On 19th February 2021, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin launched the MyDIGITAL initiative – a new and comprehensive approach designed to anchor the country’s digital economy by 2030. This initiative serves as part of the government’s plans to “transform Malaysia into a digitally-driven, high income nation and a regional leader in digital economy. MyDigital is expected to be executed via the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, which will take place in three phases:
- Phase 1 (2021 to 2022) – strengthen the foundation of digital adoption.
- Phase 2 (2023 to 2025) – drive inclusive digital transformation.
- Phase 3 (2026 to 2030) – making Malaysia a digital content and cyber security lead in the regional market.
“MyDigital will empower Malaysians from Perlis to Sabah, improving their lives in every aspect, it encompasses ideas and plans to increase digital literacy, creating high-income jobs, improving banking and finances, gaining better digital access to education and medical services in rural towns,” says Tan Sri Muhyiddin.
The initiative comprises several action plans which adopted a hole-of-nation approach to complement the existing national development policies and initiatives, including the Twelve Malaysia Plan (RMK-12) and the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
Policy evolution in relation to ICT development
“The MyDIGITAL initiative, which comes under the National Digital Economy Blueprint, is set to further grow Malaysia’s digital economy into a strategic economic engine of growth,” said SAP Malaysia managing director Hong Kok Cheong.
The Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint is a comprehensive planning document which outlined 22 strategies, 48 national initiatives and 28 sectoral initiatives. For the full document, please access here . Below is a summary of the blueprint:
KEY TARGETS OF THE MYDIGITAL INITIATIVE
The key targeted impacts are as follow:
- Create 500,000 new job opportunities in the digital economy, which is expected to contribute 22.6% of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
- Assist 875,000 micro enterprises and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs and SMEs) to go digital via e-commerce, which catalyse 5,000 start-ups within the next five years.
- Serve as the starting point to attract RM 70 billion (USD 17.32 billion) of digital investments from domestic and international markets.
- Achieve a 30% increase in productivity for the economic sector by 2030.
- “Cloud First Strategy” – Migration of 80% of public data to a hybrid cloud system by the end of 2022 to reduce government costs in the long-term.
KEY INVESTMENT AREAS
As part of the effort to accelerate innovation and create an efficient digital ecosystem, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has pointed out four key digital infrastructure projects under MyDIGITAL. These projects will be implemented through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) where the private partners with suitable financial capacity and technical competency will contribute via capital and skills injection. The four key projects are as follow:
- RM 21.00 billion – to be invested over five years through National Digital Network (JENDELA) project to strengthen existing connectivity.
- RM 1.65 billion – to be invested by several telecommunications companies to strengthen connection to the international subsea cable network until 2023.
- RM 15.00 billion – to be invested over ten years for the implementation of 5G nationwide. This is expected to create approximately 105,000 job opportunities.
- RM 12.00 – 15.00 billion – to be invested by Cloud Service Provider (CSP) companies over the next five years to increase data storage space, reduce operating costs and improve analytical efficiency.
“By the end of this year, 5G technology will start to be enjoyed by the people in stages. With this, Malaysia will be one of the first countries in the region to build a 5G ecosystem using the internet and cloud services in real-time to enable information to be shared instantly,” says Tan Sri Muhyiddin.
INITIATIVES EXECUTION
In terms of implementation, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called DIGITAL Nasional Berhad (DNB) has been established to undertake the deployment of the 5G infrastructure and network nationwide will be licensed to operate under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA 1998). As such, DNB would be subject to regulatory oversight of MCMC, just like any other licensee in the communications and multimedia industry, notwithstanding the fact that the entity is wholly owned by the Government.
According to the press release from MCMC’s official portal, MCMC will regulate and monitor DNB via the relevant regulatory tools under the CMA 1998, to ensure, among other, optimum use of spectrum and that all telecommunications service providers will have open, fair and equal access in obtaining wholesale 5G network services for the development of retail services based on 5G technology.
DNB will act as a wholesale neutral party that enables other licensed telecommunication companies to focus on the latest technologies to develop innovative retail services as service offerings to consumers, enterprises and even the Government. The speed and cost savings of the 5G deployment can be passed on to benefit the end users.
On 1st March 2021, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced the appointment of the ministry’s secretary general Datuk Asri Hamidon as DNB chairman and Augustus Ralph Marshall, former director and CEO of Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd, as its CEO. Other board members appointed include Datuk Seri Dr Yusof Ismail, who is also the DG of Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit, Datuk Mohamed Shahril Tarmizi and Datuk Muthanna Abdullah.
On Feb 22, Putrajaya announced that the distribution of the 5G spectrum would not be done through auction, but bought via an SPV wholly-owned by the MoF.
CONCLUSION
One cannot deny that Malaysia has been active in producing various digital and technology related initiatives or plans in the past. Starting with the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) concept introduced in the end of the 20th Century, we have undergone more than twenty-year of revolution and unfortunately, we appear to be lacking behind the developed countries such as US, Germany, Luxemburg, or the Asian countries such as South Korea, China, Singapore which are well-known for their digital savviness.
With the emergence of new technologies and inventions, the digital ecosystem is in a constant state of renewal. Hence, one of the most crucial traits of such blueprint or planning is perhaps it cannot remain static for too long. The authorities must constantly modernise the national policies, initiatives and planning for the nation to keep up and remain ahead of the curve. A mechanism will need to be put in place to guide the authorities in observing latest trends of the digital sectors, adapting latest best practices globally, and evolving the way of doing things.
