The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) announced the launch of the #SayaDigital Movement on a national level. This initiative had been originally introduced to improve the digital skills of Malaysians, enabling them to seize opportunities in the digital economy.
It also includes being fully aligned with the country’s ongoing economic recovery plan. This initiative will provide strong support to the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) that the Prime Minister announced in February 2021.
MDEC’s implementation programme is strongly supported by the Prime Minister’s Department; Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia; Ministry of Rural Development and Community; and Rural Internet Center. This is due to its ongoing focus on four main themes, namely, Digital Simplifies Life; Digital Increases Income; Digital Empowers Careers; and Digital Expands Business.
The programme is designed to get the B40 group, youths and senior citizens involved with the digital economy. To kickstart the momentum of #SayaDigital, three pilot programmes were held to raise the digital literacy awareness involving 301 participants, with the latest being held at Kampung Desa Temuan in Bukit Lanjan last month.
The participants attended a series of interactive workshops that exposed them to the digital skills needed to face challenges in the new normal.
This year’s #SayaDigital Movement focuses on four components, namely, training young people to become “Geng #SayaDigital” volunteers; creating awareness through digital literacy activities; conducting digital readiness assessments; and providing basic digital skills training to the community.
To date, 25 “Geng #SayaDigital” have already been formed including those in Sabah and Sarawak to further enhance the programme nationwide. The campaign, as a whole, aims to benefit 10,000 Malaysians in socio-economically vulnerable rungs across the country.
Concurrently, participants who have registered online have been connected to major MDEC programmes such as eUsahawan, PeDAS, eRezeki, MyDigitalMaker, GLOW and eBerkat. Presently, these programmes have benefited Malaysians through digital skills enhancement, digitally-driven business, involvement in the e-commerce sector, and workforce participation on global digital platforms.
In addition, eight #SayaDigital online programmes have been streamed via Facebook Live and have already gained more than 16,000 views to date.
“MDEC’s move to launch #SayaDigital to enhance digital skills among the B40 group, youths, senior citizens, and socio-economically vulnerable groups is timely as our country strives to achieve its ambition of becoming a major regional digital economy market. This is in line with the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV 2030), an initiative that will not marginalise any groups of people,” the Prime Minister of Malaysia stated.
The Minister of Communications and Multimedia stated that #SayaDigital supports MyDIGITAL’s comprehensive strategy that sets out a roadmap to achieve the vision of making Malaysia a regional leader in the digital economy by 2030.
Through this, the Government aims to create 500,000 jobs; implement digitalisation initiatives to benefit 875,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro-entrepreneurs, and become the catalyst for 5,000 start-ups.
MDEC had designed 12 adaptation and digital literacy programmes with 2,000 participants who are expected to participate in a basic digital literacy training course. They will be working closely with 100 volunteers who are also known as “Geng #SayaDigital” ambassadors.
Participants will answer the Digital Readiness Assessment to measure their level of digital literacy. The test results will then determine the Basic Digital Literacy Learning Module that they will be assigned to. The programme also includes three main modules – digital communication; internet banking and e-wallet; and digital service applications that are used in other countries.
The MDEC Chairman said that the goals outlined in MyDIGITAL are based on the confidence that we can empower Malaysians to face challenges head-on that the new norm had brought about. After all, the goal is to create a technology-integrated society through Malaysia 5.0.
Equipping people with digital capabilities is a key factor for the synergy between digital infrastructure and the digitally-skilled workforce that acts as the backbone for a sustainable digital ecosystem in Malaysia, he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of MDEC noted that individuals with efficient digital skills such as coding, animation, Big Data analysis, machine learning and Cloud Computing are greatly needed in driving forward the digital economy during this pandemic.
According to the latest MDEC study, there are currently 47,000 digital job opportunities advertised on major job search portals in Malaysia. This shows that the country’s digital-skilled labour market remains competitive amid these challenging times. It also provides a sign of the country’s digital economic growth.
The #SayaDigital campaign kickstarted in 2020 as MDEC’s efforts to support Malaysians and local businesses to step up digitalisation measures that will help to reduce the socio-economic impact of the pandemic.
Through the campaign, MDEC introduced several initiatives, such as SME Digital Summit; #YoungCreators Movement; #MYDigitalWorkforce Week; and Gig and Freelance Expo (GFX) as high-impact engagements for those who want to improve their skills as well as for young individuals just entering the workforce.
Leveraging MDEC’s extensive network of international experts and companies, participants gained opportunities to get the best advice and tools from leading industry leaders to assist them in exploring their respective digital journeys.
