Malaysia, an upper-middle economic state in SouthEast Asia, found its connectivity with the world with the installation of the first telephone line in 1874. The country developed its first computer system in 1966 and since then several initiatives to facilitate the integration of ICT in different areas have been introduced. The privatisation of the telecom sector in 1987, and the formation of the NTP (National Telecom policy) in 1994, led to the full liberalisation of the market. The enactment of the Communi-cations and Multimedia act in 1998 established the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (regulator) in support of national policy objectives. The regulator provides for economic, technical, consumer and social regulation ensuring competitiveness, licensing, frequency allocation, affordability and availability of ICT technologies and services. Framework for development (FID) is a five year rolling plan for ICT development. The country now faces the dilemma of ensuring global competitiveness as well as access to all.
e-Readiness of Malaysia
With a population of 25.58 million (2004) over an area of 330,000 sq. kms., Malaysia had an average population density of 74 people per square km., though it is unevenly spread across the country with the bulk of the population residing in the west half of the country. The economy of the country has been robust even in the wake of the economic setbacks in the Southeast Asian economies in 2000 and a SARS outbreak in 2003. The GDP of the country was reported as RM394 billion (2003) (RM 3.8= US $1), with a growth of 5.2 percent over 2002.
ICT has grown substantially in Malaysia contributing a (gross) revenue of RM19 billion to the economy. The total telephone penetration rates have reached a combined telephone penetration of 61.99 telephones per 100 people (2003).
The tele-density (fixed) has climbed to 20, with the mobile phone connections overtaking fixed lines. Deployments for 3G and EDGE mobile networks have also started. Malaysia's performance with respect to other ASEAN countries has also been good, as shown in the graph.
The country's Internet development started in 1988 and by the end of 2003 the total dial-up penetration rate was 11.4 percent. Broadband Internet services started in 2001 and are still in their infancy. The absence of regulatory mechanisms allowing for local loop unbundling, the slow paces of the incumbent, and issues with last-mile connectivity have resulted in wireless broadband being preferred by operators. The broadband as well as the mobile segments though have been deployed around cities and urban areas.
Malaysia has embarked upon various measures to ensure the ICTs play an important role in the society. For ICT development the MSC - Multimedia Super Corridor (for global competitiveness) has been developed.
The government has invested highly in its infrastructure. The MSC contains a high-speed 10Gb/s network connecting MSC to Japan, ASEAN, EU and the US. It supports public administration, education and business applications. Malaysia was ranked 26th in the world for e-Readiness. The telephone penetration rates rose by 7 percent while for the rural sector there was a rise of 6 percent (2000).
Facing challenges
ICT infrastructure development in Malaysia has been concentrated mainly in the urban areas. Even in the urban sector itself some areas are highly developed as compared to others. Regional differences in economic development and population density across the country have also resulted in some areas are considerably lagging behind. About 89 out of 136 districts in the country have been identified as undeserved. According to MEWC, about 3000 villages are not connected to the country's communication infrastructure.
The divide exists due to illiteracy, low incomes, amongst physically challenged people and due to difference in ethnicity, gender marginalising people whose access to ICT services is limited. Relatively low PC ownership has also been a reason for low access. The urban-poor of the country are also disadvantaged digitally.
The country is a federation of 13 states and 3 federal states. According to estimates the 'Bumiputeras' have low incomes and low education levels and suffer the most due to knowledge divide as well as digital divide. Data suggests that the states of Kedah, Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Pehang have more than 50 percent people in rural areas and also the highest percentage of 'Bumiputeras' in their population constitution. Thus they lag behind the rest of the country in terms of ICT.
According to the available data, most of the states mentioned have had traditional agro-economies and have had little development in terms of ICT industries. These states currently have a mean GDP less than the mean GDP of the country. The percentage of people below the poverty line is also higher than the national average in most of these states. More number of people here have never been educated. Some of these states specifically Kelantan and Terengganu consist of some socio-cultural and religious parameters causing prominent gender divide, as has been observed in other South Asian and South-East Asian countries as well. Some of these states, specifically Sabah and Sarawak have a large number of ethnic groups, that sometimes causes difficulty in policy implementation as observed by several studies. It is not only an issue in Malaysia but also an issue in most countries around South Asia.
Political instability is also sometimes experienced, especially in the states like Sabah which has the chief minister changing after every two years (so that all ethnic communities are equally represented) and Kelantan which is the only state not ruled by the BN party alliance. It is evident that political stability poses great hindrance to the growth in most countries around the developing world. Also, according to sources, Sabah has had an inequitable distribution of wealth between the state and federal government, which has adversely affected progress. The state of ICT in these states is below the national level. These states have low tele-density values and high number of undeserved areas. Sabah and Sarawak are the poorest states in Malaysia with the highest unemployment rates and have been the targets for many a development schemes.
'Vision' with ICT – mission for knowledge
In the recent past, there has been lot of arguments on how to close the digital divide, while access to all is essential, it doesn't meet the purpose. Effectively, meaning that when people on the wrong side of the digital divide will be able to use technology to their benefit in a manner similar to everyone else, only then the gap will close.
Malaysia has taken a pro-active approach to solve the issue. This is especially evident in the 8th and 9th Malaysia plans wherein the government has taken policy initiatives and with the help of private partners, several programmes for deploying ICT infrastructure have been started in remote areas. To enable Malaysia's growth into a knowledge society, various plans- NITA '96 and Vision 2020 have been initiated. ICT has been recommended as being strategic for development.
The Vision 2020 plan envisions Malaysia as a developed country by 2020 with the establishment of a K (knowledge)-community. Special emphasis has been given to development of infrastructure and potential human capital by involving state, local governments as well as the private-public community. ICT plans for universal access, content development, affordability, lifelong learning have been started. RM 1098 million was allocated for ICT- related activities for bridging the Digital Divide with RM10 million for local content development in the 8th Malaysian plan.
A Strategic Thrust Implementation Committee (STIC) has been set up to monitor the implementation of plans. 60 initiatives have been implemented upto 2002. Malaysian Administration, Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) has been set up within the Prime Minister's office as the lead agency in the public sector for ICT development. MSC has also established some key projects: e-Governance, multipurpose cards, smart schools, tele-health, R&D clusters, e-Business, etc.
Specific policy initiatives
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Universal Service Provision - It enables the creation of a USP fund, administered by the regulator MCMC. The fund pays for capital expenditure and yearly operational expenses incurred on providing services under the plan. The areas, which have a penetration rate of less than 20 percent below the national rate, are categorised as undeserving.
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Licensing – It has been made flexible keeping in mind the imbalance in the ICT infrastructure through the country. Wireless technology has been promoted with deployments being made easier by various spectrum allocation policies whereby the spectrum has been made more affordable.
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The DAGS (Department Application Grant Scheme) – It is intended for facilitating social and economic progress through innovative use of ICT.
Community kiosks in the rural areas have been established under programmes like the Rural Internet Centre (Internet Desa), Community Communication Development Programme, etc. The programmes have tried to involve the rural communities and helped to connect them to the K-community. ICT training has been encouraged with economic training in relevant fields. Free Internet access has been provided at post offices and petrol stations and in multipurpose kiosks. Social and economic programmes through the use of ICTs have also been started. e-Commerce and e-Communities have been encouraged especially in projects like the AkisNet and TaniNet where e-Agriculture software applications have been made available to help improve cost efficiency. Online ordering and auctioning systems have also been put in place to streamline the supply and the demand chain.
Regional development has also been promoted with state-wise programmes. In Sabah, the Resource Development and IT Ministry directed a grant of RM 33.6 million for ICT development in the state. They would be given a further RM 1.38 billion according to the 9th Malaysia plan. The state departments likely to be benefited are- forestry, land & survey dept., the state library, and public works. In Sarawak, which established the UNIMAS after Vision 2020 plan, projects like e-Bario and e-Bedian with active community involvement have received awards. In Kedah, a project called KTOPIA has been initiated which is a public-private partnership with open public infrastructure and multiple service providers, aimed at bringing broadband to all. Terengganu has initiated a tripartite alliance for ICT projects between Extremadura region Spain, State govt., and Mimos Bhd. for e-Learning, e-Business and information security.
The road ahead
The Malaysian government has been very proactive towards ICT development, and Malaysia was ranked 30th in the world for Internet penetration. Various dimensions characterise the state of ICT in a country. Absorption, connectivity infrastructure and sophistication of use are the problem areas in Malaysia at present. The country is still lagging behind in broadband development.
The issues and challenges Malaysia may be confronted with in an attempt to close the digital divide are enormous. On one end it is looking towards competing globally in the ICT sector while on the other hand, a large group of people is lagging behind. The country also faces a dilemma in a trade off between devoting resources to MSC at the expense of ICT4D. Definitive attempts thus are necessary for developing a strategy, which would ensure 'growth with equity'.
Even though a number of ICT4D programmes have been initiated a lot is yet to be achieved. Also, with a number of plans for ICT development, some clarity is needed in overlapping areas. The division of responsibilities amongst various depart-ments, which manage various projects, can sometimes prove difficult to discern.
Most of the states mentioned lagging behind have an agricultural base, so it would be advantageous to bring in programmes like the 'AkisNet' and 'TaniNet' to these states. It is imperative that the 'old' and 'new' economies are made to co-exist. Though there are programmes with national coverage, which look into the above issues, they are based in bigger cities and it would make sense to have a base in the rural areas too. It would be sensible to have an independent agency to monitor the ICT activities in the states. A lot of the websites are under-construction and inaccessible.
Malaysia is a multiethnic society and the knowledge and digital divide is multidimensional in nature, this implies that great care has to be taken in the proper and fair implementation of the projects. A better system of data collection and a feedback mechanism needs to be in place for the same.
A tri-sectoral partnership involving the government, a private partner and the community should be encouraged to instill the importance of learning and knowledge in the minds of the Malaysians which would further help promote the concept of a K-based economy, with ICT as the relevant tool to reach that goal. The adoption of private led initiatives can alleviate the burden on the government and provide benefits to the private sector also. Several such initiatives have had success and through the implementation of these policies, initiatives and activities the role of ICT towards socio-economic development has been impressed upon the Malaysian population, which is the driving motivation behind the country's huge effort in bridging the digital divide. The future focus of the country thus will remain towards strengthening the human capital, developing hard and soft e-Infrastructure, bringing innovations through ICT in the small medium enter-prises and reducing the digital divide.
References available online (www.i4donline.net)
