Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE PUTRA WORLD TRADE CENTRE,
KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 01/11/95
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE INFOTECH
`95 CONFERENCE
Malaysia has been very fortunate to experience rapid
growth in recent years. Our continued economic and social
progress has contributed to the overall stability and
prosperity of the country.
2. Now that we are at the threshold of the Seventh Plan,
the time is opportune to review our strategies. Their
relevance and effectiveness in achieving national objectives
and targets must be assessed. This is particularly critical
in the light of rapid technological changes, both nationally
and internationally.
3. Sustaining growth in the increasingly competitive
world economic order will be our major challenge. This is
because 85 percent of the world's wealth is still shared
among the richest 20 percent. Among other things, this is
due to the fact that capital and technological resources are
still under the control of industrialised countries.
4. Economic competition and political restructuring are
now being reinforced by the combined effects of a new
factor: the digital economy and the borderless world.
Information technology or IT, integrating the power of
computers and telecommunication, is providing easy access to
information: to anyone, at any time, in any place and in any
form. Unfettered information flow across boundaries, in
real time without regard for distances while providing
new opportunities, can also be a threat to the well-being
of countries politically, economically and socially.
5. However IT is more than just a new technology. It
involves a fundamental shift in the way we think and
function. The demand for IT products and systems stems from
the need to increase efficency and productivity in a
competitive world. We have learnt that first by automating,
and then lately by transforming work processes, we can gain
a quantum jump in productivity. Socially, people have
discovered the utility of instant global communication. A
fundamental psychological need is being fulfilled and at the
same time the floodgates to enhanced intellectual
interchange have been opened.
6. The knowledge society is therefore not merely a new
manisfestation of technological inventiveness. It marks the
rise of information and knowledge as new parameters in
economic advancement and social progress. The essence of
the knowledge society lies in its contents. The key human
skills are cognitive, mental and intellectual. Thus human
resources become the ultimate resource for any nation.
7. The application of IT in all critical areas has been
promoted in this country for many years. As a corollary,
the electronics industry has become one of the major
manufacturing activities, contributing about 25 percent to
our GDP. Use of IT in both the public and private sectors
has been encouraged, resulting in per capita expenditure on
IT becoming one of the highest among developing countries.
In the mid-80s we also deregulated the telecommunications
industry by privatising the Telecoms Department. We have
now gone one step further by introducing competition in the
telecommunications business. More importantly education and
training in IT has been vastly expanded through encouraging
local institutions to venture into new areas and by
stimulating the growth of private educational institutions.
Additional human resources possessing new skills have been
produced, even though we still do not have enough.
8. In the past we facilitated the development and
application of IT through the bottom-up approach. This is a
necessary phase to enable people to experiment and
experience, to learn and to gain expertise. Lately we have
decided that the bottom-up approach has to be complemented
by the top-down policy planning and management scheme as
well. The formation of the National IT Council is geared
towards the establishment of national policy imperatives
which will propel us into the Information Age. We need to
know the priorities in order to optimise the use of
resources available. Key industries, their main players and
the related success factors have to be understood. Critical
applications in economic and social development have to be
identified and implemented. Top-down policy planning and
management therefore serves to steer the national IT
programme towards achieving our development objectives more
efficiently.
9. Already we have embarked on an ambitious programme to
establish a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in Malaysia.
This corridor stretches all the way from Kuala Lumpur to the
new KL International Airport in Sepang, encompassing an area
of about 15 kilometers wide and 40 kilometers long. This
corridor will not only house the new KLIA with the most
advanced Total Airport Management System (TAMS), but also
the new government centre of Putrajaya, which is being
planned to be an Intelligent City.
10. The objective of the MSC is to showcase the development
and application of multimedia in industry and business as
well as for life and work in general. Software, hardware
and systems companies in the computer, telecommunication and
broadcasting industries will be attracted to locate their
operations in the MSC. Businesses integrating both the
print and electronic media, including publishing,
information services, broadcasting and movie industries will
be prioritised. World class companies in these business
areas will be invited and local companies encouraged to
become their business partners.
11. In order to attract these companies the best
infrastructure will be provided. A network of highways
criss-crossing the MSC is already being implemented. To
complement the highways, there will be a Light Rail Transit
(LRT) as well as an Express Rail Link (ERL). These links
will provide rapid and efficient transport between the major
centres such as the airport, Putrajaya and the ports, and of
course, to the rest of the country. The electronic
superhighway will also be in place. Broadband
telecommunications is already being implemented through
fibre optic transmission, synchronous digital hierarchy
(SDH) and satellite links.
12. Multimedia cities will be created in the MSC catering
to various industries. Around the KLIA the Airport City
will facilitate and synergise air travel. This city will
not only cater to the needs of passenger and freight air
transport businesses but also integrate passenger transport
with the travel and tourist business globally.
13. The needs of IT in government will spawn another major
area of business activity. Putrajaya will see the creation
of new kinds of government services made possible through IT
and multimedia. Higher levels of efficiency and
productivity will be achieved by using IT to transform the
internal operations and processes of government agencies.
Services offered to the public will also be reengineered
such that the clients will be able to interact directly with
public servants through electronic means and in some cases
even avail themselves of the services by direct interaction
with intelligent and automatic IT systems.
14. The MSC will fulfill four primary objectives. First,
it will demonstrate the effectiveness of multimedia in
increasing the efficiency and productivity in the production
and delivery of goods and services in both the public and
private sector. Second, it will introduce a new supply and
demand spiral for the multimedia industry located in
Malaysia for the world market. Third, it will add value to
the infrastructure already put in place in the MSC,
including KLIA, Putrajaya, the transport network and the
electronic superhighway. Fourth, Putrajaya will stimulate
the growth of electronic governance: one that is more open,
transparent, responsive and entrepreneurial; in short more
suited to the Information Age.
15. The viability of the MSC concept has been accepted,
both by the government as well as by many companies we have
interacted with. Multimedia, its coordination and
development, including the proposed Multimedia Development
Corporation will be placed under the Prime Minister's
Department. Coordination is necessary as multimedia touches
upon many kinds of information infrastructure and
information content. The MDC will be the master planner
and strategic arm for the creation of the MSC. It will also
promote the MSC throughout the world in order to attract the
best companies to work with us.
16. These new initiatives will not be possible without
strong economy and political stability. Although we have
done rather well in the manufacturing industry, we should
now look at the services sector, particularly those services
that are information-intensive with high value added.
17. As for the MSC itself, having state-of-the-art
technology at hand will mean nothing if we do not prepare
ourselves to apply it. There is a need for a more balanced
approach to IT development and application. We should not
view IT and multimedia merely as technological artifacts.
Rather there should exist a more harmonious balance between
the technological imperatives and the social needs of
society.
18. Towards this end, five key principles must be
considered:-
First, the technology push through rapid advances
should be balanced by the social pull represented by
the economic, social and cultural needs of the people.
The proper application of IT requires the creation of
socio-technical systems which must meet social
objectives.
Second, our Information Superhighway should be equally
balanced between technological sophistication and the
efficacy of the information content.
Third, while the government can take the lead by
forming new strategies and facilitating their
implementation, the private sector must play its part.
Malaysian companies must be more innovative and
creative by venturing into the multimedia industry.
Fourth, there should be greater focus on transformation
as opposed to automation. Knowing that IT has the
potential of transforming organisational structures, we
should reengineer our processes to gain even higher
benefits from IT investment.
Fifth, we need to reemphasise the importance of human
resources in realising these aspirations.
19. Many kinds of balance must be achieved. Not only must
people gain competence and literacy in IT, they must also
know their specialised areas well, so that they may be able
to reengineer the necessary work processes. At the same
time, knowledge and skills must be balanced with the right
values and attitudes towards information and knowledge so
that they will create the required culture in the work
environment.
20. Malaysia has reached a crossroad in its economic
development. The choice seems to be clear: the need to
embark on a programme to apply multimedia more intensively
in business and in society at large. The MSC is a major
initiative in this direction. The synergies created will
bring into sharp focus the key success factors and the
problems that may arise.
21. I am confident that Infotech Malaysia 95 will set a new
trend in discussions on IT by highlighting the critical
components of our IT policy. I wish everybody a fruitful
deliberation.
22. On this note, I declare this Infotech '95 Conference
open.
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