The Malaysian Prime Minister has announced a RM 56 billion budget investment into plans for development and expansion of the digital infrastructure as the country aims to move towards G5 status.

Almost half of this budget will be committed to the five-year National Digital Connectivity programme to expand fibre optic internet coverage by 2025. This is aligned with Malaysia plans for nation-wide 5G coverage and connectivity.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint includes plans to improve digital literacy, create high income employment opportunities, further streamline banking and finance, bring medical facilities to remote towns and provide access to virtual education nation-wide. The 10-year roadmap aims to strengthen Malaysia as a digitally driven, high-income nation and a regional leader for digital economy.

Sources: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/02/19/pm-muhyiddin-unveils-rm56b-plan-to-spur-malaysias-digital-economy/1951017

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/02/666982/pm-launches-mydigital-malaysias-digital-economy-blueprint

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/malaysia-launches-digital-economy-blueprint-catch-digitalisation-race

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/02/22/mdec-malaysia-all-set-for-digital-transformation

Comments by British Council Malaysia:

This is a significant announcement by the Malaysian government. The Digital Economy Blueprint is aligned in objectives with the Malaysia Education Blueprint to strengthen Malaysia as a major ASEAN stakeholder and a regional hub for expertise across sectors.

The extensive and aggressive pursuit of digital development will accelerate the already major FINTECH and e-commerce sectors. With additional initiatives focussing on provision of digital education, increased access to health care, nurturing of SMEs/social entrepreneurship along with specialised digital infrastructure will call for high-skill expertise across different sectors and generate demand for niche specialisations. 

Both the public and private sectors will look towards developing human resource, as well as seeking highly trained specialists to employ. The education sector will aim to strengthen development and delivery of virtual education requiring development of human resource, development of curriculum, of educational technology and software.

This is expected to generate and accelerate demand for higher education and specialisations across digital technology education and applications. We expect to see demands and opportunities to boost collaborations in curriculum development, academic exchange, faculty and professional training, joint research in the area of digital education.