COMMENT | Looking back at Malaysia’s digital journey
COMMENT | As we celebrate 63 years of Merdeka and 57 years since the establishment of the Malaysian federation, I can’t help but look back at all the things our nation has accomplished. Specifically, on the critical strides we have taken to transform this nation into a global digital economy contributor.
The Internet first came to our shores in 1987 and we established the first Internet service in Malaysia known as the Rangkaian Komputer Malaysia (RangKoM). It connected all the universities to enable researchers to communicate with each other and was initially used only by academic institutions, the government, and private agencies. At the same time, 33 years ago on June 8, 1987, the ".MY" domain was born and introduced to the Internet.
According to the first Malaysian Internet survey in 1995, only one out of every thousand Malaysians had access to the Internet during that time. This grew to 2.6 percent of the population by 1998, and today, Malaysia is one of the most digitally-connected societies in the world, with over 90 percent of Malaysian households having access to the Internet...
