Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced its new cabinet lineup which now splits the Communications and Digital Ministry (KKD) into two – Communications Ministry and Digital Ministry. Gobind Singh is returning to cabinet as the newly appointed Digital Minister, while Fahmi Fadzil is now redesigned as the Communications Minister.
As reported by Bernama, Anwar said he decided to split the Communications and Digital Ministry to address communications and digital transformation in a proper manner. He said there were many criticisms levied against the government, and communications via social media had been quite a challenge.
Anwar explained that the communications to impart and disseminate the information have not been that effective or satisfactory, so there must be a focus.
Touching on the formation of a dedicated Digital Ministry, Anwar said digital transformation is a challenge as well and there’s a need to address the issue as it keeps changing and new interests are emerging. He said, “With new data centres, and new interest in artificial intelligence (AI), there is a need to enhance the understanding of students at various levels. It’s a very challenging task.”
In the coming year, the current administration is ramping its focus on digitalisation which includes the deployment of National Digital ID. At the same time, there’s an urgent need to address the increasing number of online scams as well as data breaches which involves government agencies. PERKESO is the latest target of data breach and the perpetrators have allegedly obtained personal data containing contact details, salaries and blood type.
Last week, YTL Power and Nvidia announced that they are building new supercomputers for Artificial Intelligence (AI) at YTL Power’s green data centre in Kulai, Johor. According to Anwar, the investment is said to be worth RM20 billion.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
