PUTRAJAYA: Technological advancement is an important tool for a nation’s development and countries with such capabilities will triumph, said the Prime Minister.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said it was no accident that technologically-advanced countries like the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and Australia were among the world’s wealthiest nations.
Countries that failed to make technological innovation the centrepiece of their economy would fall behind, he added.
Innovating for the future: Najib getting ready to chair the IAP meeting at the PICC yesterday.
Also present were Scince, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili (left) and
Multimedia Development Cooperation CEO Datuk Badlisham Ghazali (right).
Malaysia, he said, had done well in the past by growing an industrial base while expanding its agricultural sector and nurturing a strong oil and gas industry.
“But our prior focus on attracting foreign investment as a low-cost producer has now created
a dilemma, as we are not keeping pace with global leaders and remain somewhat underdeveloped in this respect,” he said in his opening remarks at the launch of the 12th International Advisory Panel (IAP) meeting at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre
here yesterday.
He added that a new paradigm was needed for the country to take a quantum leap into the ranks of developed nations.
According to Najib, this was why the MSC Malaysia initiative, which will enter its third phase of development and evolution from 2011 to 2020, will build on the country’s success so far and boost its economic growth and societal well-being.
Najib said Malaysia now wanted to create its own software, games, creative content and social networking icons.
“We want our own solutions to be used in solving medical, environmental, business and scientific challenges. We want to close the lingering ‘digital divide,’ not just here in
Malaysia but also contribute to erasing the gap elsewhere,”he said.
He said the Government will roll out an advanced national communications infrastructure soon by wiring up 1.2 million households and business premises with fibre-optics to boost Internet connection speeds to between 10Mbps (megabits per second) and 1Gbps (gigabit per second). Current speeds are up to 4Mbps.
The high-speed broadband network, he said, would provide a platform to develop ICT (information and communications technology) applications for the future, as well as provide citizens, businesses and government agencies with a competitive boost via cutting-edge communications capabilities.
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