It’s time to join in Malaysia’s next digital journey

PETALING JAYA: Industry players and groups are urging youth not to pass up the chance to improve their digital skills, saying that Malaysia has what it takes to achieve targets under the MyDigital initiative.

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chairman Datuk Dr Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said Malaysia has what it takes to achieve MyDigital targets that outline the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint.

“From a digital skills and jobs perspective, MDEC has accelerated efforts to expand the digital capabilities of Malaysians,” he said.

He added that among MDEC’s initiatives, Let’s Learn Digital, for example, has offered 3,800 courses that have helped Malaysians upskill and reskill while its MyDigitalmaker initiative has transformed about 1.6 million students nationwide from consumers to producers of tech solutions.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Nicole Wong, in urging youth not to pass up the chance to improve their digital skills, said they should join in the country’s journey towards becoming a digitally-driven, highincome nation.

She said under MyDigital, Malaysia is set to enjoy 5G connectivity in phases starting from this year end.

“We could also be one of the first countries in South-East Asia to build a service ecosystem around 5G so I’d like to encourage the younger generation to gain as much knowledge (as they can) and equip themselves with the latest technological skills,” she said.

Wong added that MyDigital was announced at the right moment as access to digital communication tools has become more crucial in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The initiative, she said, also aims to improve access to Internet connectivity so that all homes in Malaysia are equipped with it.

“As it becomes more widely available, we hope no Malaysian has to go through arduous journeys just to get a signal,” she said, citing the example of Pitas (Sabah) university student Veveonah Mosibin who had to climb a tree to get reception so that she could sit for her exams online.

Malaysians are also looking forward to the fruits of the MyDigital initiative and hope to enjoy better digital experience in years to come.

Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat hopes more will be done to help public servants improve their IT skills.

Asked to comment on MyDigital’s target of ensuring all civil servants possess digital literacy, he said civil servants may already possess such skills but there is always room for improvement.

“Technology evolves rapidly and there is always something new created every time so frequent training is needed to keep up with such developments.

“Mampu (Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit) has an important role to play in transforming the government delivery system so it also needs to provide relevant training courses for the public sector to support the digital needs of the economy and the people,” he said.

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) called MyDigital a holistic approach that will make life and business easier for Malaysians as a connected nation.

Its managing director and group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar said TM supports the initiative that is set to accelerate the country’s socio-economic recovery at a most critical time.

“We believe such public and private collaboration will propel our country towards being a full-fledged Digital Malaysia by 2030,” he said.

Imri also thanked the government for appointing TM as the only homebased cloud operator awarded the Cloud Service Provider to serve the public sector under MyDigital.

Teacher Susan Kuee commended the government’s efforts and hopes these will lighten the burden of lower-income households.

“It’s good that the government is aiming for 100% of households to have Internet access but efforts must also go towards ensuring high quality in both speed and connectivity,” said the mother of two.