PUTRAJAYA: Openness and a digital mindset are needed at all levels in the public service to enhance the existing workforce and make the National Digitalisation Plan a holistic success, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said.
With the right attitude, civil servants can be encouraged to respond quickly, learn from mistakes and raise the efficiency of their duties.
“It’s also in line with the MADANI government’s desire to boost digital adoption and ensure the country isn’t left behind and can compete with developed countries,” he said after delivering a keynote address at a meeting relating to digital issues with state government administration officials in Cyberjaya that was also attended by Deputy Digital Minister Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong and the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Rodzi Md Saad.
He cited the National Digital Identity or Digital ID that was introduced on Dec 1, 2023 as an example of a value-added programme that successfully benefited the public and private sectors through confirming user identities during digital transactions.
“It’s a good start and can be improved with an approach based on openness and a digital mindset,” he said, adding that the digital economy had the potential of driving the marketing of local products internationally.
“Initiatives that will be jointly developed will revolve around three cores, the development of the digital economy, a digital government and a digital society,” he said.
He elaborated by saying that the initiatives were vital to create a digital-ready workforce as well as a next-generation workforce, to prepare digital-first government services, and to attract direct domestic and foreign investments.
The related programmes conducted by the Malaysian Digital Economic Corporation (MDEC) included the organising of the Malaysia Digital State Summit on Nov 8 and 9 last year, which was attended by nine state investment promotion agencies, six state economic development units and 10 federal ministries and agencies, he added.
“I’m pleased to announce that 10 states have their Digital Blueprints. MDEC is also working with three states – Pahang, Perak and Johor – to set up Global Business Services (GBS) hubs,” he said, adding that cooperation between state governments and industry stakeholders were needed to attract investors for hubs for data centres, artificial intelligence (AI) and GBS in several locations throughout the country.
“I hope that the state governments can provide strong cooperation for efforts to attract investors,” he said.
He also shared his plan to conduct working visits to several other states to discuss digitalisation initiatives, similar to those he carried out in January to Penang and Sarawak. – Bernama
