Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (centre) delivers his speech during the Malaysia Digital Expo 2023, at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur November 6, 2023.
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has today urged policymakers to address inequality and widen economic access for the poor, saying it should be a key goal of the government’s effort to spur the lucrative domestic digitalisation market.
While the Anwar administration has sought to tap the digital economy, he said such a project risks excluding the very people it is meant to help if policymakers still do things “the same old way” — ostensibly a reference to criticism that previous administrations often make big businesses and profits the primary driving force of its major economic policies.
“This must change,” Anwar said as he addressed this year’s edition of the Malaysian Digital Exposition here.
To tap into the digital economy, estimated to be worth half a trillion ringgit this year alone, Putrajaya has poured billions of ringgit into beefing up infrastructures and technologies like high-speed internet with the hope that it would boost income opportunities, especially for the poor.
