PM Najib Urges Local Digital Players To Work With Global Tech Communities

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak Wednesday urged local digital sector players to work with global technology communities, as Malaysia will benefit immensely, by exploiting the full potential of the digital economy. In making the call, he encouraged collaborations and cooperation in the sector, particularly with China, given its advanced and growing Internet technology space. Citing an example, Najib said China has seen the birth of many tech giants of their own such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, and these were the epitome of today’s digital icons that every tech company wants to emulate. "It is imperative that we are able to provide Malaysians with world-class network infrastructure and superfast connectivity, while boosting the development of industries, towards fulfilling the government's aspiration of elevating Malaysia into a high-income nation. "The potential is limitless. All that is required is our willingness and readiness to explore opportunities," he said at the Malaysia-China Digital Economy Forum here. Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the digital economy's contribution to Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) was 17.8 per cent. He said the relentless push for proliferation and use of the digital technology across businesses, government and citizens had yielded fantastic results. This is reflected by an increase in foreign direct investments in the technology sector, improved online government delivery services, as well as greater societal upliftment through digital income opportunities, he added. Najib said the demand for one million digital workers by 2025 had prompted Malaysia to integrate computational thinking and computer science in the national school curriculum by next year. He added the digital technology will play an even larger role in the economy with the 100 billion connections projected to happen in the next 10 years. "Indeed, the Internet economy is pivotal in driving the overall Digital Economy agenda, where its contribution to the country’s growth is becoming more significant. "Thus, having seen and heard how other countries are proactively seizing opportunities in the digital economy, it is only natural that Malaysia capitalises on it," he added. The Digital Free Trade Zone, which was announced recently, would merge physical location and virtual spaces, with attractive incentives and modalities to facilitate e-commerce and energise innovation and creativity in Internet technology. The government has announced that 2017 would be the Year of the Internet Economy for Malaysia. -- BERNAMA