The IT community in Malaysia is quite ecstatic about the 1997 Budget describing it as an IT budget with world-class incentives.
I commend the Finance Minister for this is undoubtedly the most `IT budget’ which he had presented so far, in keeping with the government intention that Malaysia should take the quantum leap into the future under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).
In this budget, the Finance Minister has abolished sales tax and duties of more computer items and introduced incentives for the MSC area to promote multimedia applications, research and development activities and high technology industries, such as 10-year pioneer status or 100% investment tax allowance; a special incentive for companies whose presence will attract other companies to establish their operations in the IT city; a special guideline to regulate foreign currency transactions and loans and abolition of taxes on multi-media equipment and abolition of taxes on multimedia equipment.
The hype about the budget’s emphasis on IT had created a misconception as a result of certain press reports that there is also a quantum leap in provision for promoting computer literacy in the schools, as if RM10 billion had been specially set aside for the Computer in Education programme.
This misconception arises from this paragraph in the Finance Minister’s budget speech:
“23. A sum of RM13.2 billion is set aside for the education sector and manpower training. Out of that allocation, a sum of RM10.0 billion is set aside for schools, the implementation of the Computer in Education Programme; and funding for institutions of higher learning”.
A check with the actual budgetary provisions shows that Computer in Education Programme is not even 10 per cent of this figure - a paltry RM60 million considering the urgency and importance of promoting computer literacy in both the primary and secondary schools without any delay.
Malaysia’s future, our competitiveness, prosperity and place in the world will be determined by the ability of all Malaysians to take a quantum leap into the Digital Age.
In the old economy, natural resources and physical infrastructure were the decisive factors for a nation’s competitiveness. In the new global economy, knowledge is the key resource and the quality of a nation’s workforce is critical to ensure competitiveness.
If Malaysia is to become a truly developed and world-class nation, Malaysia must be in the very forefront of the Information Technology and the Digital Age by achieving two objectives: Firstly, that there is no division between the “information-rich” and the “information-poor” among Malaysians; and secondly, that Malaysia joins the ranks of the “Information rich” nations in the world.
The Finance Minister had referred to the eight special areas which would be promoted in the MSC, including telemedicine, smart schools, research and development clusters, multi-purpose cards and electronic government.
The country will not forget that immediately after the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed first announced the details of these eight flagship applications for the RM5 billion 15km by 50 km MSC, the country was plunged into nation-wide darkness with a 17-hour power blackout - raising the question whether Malaysia’s infrastructure developments have been able to keep pace with these IT plans.
Secondly, the government must ensure that the MSC does not become an isolated island of information prosperity while the rest of the country lags behind in comparative information backwardness and poverty/
Malaysia must not create a two-tier society of winners and losers as far as IT is concerned.
In the past year in Parliament, I had made five important proposals to prepare Malaysia, in particular the new generation of Malaysians, for a quantum leap into the Information Age.
Firstly, during the budget debate last year, I had called for a National Information Technology Policy aimed at making Malaysia a leader in the Information Highway.
Secondly, during the debate on the Seventh Malaysia Plan in May this year, I had called on the government to respond to the challenge of Information Technology Revolution by proclaiming the Knowledge Society as a national vision and strategic objective, using Information Technology to provide the environment for lifelong learning in which all Malaysians will have access to the widest possible variety of learning opportunities and tools.
Thirdly, during the debate on the 1996 Education Act last December, I had introduced an amendment to the new Education Bill during the committee stage to make “computer literacy” a core subject for primary and secondary school curriculum
Fourthly, I had proposed that by the year 2000, all the 8,500 schools should be connected to the Internet.
Fifthly, I had proposed last week a three-point crash programme to ensure that the 250,000 teachers in the primary and secondary schools are computer-literate by the year 2000, including a special loan scheme to encourage and provide an incentive to the 250,000 teachers to buy a personal computer and get special discount to get connected to the Internet.
These five proposals have not yet been acted on by the Government. It is clear that although the 1997 budget provides further incentives to promote IT development in Malaysia, the country lacks a coherent and integrated strategy to prepare Malaysians to meet the challenges of an Info-Society.
Malaysians and MPs must not fall victim to the hype about IT in Malaysia, as if Malaysia is already in the very forefront of the Information Superhighway. In the United States, President Clinton is talking about Internet II, a zippier Info Highway for universities to give researchers, doctors and “distance learners” a pipeline to reliably shuttle billions of bits at speeds the old Internet can’t handle.
It is also useful to find out what Singapore is planning in preparing for the Info-Society. There is an island-wide programme to lay cables to almost every home which will lead by next year to connections where Singaporeans can reach Web pages 1,000 times faster than today.
In preparing the population for the Info-Society, the Singapore government-backed National Computer Board has announced that it plans to ensure that:
As model user/customer of the Information Highway, all Singapore government departments have begun launching Web sites through which its citizens can transact official business without leaving their homes or offices.
While the Malaysian Ministry of Education is not prepared to commit itself to the target of hooking every school in Malaysia to the Net by the year 2,000, which is a ratio of at least one modem computer per school, developed countries are planning to reach a level of about 5-10 pupils per up-to-date computer from a level of about 40 pupils per up-do-date computer.
Malaysia has a long way to catch up, especially in preparing the people for the Info-Society.
The Seventh Malaysia Plan, which was tabled in Parliament in May this year, promised that a IT National Action Plan would be formulated by the National Information Technology Council (NITC) to “chart the necessary steps to promote the development of Malaysia into an IT hub”.
Six months have passed - and six months is a very long time in the Digital Era - but no word about such an IT National Action Plan has been forthcoming.
The Government should launch a coherent and integrated “Info-Society Malaysia 2000 Plan ” latest by April next year, which should be presented to Parliament for a full debate. This “Info-Society Malaysia 2000 Plan” should provide for the government to present annual IT policy statements to Parliament outlining the IT policy action plan for the forthcoming year and reporting on the IT policy action plan of the previous year.
This Info-Society Malaysia Plan should involve the national, state and local governments and involve all sectors in preparing the population for the Info-Society - wage earners, employers, individual enterprises, civil servants, youths undergoing education, the elderly - and above all - the individual.
In this regard, trade unions should play a very important role in promoting understanding of the Info-Society and provide opportunities for education and self-improvement of workers - and this is why the absence of a trade union representative on the National Information Technology Council should be rectified.
Parliament should form a Standing Committe on Information Technology which should hold public hearing, review the annual government IT report and submit its recommendations to Parliament for debate.
This Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT should take over the responsiblity for the Parliamentary homepage, which should be a model for an interactive website in an electronic government where the public can get information, provide feedback and access services as well.