MALAYSIAN PM NAJIB DESERVES 'ITU' AWARD

Luqman Nul Hakim Mazlan

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- Several quarters in the country Wednesday said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak certainly deserves to be conferred the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Award.

They were of the opinion that Najib's efforts to ensure the widest access to
the broadband in the country and that it was affordable to the public deserved
international recognition.

Najib received the ITU award on May 17 at the Shanghai Expo which was held
in conjunction with the World Telecommunication and Informed Society Day.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in a
statement to Bernama, said that the award was the greatest honour given by an
international organisation like the ITU to a national leader.

According to the MCMC, the award was conferred because Najib's leadership
was in line with the information and communication technology's (ICT) growth and
development philosophy which he had initiated and was visible to the outside
world.

"They could appreciate directly the national initiatives on broadband and
ICT under the New Economic Model (NEM) mooted by the Prime Minister and
understand how it is directly linked to the 1Malaysia concept.

"Each time the national budget is tabled, the allocation for information and
communication technology (ICT) had never been neglected, in fact it was a
priority for the Prime Minister," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the chief executive officer, of the Telekom Malaysia Group,
Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said the Prime Minister well deserved to receive the
award.

"He (Najib) has portrayed his dedication to promote ICT as a means of
providing a better life to the people.

"This is also evident in the multitude of initiatives that he has instituted
to enhance and widen the use of ICT across Malaysian society and sectors of the
economy," Zamzamzairani told Bernama by email.



He said Najib Tun Abdul Razak had always been at the forefront of
the digital revolution in Malaysia and placed high priority in making
connectivity and strengthening ICT infrastructure as one of the key facilitators
in the recently announced New Economic Model (NEM).

"He urges Malaysians to move up the value chain for us to leapfrog into
a
high income nation," he said.

Zamzamzairani said that the Prime Minister played a pioneering role in
accelerating the development of broadband in the country and he (Prime Minister)
recently launched the National Broadband Initiative (NBI), which seeks to
enhance broadband access to more people in the country and provide them with
greater opportunities to participate in the knowledge economy.

"This national ICT initiative is in prime position to become a key
facilitator of an innovation-driven, high-income knowledge-based economy," he
said.