Bugdet 2006(3)-Broadband for all in Malaysia
khl...@pc.jaring.my
Lim Kit Siang on the 2006 Budget in Parliament on Monday, 3rd October
2005:
Broadband For All
====================
The development of information and communication technology in Malaysia
is full of contradictions, and setbacks.
Malaysia was the earliest among developing countries to have a
government-sponsored plan for ICT development, namely the RM 5-billion
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. But MSC has failed to live up
to its expectation to become regional IT hub for R&D and other high
value-added activities.
Today, MSC/Cyberjaya has downgraded itself to serve the low-end of
global IT value chain - shared services and outsourcing (SSO)
activities. Let us not to fool ourselves anymore. While it is true that
new investments and jobs accompanied MSC's transformation into an
international call centre, one should be reminded that such scenario
has vastly deviated from MSC's original purpose as the engine to
drive Malaysia into the high-end of the IT world.
The Government's IT policy since mid-1990s is flawed because it only
focuses on one area, not every corner of the country; and it only
intended to serves the interests of multinational corporations (MNCs),
not all ordinary Malaysians.
The government was only interested in land development in Cyberjaya and
attracting investments from MNCs but failed to realize that it is the
local talent pool that matters most. One notable example is that the
success story of India's Bangalore lies in its ubiquitous institutes
of technology that train numerous capable English-speaking software
engineers. Very few key players in the industry relocated its regional
headquarters to MSC despite generous incentive being dished out.
The Prime Minister now wanted to "re-examine the package of
incentives that we offer to make the MSC a more compelling choice for
investors" (NST 9/9/2005). Instead of showering potential investors
with unrealistically generous packages, isn't it better to look
inwards at why MSC fails its mission. The lesson from the MSC failure
would be useful for future ventures, such as the biotech sector - the
government's new favorite.
In 1997, I told this chamber that "the MSC may be the crown jewel of
the National Information Infrastructure which Malaysia must build if we
are to make the transition to the information society, but it is not
the infrastructure." I said, "In the ultimate analysis, the IT
revolution must be about people....This is why any national IT policy,
strategy and plan must be people-centred and not project-centred or
MSC-centred" (Debate on Royal Address, 25/3/2997).
The DAP adopted the "IT for All" slogan in that year and called for
an equitable IT development for all without creating a new disparity
between "information-rich" and "information-poor". (DAP, "IT
for All", 1997).
Sadly, MSC did not turn out to be what it should be and the overall ICT
development in Malaysia is a disappointment. Eight years after MSC was
launched, the government launched the second MSC in Bayan Lepas, Penang
and Kulim, Kedah. Why is there a need for a second-tier MSCs?
Shouldn't the entire nation have access to facilities available in a
MSC after so many years of government-initiated development in the IT
sector?
Broadband for All
A key indicator of ICT development in a country is its broadband
penetration rate. Compared to narrowband, broadband offers speedier
download and better quality of transmission, which will allow more
activities to be conducted via internet at a faster speed.
Sadly, more than five years after broadband was commercially available,
the broadband penetration rate is still below 1 % of Malaysian
population while other countries experienced quantum leap.
Energy, Water and Communications Minster Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik
claimed that the government is open to proposals to boost penetration
rate in broadband service to 30%-40% by 2008, despite the National
Broadband Plan having a modest target of 10% of population. He said,
"even if we cannot reach South Korea's broadband penetration of
more than 60%, languishing at 1% of the population is politically and
socially unacceptable" (Telecom Asia Daily 6/7/2005).
I agree with Keng Yaik that Malaysia is "already ten years behind
leaders such as South Korea." Whether Malaysia reaches 10% or 40%,
others will not wait for us. Korea will literally achieve "IT for
All" and "Broadband for All" when broadband is rolled out to
almost every household in the next two or three years.
But how did the "politically and socially unacceptable"
below-1%-broadband penetration rate happen? The most important obstacle
preventing the rise of broadband in Malaysia is TM's delay in opening
up the last mile, or local loop access to consumers. TM owns more than
90% of the last mile access.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) finally
mandated TM to unbundle the local loop in June 2005. In August, Jaring
signed a deal with TM, signaling the opening up of the last mile
access. However, TM is obviously taking its sweet time to comply with
MCMC's Access List as it is not keen to open up the access to its
competitors.
No holder of monopoly would let it go without a fight. It is the onus
of the government and regulatory agency to enforce competition. There
is no point to hope that WiFi or WiMax or any other wireless tools
would have the magical power to increase Malaysia's broadband
penetration rate substantially.
The most realistic and inexpensive way to improve the lackluster
performance of the broadband development is to increase competition
among internet service providers (ISPs) and drive down the price.
DAP calls for a "Broadband for All" policy, modeling after the
Korean success, to be included in the 9th Malaysia Plan. The Ministry
of Energy, Water and Communications and MCMC should ensure that TM will
not be an obstacle to the development of a broad-based IT literacy and
usage.
Open Source - "kow tow" to Microsoft?
Another example of the government putting corporate interest above the
national goal of broad-based IT literacy is the shelving of a plan to
experiment with open source operating system.
In April 2004, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr.
Jamaludin Jarjis announced that Mimos Bhd was tasked with creating an
operating system for computers using open source software. According to
NST, it is "a move that when completed will make information
communication technology cheaper and accessible to all" (29/4/2004).
Microsoft holds a monopoly on operating systems for personal computers
and charges expensive royalty and fees usage and upgrade. Open-source
is software for which the source code (the instructions for the
software) is available for distribution and modification. The modifier
retains the copyright for his work, but the source code is public
domain.
Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and recently Peru,
among others, have been actively moving toward the Linux operating
system and other open-source alternatives that can mean millions of
dollars in savings. Institute of Information Technology, a Brazilian
government agency working to promote digital inclusion, estimated that
Brazil spent USD 1.1 billion on royalties and licensing fees for
imported software programmes in 2002. According to the same source,
Brazilian government agencies that have adopted free software had their
costs reduced to a mere three percent of what would have been paid for
proprietary programmes.
Datuk Jamaludin pointed out then that the Government wanted to look at
ways to boost computer literacy among Malaysians without the burden of
paying high fees. Malaysia spent about RM 7.86 billion on IT in 2003,
of which RM 1.8 billion were on software. If the cost of using
open-source software is 10% of Microsoft's product, the RM 1.6
billion savings could be utilized to reduce the gap between the
"information haves" and "information haves-not".
Less than two months after Jamaludin's announcement, Micosoft's
boss Bill Gates visited Malaysia, met with the Prime Minister and other
ministers, and donated RM 10 million to some schools.
Since then, the discussion on open source operating system vanishes
from public discourse. It is time for the government to reexamine the
potentials of open-source and stop "kow tow" to Microsoft.
Therefore, the IT policy of Malaysia must be a policy that champions
"IT for All", not favoring big corporations.
Let me put down some quick thoughts by a local IT specialist on
several IT issues facing the country:
1. Allocation of RM29b for education. Hopefully, this is spent wisely
in ICT training in the schools, universities and colleges. More often
than not, the training in these schools do not prepare the student for
proper ICT literacy but instead are specific to products from a single
company, microsoft. As a result, we're utilizing government/taxpayer
funds to provide training services to a foreign MNC. Ideally the
training should be focussed on the utilization of software tools and be
centred around creating proper letters, documents, presentations and
spreadsheet calculations. This way the student will learn how to use
the software productively instead of just user training on a specific
product.
2. Expansion of the Malaysian Intellectual Property Office capacity.
This is the body which regulates patent approval in the country and is
tied to the software patent issue. . Software patents are instruments
which cover abstract ideas and as a result many readily used concepts
are patented by large corporations and patent houses in order to
prevent others from performing any innovation in that area. A simple
example is the "one-click patent" from amazon.com where the company has
patented the CONCEPT of a single web click and as a result has locked
out others from utilizing the same idea even though they may have
independently come up with the idea and independently written the
software to implement it.
Software patents should not be confused with software copyrights which
exist today. Software copyrights have been used by all as adequate and
strong protection for software programs under WIPO and intellectual
property laws. Software copyrights protect the source code (i.e. the
blueprints) of a computer program and are the mainstay of software
development.
Software patents go further than software copyrights in that they
extend the lock in to generic and abstract ideas. The risk in this is
that due to the frivolous nature of software patents, large MNCs who
have a portfolio of software patents can cripple the Malaysian software
industry. The only ones who would be able to survive in such a scenario
would be the MNCs themselves, leading to the dissolution of local
software companies and the goals of the MSC. Only nations with huge
patent portfolios will benefit like the US and the UK.
The European Parliament has voted to reject software patents for these
reasons.
3. Extension of period to carry forward absorbed losses/capital
allowance during pioneer period (tax free period) of MSC companies is
laudable and will further increase the benefits of companies under the
MSC. However this initiative needs to be confined solely to local
companies as they are the ones who're being sidelined in the MSC push
today. Multinationals, including their Malaysian wholly owned
subsidiaries, should not be allowed to enjoy this benefit as it would
be counter productive to the government's aim to build a local
technology-centric industry.
4. Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation. Will this be the same as MDC ?
what are the key performance indicators for this corporation and what
are the checks and balances in the system? Will we see another MDC
which continues to give excuses 10 years after the MSC was
conceptualized ?
5.Improvement of basic amenities including housing and transport at
cyberjaya is a good thing. A suggestion to increase frequency and
reliability of bus services within cyberjaya to the erl station at
putrajaya in order to make it easier for commuters should be a high
priority.
6. What exactly will the ICT Development Institute be doing which is
different from what is provided by our public and private universities?
Wouldnt it be better to concentrate on producing more quality graduates
and skillsets instead of having to set up another institute? Perhaps
the funds spent for the institute may be better spent on redefining the
curricula and teaching methodologies at our secondary schools and
universities instead.
I asked another Malaysian IT pioneer, Bala Pillai, who operates from
Australia, for his thoughts and assessment of the MSC and Malaysia's
IT plans and ambitions.
He gave a response which is so unconventional but original that I think
it deserves the serious consideration of MPs and policy makers if we
are serious in wanting to propel Malaysia into an information society,
knowledge economy and IT superpower.
He encapsulated his thoughts with the title "Problems = Opportunities
and No Problems = No Opportunities".
This is what he has to say:
"The harder a problem, the greater the reward, the lesser the
competition, and the more uncertain resourcing is.
"The corollary, the easier a problem, the lesser the reward, the
greater the competition, and the more certain resourcing is.
"Low Hanging fruits lie in the sweetspot between 'not too easy a
problem such that competition makes the rewards so unworthwhile' and
'not too hard a problem such that resourcing is so uncertain'.
"Let us talk about the Low Hanging Fruits for Malaysia in ICT.
"But first let's remind ourselves of the bigger picture. The Malay
Archipelago was a producer of quantum inventions up to about a thousand
years ago. In fact, up to then, Southeast Asia together with China and
India produced nearly every quantum invention in the world.
"By quantum invention, I mean a significant leap in order of
problem-solving from cave man days up to now. Examples being taming of
fire, domestication of rice and pepper, invention of paper, wheel,
gunpowder, Minangkabau architecture, urban social systems, ocean-going
vessels to Madagascar, printing press, electricity, TV, credit cards,
the Internet - you get the picture.
"What happened? Why did we stop producing these quantum inventions
and their near cousins?
"The government should engage the deepest and broadest thinkers
available to narrow down the likely causes for this turn of events.
Like thousands of streams flow into tributaries which flow into a few
rivers onto the ocean, let's converge into a few clear schools of
thought on why we stopped producing quantum inventions.
"It is because of a switch from objective perception to subjective
perception. A switch from expecting our world to be roses, thorns and
in-betweens and finding it to be such to expecting our world to be
roses and thus trained to spot thorns. When we all become thorn
spotters, in time it becomes uncomfortable to spot our own thorns. In
time, this breeds greater amounts of disagreements. These disagreements
drastically reduce the social and trust capital that is required for
inventiveness.
"If we want a proper solution rather than a quick-fix, we should
address this underlying mental soil issue. Average seeds sown on great
soil will grow but great seeds sown on stone won't. We have to find the
inner strength to ask the tough questions, knowing full well that as
painful as this might be, NOT asking these questions will have even
more painful consequences.
"In determining Low Hanging Fruits, we would look at our strengths.
Let me point towards some less emphasized aspects
1) Around 1400 AD, Malaysia or Malacca was the happening place in the
world. The most adventurous brains, Arabs, Indians, Chinese wanted to
be here. In global adventurousness terms, the Spice Trade and Malacca
then was what Silicon Valley and ICT today is. Even Christopher
Columbus if he had not lost his way, in his pursuit of spices might
have ended up here.
Question: We didn't give any tax credits and yet they came like bees to
honey. How come? I will not answer this, I would like you to reflect on
it. I would like you to reflect on the energy that made us such an
exciting buzz. And which attracted the best self-starters here and
self-starters overseas with fires in their belly to make the world
happen.
2) As the giants India and China rise up, today we are presented with
another opportunity. Like that piece of sand in an oyster, without
which a pearl cannot form, we can be the catalysts for India and China
to rise levels above or faster in their ICT in social entrepreneurship
aims.
"Some areas we can consider focusing on are:-
a) Microentrepreneur ecosystems - make it much easier for an eager
Instant Messaging using high school student to step that adaptiveness
towards online or Skype or convergence facilitated self-employment.
Knowledge workers.
b) China and India have a large swell of people who want to be their
own boss. It is as if on a personal level, many want to go back to how
things were a 100 years ago when nearly all of us were self-employed.
Let's consider leading this for ourselves, China and India. For
example, organize frameworks and structures for tele-entrepreneur
franchisees to inhabit, grow and thrive.
c) India is well known for its movie industry and the Tamil and Hindi
movie industries magnets of attention amongst our citizens. Many would
love the chance to be models, actors, script-writers, producers. The
weakness of these industries are in the capital raising, investments
unitizing and distribution sides. The US has come a long way in
organizing this. Let's flow US expertise with the passion of our
entrepreneurs to streamline these aspects of these industries. In this
ecosystem deepening process, the Malay movie industry will also
benefit.
d) The biggest opportunity in Asia today is in Change Management in the
many forms it takes. For example in identifying the best bang for the
buck in change management. In making change fun. In accrediting
trainers. I urge in depth look into these problem and opportunity
areas."
I commend these and other thoughts of Pillai to MPs.
- Lim Kit Siang
- http://dapmalaysia.org
- http://limkitsiang.com
- http://limkitsiang.blogspot.com
- Mailing List: Send request to
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Durians
when you're in a new house.
I just applied for a new fixed line and was told that there are no more
lines and TM can't tell me when/if there will be anymore new lines.
Stories of people waiting for months to years are not uncommon!
