Malaysia brings high-tech ICT benefits to rural areas

Malaysia brings high-tech ICT benefits to rural areas

Hazlin Hassan, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia will create several new "cyber-cities" to expand its
rapidly growing Internet technology industry and spread the
benefit to all Malaysians, the government announced at the
weekend.

The move is the second phase of the Multimedia Super Corridor
(MSC) project south of Kuala Lumpur, which has attracted more
than a thousand companies, close to 20,000 jobs and a software-
driven industry worth 6.5 billion ringgit (US$1.71 billion) since
its inception in 1996.

Located in Cyberjaya, the MSC was designed as a hub for
multimedia products and services and was the brainchild of former
premier Mahathir Mohamad as part of a plan to turn Malaysia into
a developed nation by 2020.

The main aim during the first phase of the project was to
attract foreign IT companies and develop new ideas for software.

The MSC's 'Next Leap', spanning 2004 to 2010, would see the
setting-up of Cyberjaya-linked high-tech centers throughout
Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said at the launch
Saturday.

"This will help bring economic growth to rural areas as well
as revitalize other industrial areas around the country," he
said.

"This will also help to narrow the existing regional economic
and digital divide in our country," he said.

Initially, the government would create so-called "mini-MSCs"
in Bayan Lepas, Penang and in the Kulim High Technology Park in
Kedah, he said.

Other cyber-cities and cyber-centers would be announced later
when their infrastructure was ready, he said.

"Eventually it is envisioned that all new and existing cyber-
cities and cyber-centers will work as a synergistic network with
Cyberjaya as its hub," he said.

Selected cities and areas outside Cyberjaya would be wired up
during the project's second phase, with rural clinics and
hospitals being able to use the 'tele-health' program, Abdullah
said.

Blood tests, X-rays and other medical examinations could be
electronically delivered to specialists in major cities to
analyze for better, quicker and more cost-effective health-care,
Abdullah said.

Abdullah said the government had decided to abandon the 'smart
school' project -- building schools from scratch linked to the
Internet and using Web-enabled teaching methods.

As an alternative, he said the government would equip all
10,000 existing schools in the country with the latest ICT
facilities and ensure they used Web-enabled teaching and learning
methods by 2005.

The 87 'smart schools' which had already been built under the
project would, however, continue to operate, he added.

Since its inception, the MSC has seen innovations that have
created more than 151 patents, 41 industrial designs and 188
trademarks, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister
Jamaluddin Jarjis.

Malaysia currently generates over 40,000 ICT and computer
engineering graduates every year, he added.

The MSC has generated some 19,000 knowledge-based jobs, ICT
exports totaling 1.2 billion ringgit and 419 million ringgit in
R&D expenditure.