• DIALOGUE WITH TUN MAHATHIR
MORAL LEADERS
NEEDED MORE THAN EVER IN DIGITAL AGE , SAYS TUN DR MAHATHIR
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced the Multimedia Super Corridor in 1995 , the Internet was still in its infancy , AOL ( America Online ) was still a “ thing ”, and people paid for internet browsers ( anyone remembers Netscape ?). It ’ s doubtful that any leader at the time knew just how the internet would change the world , but what was evident was that the world had indeed changed and was entering a new era , one where information could zip around the world in seconds and where the computing power of a machine in a classroom surpassed that of a 70s mainframe .
The MSC was designed to push Malaysia into this exciting digital age , with a fibre optic backbone allowing businesses to send and receive data in milliseconds , a special economic zone stretching from Sepang to KLCC , and tax breaks to encourage entrepreneurs to set up base in Malaysia .
Has the MSC succeeded ?
According to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad , it “ has not fully failed ”. The fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia , under whose tenure it was that the MSC was introduced , was speaking at the PLF-KL Society Dialogue on “ The Nature of Leadership in Our Digital Future ” on the 9th of November 2017 , and responded to the question posed by a member of the mostly IT-based audience with his
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