NEWS: MSC Malaysia begins new chapter

KUALA LUMPUR: The MSC Malaysia initiative has entered a new chapter which promises more benefits not only for the country’s IT players but also its citizens.

Called the MSC 2.0, the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) said it was time for the initiative to present its benefits to a wider scope of people and expand its outlook beyond just MSC status companies.

“Many people have asked us ‘what has MSC Malaysia done for me?’ and it was always meant to benefit everyone,” said MDeC chief executive officer, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali. MDeC is the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative.

He was addressing the media on the outcome of the 20th MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting at the sidelines of the MSC Malaysia-Pikom Export Forum last week.

In its earlier phase, Badlisham said MSC Malaysia was too focused on developing ICT companies with little emphasis on how these ­solutions can be used.

“The question is now on how we can match these solutions to meet the ICT needs of the industry and the people,” he said.

MSC Malaysia is now in the middle of its second phase and Badlisham said Malaysians will see more of its benefits reaching them this time around.

He said MDeC will identify the citizens’ needs and offer the proper solution out of a myriad of ICT solutions created by MSC-status companies.

He added MDeC will come up with a roadmap to facilitate the ­rolling out of these solutions.

The roadmap, he explained, will help it better identify the people’s needs and offer the right solutions for those needs.

For everybody

Badlisham said the citizens have always benefited indirectly from the MSC Malaysia initiative.

Taking the MyKad flagship ­application as an example, he said many just regarded it as a form of identification but the MSC Malaysia initiative has allowed it to be used as a token for farmers and ­fishermen to receive benefits from the Government.

This, he said was done through a pilot project with the Agriculture Ministry to help create awareness among farmers and fisherman on how ICT can help them in their day-to-day business.

Badlisham said that MSC Malaysia is looking to deliver the solutions to the people by 2010, which will mark the end of the second phase of the initiative.