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.