MALAYSIA BANKS ON ICT TO MEET 2020 DEVELOPMENT GOALS

By Robin Hicks | 23 February 2010

Malaysia’s Government CIO has hailed ICT as a “key enabler” to fulfil Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s mission to transform Malaysia into a developed nation by 2020. Speaking at the FutureGov Forum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (23rd February 2010), Dr Nor Aliah Zahri, Government CIO and Deputy Director General of the Malaysian Administration Modernisation & Planning Unit (MAMPU), said that the 2020 goal was a “reasonable target to attain”.

Malaysia’s National Broadband Plan, which aims to see household broadband internet penetration rise from 26 per cent to 50 per cent by the end of this year (2010), will play a big part in connecting the country of 23 million people, Dr Aliah noted. If this target is met – Malaysia’sGDP, which has been sluggish during the global economic downturn, could grow by 1.2 per cent, she said.

“We acknowledge that we face significant challenges,” Dr Aliah told delegates. “But we are seeing positive change as Malaysia continues to transform into an information-centred economy by focusing on innovation, value and high skills.”

The Government Transformation Roadmap Plan, introduced this year to improve government services, will help keep the 2020 vision on track, Dr Aliah said. “This is a bold and unprecedented plan for every ministry to ensure that every citizen enjoys the fruits of a growing nation,” she said.

Part of the plan is “Connected government”, an initiative launched in 2007 to boost information sharing, integration and interoperability among government agencies, and strengthen and unify ICT infrastructure. “We want to move towards zero face-to-face interaction for citizens for selected agencies as more services move online,” said Dr Aliah.

Another strategy has been to focus on a few “high-impact projects” that will deliver immediate results. One of the most successful to date is MySMS, which gives Malaysians one number – 15888 - to text government with complaints or queries and receive news about new services. The service already has 1.4 million users.

Similar in aim to MySMS is MyID, which enables Malaysians to use a single reference number when dealing with government agencies. Launched in January 2010, 760 services have been launched which use the MyID service to date.

Dr Aliah explained that the progress of these projects, and the public sector as a whole, will be closely monitored by giving the highest performing agencies a “Public Sector Trust Mark” which citizens or businesses can use to gauge transparency.

“If these initiatives are wholeheartedly embraced, the hope of the Malaysian government is that we will move towards a more systemic excellence culture,” she said.

“Malaysia’s public sector will continue to transform to deliver higher performance to meet the 2020 goal. But we still need to change the way the civil service operates. E-government in Malaysia is well advanced, and it should be an integral component of a much broader mission to deliver the transformation agenda.”

Malaysia was ranked 32nd in the United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 last month, moving up two places on its 2008 rank. Malaysia is the fifth highest placed Asian country in the rankings, behind Japan, Bahrain, Singapore and South Korea.

FutureGov Forum Malaysia is an annual event organised by FutureGov magazine in close cooperation with the Malaysian government authorities.

For more information on FutureGov Forum Malaysia visit the event website

SINGAPORE GIVES ICT RETRAINING TO CIVIL SERVANTS

By Xinghui Guo | 16 March 2011

While Singapore’s Infocomm Manpower Development Roadmap V2.0 (MDEV 2.0) looks to develop infocomm experts and leaders for the country, the government itself has been giving its workforce continual learning and skills upgrading for an effective, productive and efficient ICT workforce.

alert system
As for non-IT public sector officers, training and courses are aligned with IDA’s Public Sector Infocomm Competency framework with the key objective of expanding the infocomm capabilities and capacities and also to raise the levels of infocomm standards in the public service.

Under the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), provides regular ICT training programmes are given to internal infocomm personnel and the end-users in the public sector. IDA told FutureGov Asia Pacific that the courses for the infocomm workforce are compliant with the National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF) which articulates the competencies needed for key infocomm job roles, aims to widen and deepen the infocomm capabilities of infocomm professionals and guide their career development against standards agreed by the industry and companies.

Andrew Khaw, Senior Director, Industry Development Group, IDA, said that infocomm has been the key strategy to deliver better quality and efficient public services.

“Infocomm professionals with up-to-date and relevant skills, expertise and good sector knowledge are required to develop relevant infocomm solutions. For example, the healthcare sector leverages on infocomm to cut down waiting time for new beds. Having an infocomm workforce has also allowed the government to deploy a total of about 1,600 online services and over 300 mobile services which have allowed users to search for information on the move, transact on the go, and obtain information in the context of the users’ location,” Khaw explained.

IDA is keen to develop “emerging skills like those in area of business analytics and cloud computing”. Khaw said that business analytics gives the ability to organise and manage data so as to be able to extract valuable insights and analysis and “such insights and findings can then be used to make better informed business decisions”.

“With the use of cloud computing by both private and public sector organisations, CIOs must be able to address the related security, compliance and privacy issues. Hence, having a team of infocomm professionals skilled in these areas will be important,” Khaw said.

Canadian trade commissioner pledges more ICT investment

MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Canadian Trade Commissioner to Jamaica, Rick McRae has pledged to bring more Canadian investment into Jamaica, particularly in the field of information and communication technology (ICT).

McRae who took up office in September last year, said that although Canadians were investing mainly in Jamaica's finance and engineering sectors, opportunities for ICT investments were not being tapped.

Addressing private sector interests at a Manchester Chamber of Commerce (MCC) Awards ceremony at the Golf View Hotel last week, he said he would be using his term in office to push for more ICT investments from Canadian companies.

"I don't understand why there isn't more ICT in Jamaica. I don't understand why there isn't a huge amount of software development here. When I came here from Toronto, it took me four hours (flight), yet it takes five hours to get to Vancouver. You're closer to the whole eastern seaboard of North America, than the whole western seaboard. So you're very, very close. And I don't think either Jamaican or Canadian investors have factored in that proximity," McRae said.

McRae also noted that between 2008 and 2009, bilateral trade between Jamaica and Canada fell nearly 50 per cent, to $287 million in 2009 from $521 million the previous year. In that period, he said Canada bought some $165-million worth of products from Jamaica, against Jamaica's purchase of $123 million in products from his country.

McRae said despite the trade fallout, Canada remained the bedrock of Jamaica's financial sector, with companies like banking giants Scotia Bank and FirstCaribbean, RBTT (owned by the Royal Bank of Canada) and National Commercial Bank (owned by AIC, a major shareholder in the Canadian mutual fund.

The trade commissioner promised to push for more Jamaican students to study at Canadian universities, noting that just last year, his government launched a scholarship programme — Scholarship of the Americas — which specifically targeted Caribbean and, in particular, Jamaican students seeking to study in Canada.

BY RHOMA TOMLINSON

Monday, February 07, 2011

Using ICT to compete in the global economy

By JOHN LOH
johnloh@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Local businesses must make use of the latest information and communication technology (ICT) solutions to enhance their productivity and to compete in the global economy, said SME CorpMalaysia CEO Datuk Hafsah Hashim.

She said one of the criteria for developed countries was that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should contribute to at least 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP), but local SMEs currently contributed 31% to GDP.

“This means that SMEs have to grow 1% or more per annum to reach the desired 40% by 2020 (the year Malaysia aims to achieve a developed-nation status). We need a leapfrog growth driven by innovation and productivity,” she said at the launch of Microsoft's Office 365 cloud computing service.

The launch marked the beginning of a private-public partnership between SME Corp and Microsoft Malaysia to enhance the take-up of cloud computing among Malaysian businesses.

Office 365 is Microsoft's newest ICT solution that utilises cloud computing to integrate business function over four primary products - office, sharepoint online, exchange online, and lync online.

“SME Corp and Microsoft will also promote the cloud service through joint roadshows as well as a Microsoft booth in SME Corp's new one-stop referral centre in KL Sentral,” Microsoft Malaysia managing director Ananth Lazarus told StarBiz.

Hafsah also said SME Corp would use the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement (Score) programme to evaluate the ICT effectiveness of SMEs. SME Corp will take the lead in adopting cloud computing by using Office 365 in their KL Sentral office.

ICTs in Education

Website: http://ictsineducation.tagcb.edu.jo/

Background

Education has largely contributed to an increase in developing knowledge, providing an enabling environment for innovation, and in building human capital required for a potential future knowledge economy. Global reforms in education and challenging ICT demands have made a remarkable shift in the structure of the enabling ICT environment and the utilization of ICT technologies in education. Such technologies have become the key driver of the digital network in an era of technology-driven education. More schools and communities now have access to ICT resources to join the global economy with knowledge workers who have 21st century skills and are inspired by life-long learning. The Dakar Framework of Action for Education for All (EFA), adopted in 2000 as a roadmap to meet the Education for All goals by 2015, highlights the role that ICT has to support EFA goals at an affordable cost. ICTs have great potential for knowledge dissemination, effective learning and the development of more efficient education services. Much effort has been made towards the advancement of education and multi-literacies.

The UN GAID (Global Alliance for ICT and Development) has been established in 2006 to address globally cross-cutting issues related to ICT in development and respond to the need for cross-cultural and cross-sectoral dialogue among diverse stakeholders. Some of these issues and challenges are: Lowering cost of access in the developing world; developing inclusive technologies for the disabled; producing low-cost computers; and reducing barriers to ICT use and diffusion in key sectors of the economy and society, including enterprises, governments, education, tourism, agriculture, financial services and rural and civil society institutions.

Alliance of Civilization (AoC) established in 2005, to explore the roots of polarization between societies and cultures, and to recommend a practical programme of action to address this issue. AoC’s main objectives: develop a network of partnerships to share the goals of the Alliance of Civilizations, to reinforce their interaction and coordination with the UN system; develop, support, and highlight projects that promote understanding and reconciliation among cultures; and establish relations and facilitate dialogue among groups that can act as a force of moderation and understanding during times of heightened cross-cultural tensions.

TAGorg (Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization), founded in 1972, is now the largest pan-Arab professional group offering diversified and expert services with commitment to communities and societies. Through TAG knowledge Societies (TAGKS) and TAGI Book initiative - towards a broader and more inclusive information society in the Arab world - the young generation of the Arab world will have more access to the internet, benefit from available professional development resources and content, use online language and ICT Skills.

e-Skills Industry Leadership Board (eSkills ILB) founded in 2007 with a vision to foster 21st century e-skills and digital literacy of Europe’s workforce and citizens for a competitive, innovative and inclusive Europe. The e-Skills ILB is set to lead the ICT sector’s contribution to the development and implementation of a long term e-skills and digital literacy agenda in Europe.

GAID has established communities of expertise (CoE) to address ICTD problems in a results-oriented manner and disseminate best practice. CoE are clustered in four focus areas: governance, entrepreneurship, education, and health. An overview of TAGCB effort on “ICTs in Education” and the initiative to build cooperative links among stakeholders to help advance development and spread benefits of ICT in education.

Similar efforts exist around the world, which also aim at advancing education for better literacy. This community of expertise in “ICTs in Education” is intended as a contribution to bring together scientists, public authorities, businesses, academics, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders to understand challenges for sustainable education in the global context; identify the potential of ICT to advance and improve education; share knowledge and best practices about successful policies in global education; create venues of collaboration; and consolidate responsible communities for more access to ICT resources of knowledge and content.

Vision

Create a continuous dialogue and coordination process among stakeholders on Education to empower ICT and support academic activities and services through ICTs in order to maximize performance, improve teaching and learning processes, promote academic excellence, enhance productivity, and improve quality of research on education and learning processes

Objective

Create a community of practice to permit educators, public authorities, NGOs, academics and all other stakeholders to identify the potential of using ICTs to advance and improve education, barriers to using ICTs, in education and to share knowledge and best practices about successful use of ICTs in education

Goals

• Increased use of ICT technology and knowledge to improve quality of education services and effectiveness of ICT in learning
• Improved ICT infrastructure and technology applications to increase access to ICT resources and services
• Well-defined policies, regulations, and standards and disseminating best practices in ICT resources, services, data usage and their successful use in education
• Repository of resources, best practices and case studies
• Web publishing for ICTs in education and virtual exhibition of world-renowned ICT products and services in education
• Community clusters among organizations and individuals on development of resources to promote ICTs in education and on R&D for advanced forms of education and learning processes.
• Global community of practice enabling communication and sharing of resources.

Scope

• Accessibility: facilitate easy and quick access to ICT-rich teaching and learning resources including ICT systems and services, computing resources, online learning materials, e-Learning, and other education centred applications
• Empowerment: empower educational communities with ICT technologies and continuously upgrade their ICT-driven teaching and learning skills
• eLearning: encourage the use of eLearning and adoption of its tools and technologies to facilitate widening access to learning and improving educational achievements
• Enabling environment: facilitate the establishment of stable, robust, secure and efficient ICT enabling environment and strengthening its availability and reliability and providing mobile and remote access to a repository of learning resources
• Learning and teaching methodologies: enhance learning and teaching methodologies through the use of ICT technologies and encouraging education-centred teaching mechanisms
• Lifelong learning: develop a framework for web enabled lifelong learning through continuous education and training
• Research and development: promote innovation culture and encourage applied research and development among communities for advanced forms of education and learning processes
• Policy: Develop legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks to promote competition and investments, protect intellectual property, and stimulate innovation
• Sharing and dissemination: on the worldwide web, provide forums, publications, and free space for ICT companies and stakeholders to share and disseminate accumulated knowledge, information, experiences, and products and services related to ICTs in education
• Sustainability: maintain a constant pace of development to sustain and reproduce knowledge for a continuing effort on ICTs in Education to meet new demands

Deliverables

Accessibility:

“Facilitate easy and quick access to ICT-rich teaching and learning resources including ICT systems and services, computing resources, online learning materials, e-Learning, and other education centred applications”

• Plans for increased access to ICT resources including eLearning, digital libraries, etc.
• Establishment of knowledge centers and societies and open content communities
• Framework for increased broadband connectivity
• Freely available open content
• Legislations, usage rules and code of ethics to assure rights of access, security, privacy, and protection against acts of misuse

Empowerment:

“Empower educational communities with ICT technologies and continuously upgrade their ICT-driven teaching and learning skills”

• Plans for enhancing ICT skills and continuous training
• Exchange of staff among educational communities
• Courseware and content grouped in catalogues for easier search

eLearning:

“Encourage the use of eLearning and adoption of its tools and technologies to facilitate widening access to learning and improving educational achievements

• eLearning practices
• Guiding framework and legislations governing eLearning practices and distance education
• Simulating content development among educational communities
• eLearning initiatives for promoting learning and educational technologies research
• Awareness sessions and events on eLearning content development, use of learning management systems (LMS) and content management systems (CMS)
• eLearning centers of excellence for sharing/exchanging eLearning content, development tools, professional expertise and experience.
• Sharing professional development resources

Enabling environment:

“Facilitate the establishment of stable, robust, secure and efficient ICT enabling environment and strengthening its availability and reliability and providing mobile and remote access to a repository of learning resources”

• Learning environments and knowledge societies
• State-of-the-art teaching and learning technologies in educational institutions
• Community sponsorship and resource sharing
• Smart computing facilities and laptops
• Sharing infrastructure and solutions architectures

Learning and teaching methodologies:

“Enhance learning and teaching methodologies through the use of ICT technologies and encouraging education-centred teaching mechanisms”

• Distant education to support international collaboration
• Multimedia technologies and Web-Learning
• Student-centred teaching methodologies through skill-transfer and capacity building programs

Lifelong learning:

“Develop a framework for web enabled lifelong learning through continuous education and training”

• Enabling lifelong learning and connections between academic learning and experiential learning
• Building desire and skills for personal and professional development through life-long learning

Research and development:

“Promote innovation culture and encourage applied research and development among communities for advanced forms of education and learning processes”

• Communities of interdisciplinary research to create focused set of curriculum resources, professional development resources and content, learning objects/tools, assessment objects, and support tools
• Communities of leading experts and professionals in education

Policy:

“Develop legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks to promote competition and investments, protect intellectual property, and stimulate innovation”

• Legal, Policy, and legislation and regulatory framework

Sharing and dissemination:

“On the worldwide web, provide forums, publications, and free space for ICT companies and stakeholders to share and disseminate accumulated knowledge, information, experiences, and products and services related to ICTs in education”

• Web publishing for ICTs in Education to disseminate knowledge and information
• Virtual exhibition of world-renowned ICT products and services on education
• Published discussion forums, news, and advertisements to enable collaboration between specific working groups
• Organized directory of resources (people, institutions, services, etc.)
• Showcase / case studies of effective use of ICTs in education.

Sustainability:

“Maintain a constant pace of development to sustain and reproduce knowledge for a continuing effort on ICTs in Education to meet new demands and requirements”

• Base-line data set established to facilitate Impact assessment of efforts on ICTs in education
• Educational ICT companies contribute to maintain a constant pace of development

Moving forward

The Community of Expertise in ICTs in Education is lead by TAGCB, and is an open network for individual experts, ICT companies, NGOs, organizations, and institutions. Through an executive board, different working groups will be assigned for each defined scope: Accessibility; Empowerment; eLearning; Enabling environment; Learning and teaching methodologies; Lifelong learning; Research and development; Policy; Sharing and dissemination; and Sustainability. TAGCB will facilitate and support the information and knowledge of this community, and will make available a Web portal to host, share and demonstrate best practice, knowledge, content, case studies of effective use of ICTs in education.

During ICC/ EBITT meeting which was held in Dubai during 15-16 October, 2007, there has been a consensus among members to proceed with this initiative CoE in ICTs in Education with TAGCB being a leading institution. Representative from Oracle, Boeing, and others showed interest to participate in this effort. It is crucial to move from consensus to action to sustain momentum. The first step will be to expedite the review of this draft, then to deepen and broaden collaboration on the scope elements given in this document. Annual reports will be submitted to GAID on the progress of the efforts of CoE towards the set goals. We call upon ICC / BASIS, EBITT and UN-GAID to encourage cooperative efforts among stakeholders for education to make this work a success.

Potential participants

• Companies specialized in ICTs and are interested in supporting Education towards more ICT access;
• Educational institutions interested in providing open content;
• Policy makers responsible for education development;
• Funding agencies interested in program development and dissemination;
• Academics doing research in ICTs for education

Essential activities needed to move forward

• Launching CoE in “ICTs in Education” - interested members meet for familarization; agree on roles, responsibilities, terms of reference, needs identification; and formulate technical committees and workgroups. Committees and groups drive forward tasks, developing concepts, implementation methodologies, and more¹
• Technical committee and work groups conduct regular meetings to follow up on action plans, review progress, track project deliverables, and to hold knowledge sharing workshops
• Conduct feasibility studies and analysis on technology requirements with the scope of the initiative defined above
• Develop and conduct a baseline survey in a number of countries covering institutions, enterprises, public authorities, and organizations on ICT awareness and acceptance.
• Analyze needs and requirements based on survey data for increased ICT adoption, literacies, access barriers, and experiences
• Conduct expert group meeting for reviewing analysis, survey, and requirements results, then developing strategies and recommendations for a widespread promotion and adoption of ICTs in Education
• Conduct a workshop for information sharing and dissimination of needs, policy and strategy, recommendations
• Build diversified local communities of expertise in different fields
• Establish coordination procedures among these communities for sharing, dissimination, and global outreach
• Building centers of excellence in ICTs in Education as sources of expertise and continuous development of technology needs in Education. The centers will also provide oline support and inventory of educational contents through Web Portal
• Developing and maintaining an online support of educational products, material, expert groups, and support information
• Developing and maintaining a directory of local content for increased access to information/knowledge and open course ware in education and technology
• Collecting and publishing best practices and case studies in ICTs in Education
• Developing marketing material (brochures, posters, stands, booklets,...) and participating in national and international exhibitions, fairs, and conferences.
• Organizing technology focused Summer camps for high school students, university students, and community groups
• Providing business/technical training and skill development/capacity building programs
• Conduct a knowledge & information sharing conference for dissemination to communities
• Create a sustainable network among participating institutions, enterprises, organizations, and communities within a framework of a sustainable model for the communities of expertise in ICTs in Education
• Continuous assessment of progress against the set goals and objectives
• Establish a management office to coordinate activities and to ensure accountability and delivery of tasks

First ICT Weekly Newspaper in Sudan published by Sudan ISOC Chapter

Sudan Internet Society (Sudan ISOC Chapter)has successfully published its First issue of a weekly newspaper focusing on information technology and internet .

After many moths of preparations Sudan Internet Society "Sudan ISOC Chapter" has published the first issue of it's "ICT" newspaper on Monday 22th October 2007 , ICT is the first Sudanese Free Weekly newspaper focusing on Information and Communications Technologies issues , "ICT" main objective is to creating awareness among the ordinary Sudanese citizens towards the importance of ICT in the soci-economic development, ICT is distrubited free of cost to the readers . ICT is targeting a mass audience, 30,000 copies is weekly printed with a collaboration with a leading Sudanese daily newspaper. A web site has been created for ICT newspaper "www.ict.sd" and an electronic version of the newspaper is published every week, the web site contain interactive tools like pools and forums . ICT is managed by a group of interested Sudan Internet Society members with support of 2 journalist from AL Ahdath newspaper . Sudan ISOC is working to attract funding and support for Telcom operators and internet service providers "ISPs" in Sudan "e.g in the form of newspaper advertisements" inorder to sustain and support the project . Reference : The Internet Society of Sudan is dedicated to identifying and surfacing the potential effective and efficient applications of the Internet throughout the Sudanese community. It is to provide support and information on all Internet related-issues in Sudan to enable individuals, businesses, professionals, and organizations achieve their goals more effectively. Web : www.isoc.sd

By: Mohamed EL Bashir, Sudan ISOC on: Wed 31 of Oct., 2007 21:46 UTC

Mosti task force to tackle ICT issues

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 23 (The Star) -- The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) has formed a task force to look into pressing ICT issues such as the slow national rollout of broadband.

“The task force had its first meeting this month to identify the various (information and communications technology) issues; among these is the slow rollout of broadband,” said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili on Monday.

According to the National Broadband Plan, 50% of the population must have access to superfast Internet connections by next year but penetration is lingering at the 26% mark now.

Known officially as The Task Force on the ICT industry, it will identify problems, formulate solutions and present these to Mosti, which will then decide whether or not to implement the suggestions.

Broadband rollout is too slow, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, Ongkili said.

He said the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund should be used if the slowdown in those states is due to lack of financing.

Totalling RM3bil now, the USP fund was set up about a decade ago to finance the introduction of telephony and broadband services to underserved areas and groups in the country.

Due to their isolated locations, these underserved areas were largely being bypassed by telecommunications companies that preferred the more profitable urban areas.

In view of that, the Government made it mandatory for all telcos to contribute 6% of revenue generated from their services to the fund every year.

Make heads roll

The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) chimed in with its ideas to boost the flagging broadband rollout.

Its chairman, David Wong, said the Government should revoke the licences of WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) broadband licensees that have failed to meet their targets.

“There are four licensees and not all have delivered (on the conditions set by the Government in the licences),” Wong said. He declined to be more specific.

Industry researcher IDC believes some WiMAX licensees are taking a wait-and-see attitude over the rollout of their infrastructure and services because of the huge capital involved.

According to IDC, it takes anywhere from RM100,000 to RM1mil to set up a base-station and the WiMAX licensees will need hundreds of base-stations.

The four licensees are Packet One Network Sdn Bhd, Y-Max Networks Sdn Bhd, Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, and Redtone International Bhd.

Wong said the issue should be brought up at the next task force meeting.

“We need to have a review; find out why some of the WiMAX players are slow to roll out,” he said. “We must know if it’s a question of finance or something else. Only then can the (appropriate) action be taken.”

The task force meets every two months. It comprises representatives from Pikom, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the International Trade and Industry Ministry, the Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Ministry, applied research body Mimos, CyberSecurity Malaysia, and several others.

Another pressing ICT issue that the task force will be looking into is the country’s human resource pool.

It believes that there needs to be programmes that better match retrenched workers to new jobs.

“There should also be (more) government programmes to find alternative employment for these affected workers,” said Wong.

National ICT month

Earlier, Ongkili officiated at the launch of the inaugural National ICT Month (NIM) 2009, to be held from July 20 to Aug 20 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Pikom hopes the event will help replicate some of the buzz that the industry experienced during last year’s World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) which was hosted by Malaysia.

WCIT is a forum that brings together global leaders in business, government and academia for the exchange of ideas on ICT and industry policies. It is hosted by different countries every two years.

NIM 2009, the brainchild of Pikom, will include a three-day leadership summit and exhibition, an eWaste recycling campaign, and a month-long buy-online campaign.

Pikom will be launching an ICT mall in cyberspace as part of the buy-online campaign. The campaign is to encourage consumers to shop on the Web.

The association will collaborate with several online merchants to provide discounts and incentives for consumers for the duration of the campaign.

“We intend to spend a few hundred thousand ringgit to promote the event and we hope (many) e-commerce retailers will participate,” said Wong.

“We are used to seeing online campaigns by AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines but where are the other e-commerce merchants?”

Wong added that by participating in the buy-online campaign, these merchants would also be raising their profiles.

NIM 2009 will cost Pikom RM1.6mil to hold and a national ICT strategic review report will be released during the leadership summit at the event.

“The objective of the inaugural publication is to provide details on the Malaysian ICT sectoral outlook,” added Wong.

Pikom hopes to make NIM an annual event. It is being supported by Mosti and MDeC, the caretaker of the country’s MSC Malaysia initiative.

The governmental bodies of ICT in Malaysia

There are 2 main ministries governing the information and communication technology sector in Malaysia, which are:

1. Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia (MECM)

2. Ministry of Sceince, Technology & Information (MOSTI)

MECM

Malaysia was one of the pioneers amongst Asian countries to establish a new federal ministry, Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia. The main function of this Ministry is to spearhead and promote the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) with the support of several agencies, including the famous Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (or MCMC) established in 1998.

Our daily energy and communication providers, e.g. TNB, TM, Maxis, Streamyx, Postal Service, Astro…are governed by MECM. This ministry is the one who issues licences to regulate the ICT industry.

MOSTI

Ministry of Science, Technology & Information is another ministry established for the purpose of ”Harnessing Science and Technology through Innovation (STI) and human capital to value-add the agricultural and industrial sectors for economic advancement, particularly through Biotechnology, Information and Communications Technology (ICT).”

Amongst other the famous agencies under MOSTI are:

-MIMOS Bhd (MIMOS) -Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) -SIRIM Bhd (SIRIM) -Technology Park Malaysia Corporation Sdn. Bhd . (TPM) -Malaysia Network Information Centre (MYNIC) -Malaysia Venture Capital (MAVCAP) -Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV) -Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC)

MOSTI through its agents provides a comprehensive facilities to help the growth of our ICT industry. They provide fund and infrastructure to meet the need of the ICT sectors.

These 2 ministries have their own role to play though both are focusing on the same area i.e. ICT sector.

As a blogger MCMC seems to be the “most relevant” body to us. I will tell you why in my next post.

Tags: Malaysian Cyber Law

Link : http://www.laweddie.com/wordpress/the-governmental-bodies-of-ict-in-malaysia/

ICT issues in Malaysia

Nowadays, globalization and digital convergence in the emerging knowledge society has raised complex ethical, legal and societal issues. So that, we are faced with the complex questions regarding the freedom of access to information, freedom of expression, the right to privacy, intellectual property rights, and cultural diversity. ICT exist as an instrumental need of all humans for gathering of knowledge and information, and as such should be guaranteed as a basic to all human beings. Information technology is impacting all walks of life all over the world. However, the rapid development of ICT globally also has led the growth of new forms of national and transnational crimes such as the digital divide, cybercrime, digital security and privacy concerns, all of which have affected people’s lives either directly or indirectly.

In general, ethics is a moral philosophy where a person makes a specific moral choice and sticks to it. ICT ethics are not exceptional from the general view of ethics, but, it means moral guidelines to refer when using the computer and computer networks such as internet. In a world where information and communication technology has come to define how people live and work, and has critically affected culture and values, it is important for us to review ethical issues, as well as social responsibility.

So, there exist so many ICT ethical issues nowadays. Such ethical issues included unemployment issues, crime issues, loss of privacy, intellectual property issues, digital divide issues, professional ethics issues and etc. ICT assists and extends the ability of mankind to capture, process, store, understand, use, create, and disseminate information at the speed and scale which never thought possible before. Some of the changes and impacts of ICT are obvious, but many are subtle.

For the unemployment issues, that is the automation of work has caused creative destruction by eliminating some vocations and creating new ones. Such as the rapid development of artificial intelligent, it result the employment rate of a nation keep decreasing. It is because the artificial intelligent also can do tasks which a normal person can do. For the crime issues, as an example, the stolen and counterfeit ATM cards are used to steal millions of dollars each year throughout the region. The anonymity of the machines makes some crimes easier and creates many new types of crimes. Besides that, some transactions are transmitted and recorded in databases at hospitals, banks, various organization which in the private or public sector. If they are not securely guarded, the contents of electronic communication and databases which provide important and private information will easily stolen by unauthorized individuals and organizations and this will cause the loss of privacy issues. As an example, the nowadays popular social website “Facebook”. We edited so much data into the databases of Facebook,, and try imagine if our accounts get stole by someone and Facebook has announced it will shared our data with other organizations.

As a conclusion, the rapid development of ICT brings many benefits and also issues for us. What we can do is try to overcome such ICT issues challenges. I hope that, everyone can use the technology in the good ways by not produced such much ICT issues to this world.

By : Michael Chua
Link : http://webtechmic.blogspot.com/2010/03/ict-issues-in-malaysia.html

Fourth Issue of ICT World Today Now Available Online

source : Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development

ICT World Today is a journal on Information and Communication Technology for Development developed by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) with support from APCICT. This fourth issue of ICT World Today entitled, "ICT and Innovation: Facing the Emerging Global Issues," focuses on ways to encourage ICT innovation and enhance efficiency to overcome the global financial crisis; and tackle climate change, natural disasters, price hikes in resources and food, and the spread of contagious diseases.

Cover of ICT World Today - Spring 2010 (Fourth) Issue

This issue of ICT World Today covers articles contributed by experts from various sectors to promote a comprehensive understanding of policy response and international cooperation with regard to the aforementioned issues, through which it discusses ICTand innovations that address global challenges from various perspectives.Articles examine the role ICTs play in: sustainable development; poverty reduction; agriculture; low-carboncities; security; ageing society; disaster response; empowering women entrepreneurs; capacity building; and more.

The issue ends with some news briefings on the latest ICT tools and projects, and a calendar of events.

Contributors to this issue include experts from international and UN agencies such as InfoDev, International Telecommunication Union, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; government agencies such as the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; research and educational institutions such as the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and National University of Singapore; and private companies such as Korea Telecom.

ICT World Today aims to contribute to developing economies, enhancing the quality of life in developing countries, and boosting ICT human capacity. Topics in the journal include: ICT access and the digital divide, digital convergence, cybersecurity, disability, gender, legal and regulatoryissues; and the role ICT plays in agriculture, climate change, commerce, cultural development, disaster management, education, energy, environmental management, governance, health, small and medium enterprises, and trade. The journal welcomes pluralism in its approach, methods, and disciplines and includes the following type of articles: academic research articles, case studies, interviews, article digests and reviews.

Past issues of ICT World Today focused on the socio-economic impact of ICTs and the digital divide; ICTs and environment; and broadband and mobile communications for development.

Access all issues of ICT World Today from APCICT's e-Collaborative Hub or KISDI's website.