Malaysia's sound policies have been let down by its poor implementation

According to one economist, technological developments should be able to "close the gaps" in a country full of them, but bad implementation has resulted in severe disparities in connectivity, education, and wealth.

The Economic Action Council's executive director, Noor Azlan Ghazali, stated that seeking a technological future has long been on the agenda as a solution to overcome these flaws, but the policies required to achieve it have never been successfully implemented.

"We've been talking about rural-urban divides for a long time, and the question now is how do we get digitalisation to reach everyone in Malaysia," he stated today during a Tech for Good Institute webinar titled "Unlocking Malaysia's Digital Economy Growth."

He said that the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), which was formed in 1995, was one of the first efforts of its kind anywhere in the world, but that its promise was never realised.

"Had we done things correctly, we'd be miles ahead right now."
But we're still not connected, and we don't have any digital content development."

He went on to say that even "flagship" activities promoted as part of the MSC were now "all gone."

Noor Azlan said that this failure to achieve stated goals was typical of Malaysia's structural flaws, as the country has evolved into one that can plan but not execute.

"(Malaysia) is good at recognising needs, but we have to confess that it struggles to get things done."