Digital Reach

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ALAYSIA

RULY

SIA

” is a catchphrase one may often hear

on television, extolling the exotic tourist destinations in

Malaysia with crystal clear waters and white sandy

beaches. Malaysia is also home to one of the oldest rainforests in

the world and many species of flora and fauna not found

anywhere else on earth, not to mention the tallest twin tower

building in the world, the Petronas Towers.

Malaysia, a country of approximately 26 million people, is in

many ways a microcosm of Asia, with multiple races, people of

various religions and cultures living harmoniously together, and

contributing towards nation building.

What is less known, or perhaps taken for granted, is the country’s

commitment to investing in the information and communications

technology (ICT) field as the next growth area, moving away from

traditional manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. This

investment in ICT is multistakeholder in nature with the govern-

ment, the private sector, and the users and community groups each

playing their own part in a cooperative and collaborative manner.

Malaysia has continued to invest in ICT since the creation,

several years ago, of Vision 2020 and the National Information

Technology Agenda (NITA), a national long term vision to bring

Malaysia to the status of a developed country through ICT use.

The country has created its own ICT buzz word – its use of the

term ‘multimedia’. For example, the communications and multi-

media industry regulator is the Malaysian Communications and

Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Multimedia Super

Corridor (MSC) is Malaysia’s own version of Silicon Valley with

the government-owned Multimedia Development Corporation

(MDC) being charged with the responsibility of stewardship over

the MSC and the Multimedia University, one of the country’s

foremost tertiary institutions focusing on ICT.

Malaysia was also the first country in the world to create a regu-

latory framework to deal with convergence as part of the NITA.

The agency created to deal with the converged communications

and multimedia industry was the MCMC and the licensing envi-

ronment and laws were also revised to be able to manage the

challenges that would be brought about by convergence. A new

law was introduced in 1998 to deal with the issue of convergence

where telecoms, broadcasting and the Internet would be treated

in a technologically neutral manner. This law is known as the

Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA 1998) or the

‘convergence’ legislation. Malaysia decided to rise to the chal-

lenges brought about by the Information Society and take

advantage of the benefits that such a society would bring.

The Internet market continues to grow in Malaysia thanks to a

relatively low tariff and with the increased introduction of broad-

band access via wired and wireless means. A large part of this steady

growth is due to rising awareness and a strong government commit-

Malaysia bridges the digital divide

Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

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Exterior view of the CCDP site

Interior of the CCDP site