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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : TOKYO, JAPAN
Tarikh/Date : 13/05/96
Tajuk/Title : THE TELEPORT '96 CONFERENCE'
I am honoured and delighted to be asked to
speak at this conference attended by so many
distinguished participants on a subject which
relates to the future of the so-called Information
Age. The presence of representatives of both the
developed and developing nations should help to
balance the interest of the global society which
presently does not have equal access to information.
I am confident that the findings will be
constructive and will contribute significantly to
the peaceful co-existence of the global community.
2. Evolution in our society is by no means
influenced by natural processes alone. It is also
the result of human reaction to his environment and
attempts to influence it. Thus defence needs
through the ages had resulted in the fashioning of
weapons which later found peaceful usage. Of course
the opposite was also true. The process is far from
over. Much of today's technology had their origins
in the search for more effective weapons of war.
But war and defence is not always the reason. Thus
the quest for food and clothing resulted in trade
initially through barter, then the exchange of
precious metal tokens, and now paperless trading.
3. Where before human communities can be totally
isolated and independent, we now see not just
interdependent societies but a borderless global
society emerging. The science fiction writers and
futurists are often right about the shape of things
to come. But the reality may take quite a different
form from what they had predicted. Thus the
microchip and its influence on human society and the
way we communicate was never really prophesied or
thought of. For that reason we were not quite
prepared for the information explosion and the
advent of the information rich society.
4. This conference will hopefully contribute
something towards our understanding of the new
information age and indicate the direction and
possible usage of mass information and the
management of the flood of information which
threatens to drown us sometimes.
5. The development in the telecommunications and
information industries has given a new definition to
what constitutes a rich or a poor nation. Today the
defining character of a rich or poor nation is based
on its economic wealth and the state of its
industrialisation. In the future, the determining
character of a rich or poor nation may be the
accessibility to information resources and the use
they are put to. Through information countries may
benefit from the wealth and economic activities of
others or produce goods and services from material
and facilities that they may not have locally.
6. The globalisation of trade and industry will
accelerate with the progress of information
technology. Corporations are now more able to look
beyond their national borders to take advantage of
cheaper resources, skills and knowledge for
research, production and marketing. Cyber business
companies or virtual offices are beginning to
sprout. Conventional policy instruments for the
management and regulation of trade and industry are
becoming increasingly ineffective. Governments have
to look into new regulatory instruments to deal with
these new forms of business entities, indeed to deal
with the spread of information itself.
7. In the political sphere, national borders are
becoming quite irrelevant in the Information Age.
As mass information is disseminated through the fast
emerging global communication networks, it will
become more difficult for governments to control
trans-border social, economic and political
interaction. It will be equally difficult to
control the access to information within the
country's own borders. As citizens avail themselves
freely of information, the role of governments and
governance will have to be redefined. Since
knowledge is power, the availability of knowledge to
everyone must disperse power and power centres.
These new centres of power will undermine the
traditional authority of governments and even
international regulatory bodies.
8. With the rise in networked societies and
organisations, sharing, in the true sense of the
word, will be enhanced. Regardless of social
status, economic diversity and distance, people of
all walks of life will be able to share knowledge
and experiences with unprecedented facility.
Multimedia networks will enable this exchange to
take place using virtual reality in order to be more
authentic. The learning process will thus be more
effective as virtual experience can be actually
repeated until the lessons are truly learned.
9. Our world today has grown very small due to the
web of interconnected information networks such as
the internet. With more than 35 million users and
still increasing, with worldwide and new networks
being added to the existing 35,000 networks, the
aggregate number and wealth of information going
back and forth is truly unimaginable. The numerous
means of acquiring information has ignited a
revolution which has profoundly affected us, much
more than what the steam engine did to the
Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. In the
same way that the Industrial Revolution transformed
the socio-economic fabric of the past, the
Information Revolution will radically change our
social and economic landscapes. The effect defies
imagination, challenging mankind's capacity to
envision and shape the future. In the not so
distant future, I believe informatisation rather
than industrialisation may be a better reflection of
the development of a nation.
10. The development and speed of the modern
information network has facilitated the growth of
the global economy. Intra-regional and inter-
regional trades have flourished with vast movements
of goods, capital, people and technology. Supported
by the transportation, banking and financial
services, all utilising telecommunications and new
commercial data, the movement of goods and services
will soar to greater heights. Accessibility to new
markets has already fostered the founding of new
international corporations even in the developing
countries. With the capability to send complete and
detailed information, manufacturing need no longer
be restricted to the countries possessing the
technology and the resources. And so manufacturing
will now be truly global, with design being done in
one country, engineering in another, sourcing of
parts from all over the world and production in the
most competitive countries. Technical information
can be culled from literature worldwide through the
numerous libraries in the networks.
11. Even in the field of social and cultural
activities, the information revolution can bring
about greater international understanding. People
can learn about other cultures and values which can
hopefully eliminate the tendency to become insular,
regarding other people as abnormal. This can give a
new dimension to our lives, reducing narrow
nationalism and creating more globally oriented
citizens.
12. The new information era brings not only
opportunities but also many challenges to the global
community. Recent developments necessitate changes
in family, social, economic, political and
governmental structures. Easier communication tends
to create and facilitate new values - most notably
freedom of expression, reciprocity in the
interchange of views and universality of access.
The power of the media to highlight only what it
chooses while blacking out counter arguments or
opinions will be diminished as everyone can reply
through the net without editorial vetting.
13. These freedoms are at the core of the liberal-
democratic political system and the free market
system which most nations now subscribe to. With
the universality of access comes the need for
universal public policies, particularly to prevent
the abuse of the free access to information. No
country by itself will be able to prevent these
abuses. It must be remembered that access for
everyone means also access for terrorists and
criminals for whom information can mean greater
sophistication and sophistry in their unwelcome
activities.
14. Of course on the plus side the availability of
infrastructures for electronically transferring and
accessing information is critical for the
realisation of greater economic, social and cultural
objectives. For the developing and less developed
countries, the availability of the information
infrastructure is the only way to leapfrog the
development process and to run after the rest.
Adequate access to telecommunications facilities
will boost industrialisation, reduce the rate of
unemployment and contain the exodus from the rural
to the urban environment, from the poor countries to
the rich. Thus, the previously underemployed
programmers in developing countries can now work for
and earn good incomes by doing work for industries
in many countries without leaving their shores in
search of employment.
15. I strongly believe that the developing and less
developed nations must regard it as vital to join
the global effort in the formation of the
Information Society as it will open windows for
quantum leaps in technology development. The
availability of global infrastructure for
communications will help in the realisation of
economic, social and cultural progress as well as
reducing the lead of the advanced nations. At this
point, the developing and under-developed countries
should reassess their paradigm and be bold enough to
participate actively in the formation of an
information-rich society. The path to a radical
change, to a paradigm shift is not without
difficulties. There will be many constraints;
financial, trained manpower, access to advanced
technologies, to name a few. A helping hand from
the rich nations will be crucial. If we subscribe
to the view that helping others to prosper will
eventually benefit ourselves, then the rich should
not be reluctant to help the poorer nations join the
Information Society.
16. While there may be many benefits, social
imbalances may actually be accentuated by
information technology, widening the gap between the
haves and the have-nots. Already the huge
telecommunication companies of the developed nations
are grabbing huge segments of the telecommunication
networks worldwide. The poor countries may lose
their chance of getting a piece of the action even
in their own countries. In the process they may
lose control of their economy as well.
17. There is also and there will continue to be an
increase in unhealthy trends such as more widespread
and difficult to detect dissemination of
pornography, white collar crimes and loss of privacy
and security of information.
18. However, for the global community the benefits
of the new technology promises to outweigh these
misapplications. The release of man from the more
routine and mundane thinking tasks, thus enabling
him to devote his thoughts, time and energy to more
value-added knowledge work through information
technology is in itself sufficient compensation.
Man's intellectual contribution to society's
development can thus be enhanced.
19. Information technology will of course enable
the sharing of information and knowledge much more
widely. As far as these are concerned a more
equitable level will emerge. It can produce a high
level of synergy between global communities to
address national and global problems and issues
which will, hopefully, help create a more peaceful
and a higher quality of life for the world's
population.
20. The information technology paradox is that,
while current trends may be widening the gap between
the haves and the have-nots, it can, if properly
guided, bring them closer together. Information
technology-based social services such as
telemedicine, distance learning and the provision of
services over the network can be used to bring the
less privileged and more remote communities into the
mainstream of social and economic development.
21. Information technology has the capacity to
maximise the global potential. Consumers of the
world can benefit from the lower cost of research
and production by facilitating the sourcing of
knowledge, materials and goods from the best and
cheapest sources. The economies of less developed
nations should gain from this. However, such
sharing will only be possible if there are no
artificial barriers erected either by governments or
the private sector to obstruct the free flow of
information or to link them with extraneous
political and economic issues.
22. This immense potential of a networked global
society should be used in the creation of a one
world society which places a premium on the quality
of life for all. This can only happen if the
information age and the concept of sharing are based
on common values and the principles of equality,
fairplay and justice. At this moment, the enormous
capital required to put in place the infrastructure
can only result in a few giants monopolising the
commercial benefits at the expense of the capital
and technology-poor economies. This is being
aggravated by the demand through the WTO for opening
up markets. While the developing and less developed
countries must be prepared to help realise the
vision, they must be helped to develop their human
and financial resources together with their
management and technological skills. Without some
kind of a head start and affirmative action the
potentials of the manpower in these countries to
contribute to the Global Information Infrastructure
will be wasted.
23. For our part, Malaysia is committed to the
evolution of a global information society. As a
developing nation, we realise that we need to change
our existing paradigm if we want to be part of the
on-going process of change. Notwithstanding the
constraints, we are prepared to lay the foundation
of an information-rich society. Accordingly, we
have formed a National Information Technology
Council (NITC) to guide the Government and the
nation in progressing towards a meaningful role in
the global information society that is fast
advancing. A joint venture project between the
government and the private sector, NITC will
coordinate and synergise the functions of the two
parties. Its primary task is to evaluate the
government's and the private sector's needs and
efforts in the development of information technology
and other related industries. It will also
recommend regulatory public policy that is conducive
to the convergence of the telecommunications and
broadcasting industries. To this end, we have
embarked on an ambitious programme of a
sophisticated information technology infrastructure
build-up between Kuala Lumpur and the new Kuala
Lumpur International Airport called the Multimedia
Super-Corridor (MSC). Putrajaya, the proposed new
administrative capital of Malaysia, will be built in
between. Based on the latest advanced information
technology hardware and software, the MSC will in
fact become a teleport which will enable real time
retrieval and dissemination of information. It will
be the nerve centre to steer and lead the nation to
meet the challenges of an information-rich society.
It is hoped that the MSC will spearhead a structured
approach to embrace the latest technologies in
accessing information, linking Malaysia to the
global information base and expertise, thus
providing invaluable assistance for both the public
and private sectors to execute strategic decisions
as well as optimising productivity and efficiency on
a world-wide scale. Computer, broadcasting and
communications, as well as multimedia industries
will merge along this corridor. Indeed, the MSC
will be a significant boost to foreign and local
investors from these industries, taking advantage of
the advanced technologies to develop multimedia and
related products and value-added services, thereby
accelerating the pace of Malaysia's progress to
become an information-rich society. With the MSC
firmly in place, both foreign and local investors
can also utilise Malaysia as a springboard to expand
their horizons into emerging markets in the Asia
Pacific region. Needless to say we are aware that a
concerted effort is needed to implement the MSC
successfully. A Multimedia Development Corp (MDC)
will facilitate direct investments in the project.
24. To predict the future is not easy. But in this
case, I have no doubt of the eventuality of the
Information Society. The achievement of this vision
will require concerted effort on the part of
everyone. But it will more than pay off as the
reward will be enormous for all. We require a
common stand and global cooperation to realise the
shared vision. I am happy to note that the members
of the G-7 have initiated a bold and farsighted move
to provide the necessary support for the developing
and less developed nations to have equal access to
information and ultimately achieve the formation of
a truly Global Information Society.
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