Malaysia Recognised By Region As Important ICT Practitioner, Says Malaysian Minister

SINGAPORE, June 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is recognised by the region as an important ICT practitioner or player, says its Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim. "From the communications and broadcasting exhibition held in Singapore on Tuesday especially and on other days, we could see that Malaysia's role is recognised by the region as as important practitioner and player in the ICT world. "We noted that when Singapore's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim saw Malaysia's development windows, he discovered that our country to be at par with several developing countries in terms of achievements that focus on improving people's lives." He told this to reporters after attending the Ministerial ICT Forum and visiting the CommunicAsia 2012 pavilions at the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition Centre together with the Malaysian delegation and Yaacob himself. "We specifically (through the Malaysia Pavilion) can draw a lot of attention to the communication facilities provided to our villages through the WiFi Village programme. "So far, 1,400 such villages have been created under the programme with more to be created and we are proud of this," he said. According to him, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission featured some development and success stories involving the grassroots, like women in the interiors of Sabah and fishermen in many areas able to market their products, hence increasing their income, through the WiFi facility in their villages. "These are testimony or proof to the outside world and to society at large that ICT in Malayia is linked to development and the people's lives," he said. Earlier, Rais attended the official opening of CommunicAsia 2012 by Yaacob, where 19 ICT companies including Mimos are participating in the communications and broadcasting exhibition which runs from Tuesday until June 22. --BERNAMA