Malaysia Surpasses Open Data Target 6 Years Earlier

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has surpassed the target of making into the top 50 in the Open Data Institute Barometer by 2020 six years earlier. Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Jailani Johari said Malaysia was ranked 41st last year in the baramoter, which was conceived as a companion study to the Web Index focusing on the context, availability and emerging impacts of Open Government Data (OGD). The barometer is designed to provide a clear and comparative analysis of the macro-level contect of open data, the availability of open data, and emerging impacts across the world. Jailani said the ministry through its agency the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is also committed to building a vibrant big data analytics industry as a producer and consumer by 2020. "Big data analytics is a crucial sector in growing Malaysia's digital economy, and big data analysis provides a company or government the power to predict the future and direct its resources to influence future global business, politics and economy," he told reporters after closing the "Converting Big Data Vision to Action" workshop here Wednesday. Big data analytics enables organisations to analyse a mix of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data in search of valuable business information and insights, as well as help them to better understand the information contained within the data and help identify the data that is most important to the business for future business decisions. Jailani expressed hope that Malaysia could produce 1,500 data scientists by 2020, adding the National Framework approved in October last year could drive the country towards being the big data analytics hub in ASEAN. The two-day workshop which started yesterday features more than 200 participants including executives, managers, analysts, database administrators, business intelligence profesionals and architects from the public sector. Asked to comment on the release of two local media practitioners arrested over a report on hudud related to the Conference of Rulers, he said the ministry is letting the Royal Malaysia Police proceed with its own investigations first. "I think if the investigation process is ongoing, it's better that we let them (the police) and the Communications and Multimedia Commission conduct their own investigations," he said. He said the ministry is also studying the existing Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to prevent the growing abuse of social media. --BERNAMA