implementation of programmes under the National Economic Recovery

Plan (Penjana) following the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said it was discussed that while SMEs and small business operators in the rural areas are trained on starting online businesses, local entrepreneurs should be encouraged to trade in the Asean region.

Meanwhile, MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri said to help those who lost their jobs following the Covid-19 pandemic, MDEC would launch a training programme under the Global Online Workforce (GLOW) initiative this August.

Surina said that through GLOW, a programme under Penjana, MDEC would provide guidance and training on earning income from serving international clients while working online. — Bernama