Malaysia embarks on digitalisation journey with national 4IR policy launch

Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (left) and Khairy Jamaluddin. -filepic

PETALING JAYA: A national policy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (National 4IR Policy) was launched on Thursday (July 1), with the aim of transforming Malaysia into a high-income nation through the use of technology and digitalisation.

The policy also seeks to increase the country’s readiness in making use of the 4IR, while supporting the country's development policies such as Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV 2030) and Five-year Malaysia Plans.

The ceremony was jointly officiated by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, and Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Mustafa said that as Malaysia embarked on a journey towards greater digitalisation and sustainable development, more effort was needed to ensure the nation was abreast with current trends to stay competitive in the future.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has brought upon numerous challenges and changed the lives of people, with the government, businesses and the people having to adapt to technology and digitalisation,” he said.

Khairy said that the rapid development of 4IR around the world saw a radical paradigm shift in technology involving various sectors and industries, with a need for all to act in line with it.

“This is because advanced technology will be the transformation that covers a wide spectrum and affects all layers of society,” he said.

He said that there was a need to embrace 4IR to ensure the country remained competitive and managed to face the changes of the future that were volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

Khairy said that the five foundational technologies of the 4IR policy include artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, cloud computing and big data analytics, as well as advanced materials and technologies.

The 4IR policy will have four main thrusts - equipping the rakyat with knowledge, forging a connected nation through digital infrastructure development, future proofing regulations to be agile with technological challenges, and accelerating its innovation and adaptation.

The policy has 10 sectoral focuses and 60 sectoral initiatives.