9. ICT in Malaysia’s Growth Agenda

Abstract

Malaysia's ICT Agenda When Malaysia launched its Vision 2020 in 1991, the aspirations were about becoming a “scientific and progressive society”, to develop “an economy that is … able to adapt, innovate and invent …”, and “an economy driven by brain power, skills and diligence, in possession of a wealth of information …”. Hence, at the start of the Sixth Malaysia Plan (6MP), during the years from 1991 to 1995, Malaysia was ready to embrace its enviable growth in the electronics manufacturing sector, where information and communications technology (ICT) was recognized widely within the realm of hardware components, rather than as a service; as an “enabler” sector, rather than a driver of economic growth. ICT assumed this “economic enabler” position in Malaysia's manufacturing sector as the country embarked on its transition from a production-based economy to a knowledge-based economy (K-economy) during the 6MP. This was supported by the introduction of the National Information Technology Council (NITC) during the same period, to ensure that ICT is “well integrated in the socioeconomic fabric of the nation”. The National Information Technology Agenda (NITA) was formulated to realize the core objectives of NITC, during a time when the Malaysian economy was growing at an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 4.8 per cent. NITA was put together to be the catalyst in transforming Malaysia “into a value-based economy through the development of talent, infrastructure and applications to benefit the Malaysian society”. It was also during this period that the Government launched the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. MSC Malaysia MSC Malaysia represents, perhaps the foremost affirmative action to propel ICT into Malaysia's socio-economic fabric — and leapfrog Malaysia's position into the global ICT fraternity. With lofty ambitions as “to create a world-class environment for attracting the best multimedia enterprises to use this region as a test-bed for cutting-edge ICT applications”,MSC Malaysia embarked on a frenzy of building a new township complete with the required hard infrastructure, for instance, roadways and telecommunication connectivity, in Cyberjaya, approximately 30 km south of Kuala Lumpur city centre. Phase 1 (1996–2004) of the MSC Malaysia implementation plan focused on accelerating Malaysia's growth as a global ICT hub by attracting foreign direct investment (FDI); as well as the launch of MSC flagship applications.