PETALING JAYA: Technological advancements should be able to “remove the gaps” in a country full of them, but poor execution has resulted in many discrepancies in connectivity, education and wealth, said an economist.
Noor Azlan Ghazali, who is executive director of the Economic Action Council, said that pursuing a technological future has long been on the agenda as a way to address these shortcomings, but the policies needed to achieve it have never been properly implemented.
“We have been talking about rural and urban gaps for so long, and the challenge now is: how do we get digitalisation to reach everywhere in Malaysia,” he said during a webinar titled “Unlocking Malaysia’s Digital Economy Growth” organised by the Tech for Good Institute today.
He said the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) established in 1995 was one of the first initiatives anywhere in the world aimed squarely at driving technological growth, but its potential was never fulfilled.
“Had we done things right, we’d be way ahead now. But, we are still not connected and we don’t have the development of digital content.”
Even “flagship” initiatives promoted as part of the MSC were now “all gone,” he added.
Azlan argued that this failure to carry out stated goals was emblematic of systemic failures in Malaysia, which has become a country able to plan but unable to execute.
“(Malaysia) is good at recognising needs, but we must admit that Malaysia has a serious challenge getting things done.”
He said that this had been the case with many plans and blueprints devised by government agencies, which had been able to identify areas that needed improving and proposed solutions, but were never committed to.
“This was also where Malaysia fell short in achieving Vision 2020. It had nothing to do with various crisis episodes, but our inability to get things done.” - FMT
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