KL drafting blueprint on knowledge economy

KL drafting blueprint on knowledge economy

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia is drawing up a master plan to help steer the country into the new information age, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday.

He said the blueprint will be completed within 18 months and include unspecified measures, to be introduced in the 2001 federal budget in October, promoting a "knowledge-based economy" (K-economy) based on advanced technology.

"The K-economy master plan must be a master plan for the entire nation and a personal master plan for every citizen," he said in a speech at the Second World Knowledge Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir suggested authorities needed to concentrate on ensuring citizens were able to compete in a global economy relying increasingly on advanced technology.

To help achieve this, Malaysians should aim for 100 percent IT literacy and improved language skills, he said.

The Prime Minister has already spearheaded the establishment of the Multimedia Super Corridor, a high-tech zone modeled on California's Silicon Valley, and has promoted the country as a base for the development of cutting-edge technology.

Mahathir also said Malaysia needed a first-rate national media system and a pool of skilled foreign workers to enrich its economy.

He said Malaysia would reduce the number of unskilled foreign workers by 95,000 a year but at the same time employ 5,000 foreigners of "extraordinary talent" every year.

He said the Internet and other information technology innovations would play a critical role in a new media structure although newspapers, radio and television would remain important.

"This country must most seriously enhance the production and supply of information, knowledge and wisdom and assure their accessibility to all our people," he said.

Mahathir did not say if the government would do away with a colonial-era law that requires publishers of newspapers and magazines to apply for annual permits.

Last week, the government renewed the annual publication permit of Harakah, a popular newspaper owned by the opposition Islamic party, on the condition it is published twice a month instead of twice weekly as before.

Mahathir also called for reforms in the private and public sectors, saying that the ancient and hallowed "confidential" syndrome must be eradicated.

"The private and public sector will need to operate according to new rules of transparency, new regulations for disclosure, new process of corporate and public sector governance," he said.