Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 7): Malaysia's high rate of internet penetration has not yet created a knowledge-based economy (k-economy) that can positively influence policy-making in the country, said a senior fellow of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

Speaking during a special panel session titled “Foreign Policy in the Digital Age” that was held at the 32nd Asia-Pacific Roundtable, Bunn Nagara said internet penetration has grown 880% in the span of 10 years from 2006 to 2017, and that of Malaysia's 31 million population, some 85-90% have access to the internet.

“We should not assume that just because internet penetration is growing, it is being used for particularly beneficial use. Most people use the internet for entertainment instead of for research or finding out more about issues and education that would lead to what used to be called the k-economy,” he said as he chaired the panel session.

Associate Professor Dr Farish Ahmad Noor from Nanyang Technology University Singapore suggested that the lack of knowledge creates a population that is easily swayed by communitarian or primordial interests, which hinders the development of a tolerant and plural society.

“Political and economic illiteracy are dangerous because it creates an uninformed polemic that can easily be manipulated to achieve certain political agendas that are influenced by emotions rather than reasons,” he said.

According to another panelist, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy secretary general of the department of bilateral affairs Datuk Nushirwan Zainal Abidin, nothing much has changed in terms of foreign-policy formulation in Malaysia even with the advent of worldwide social media adoption.

Despite growing globalisation and increased economic interdependence between nations, he said Malaysians are not particularly interested in influencing the government’s foreign policy as opposed to other more localised issues.
 
“This does not mean that the Ministry is not being proactive in foreign policy-making, but in this context, Malaysians are more keen to bring up local issues to the government than foreign policy issues,” he said.

The annual forum, organised by ISIS Malaysia on behalf of Asean-ISIS, brings together intellectuals and policy makers from all over the world to provide a platform for debate and discussion on the region’s most pertinent issues. This year’s conference focuses on the theme “Disruption: People, Technology, Power, Security.”

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