IPOH: The government is committed to resolving delays in the MyDigital ID programme and the rollout of the dual 5G network, says Gobind Singh Deo (pic).
The Digital Minister said it is expected that some solutions will be ready to be tabled during the National Council of Digital Economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution meeting on Feb 12.“We are working on it. It is something that we are focused on, and will do our utmost level best to solve it as soon as possible,” he said at a press conference after the Jelajah Malaysia Digital @ Perak event here yesterday.
“There are problems and various ministries are involved,” he added.
Last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim issued a mid-December 2024 deadline to resolve the delays of two key national digital initiatives, with concern expressed over the slow progress of MyDigital ID, which has about 1.3 million registrations in early December last year.
The MyDigital ID is a national digital identification system for Malaysians aimed at protecting them from online fraud, identity theft, and ease identity verification for online services.
Its services include access to secure e-government services, banking, telecommunications, and healthcare.
On the dual 5G network initiative, it is understood that the delays stemmed from outstanding agreements between Digital Nasional Bhd and telecommunications companies.
Elsewhere, the Digital Ministry will come up with incentives to encourage more small and medium enterprises (SME) to adapt to digital technology to strengthen their businesses.
Gobind said there are still a lot of SME that do not want to go digital for their businesses, and his ministry’s related agencies will be mobilised to find out the reasons for the lukewarm response.
“We will see how we can come up with new incentives so that all businesses can use it to strengthen their business.
“This year, my ministry will focus on identifying problems and resolving these and to convince everyone to be with us,” said Gobind, who added that the government is open to suggestions on how digitalisation could be made more attractive.
Some of the suggestions received included incentives in terms of financing through grants or tax waivers.
“Hopefully, we can bring these suggestions up for discussions in the first quarter. And if there is a need for new laws, we are prepared to do so and to implement them,” he said.
Gobind also said about 97% of the country’s economy consists of SMEs, which contributes about 23% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“We want to ensure SMEs can adapt to digitisation, as the government is taking steps towards the digital transformation,” he said, adding that the government hopes that SMEs can contribute about 25% to the GDP this year.
On a suggestion to have mentorship and networking programmes nationwide, Gobind said he hoped to collaborate with the respective state governments to do so.
He said the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation has long held such programmes nationwide, and the ministry will look into ensuring how more people will benefit from these events.
