GEORGE TOWN, April 28 — Malaysia is ready to move towards becoming a smart nation, said Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
He said this starts with each state implementing their respective smart city initiative.
“We need to have strong and sufficient digital infrastructure to support the development of technology,” he said in a press conference after visiting the Penang Island City Council’s Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) today.
He said to become a smart nation, the country needs to move towards full digitalisation.
He said one of the most important pillars in building a smart nation is for each state to have its own smart city initiative, just like Penang.
“With advancing technology, we will see more sophisticated innovation moving forward,” he said.
He said the digital ministry will play its role in ensuring the digital infrastructure in the country is sufficient to meet the needs of a smart nation.
“Penang is making progress in becoming an AI City by embracing AI-powered technologies and applications,” he said.
He said the use of AI-powered technologies will help the city accelerate its infrastructure and services modernisation efforts.
He said it will increase productivity, and efficiency while enhancing the people’s quality of life.
“Penang’s progress towards becoming an AI-driven city is a testament to the government’s commitment to leveraging technology for the betterment of our citizens,” he said.
He said the Penang Island City Council has integrated AI into existing infrastructure including an advanced traffic management solution to optimise traffic flow and reduce congestion using AI-powered analytics.
“This smart city initiative in Penang started since 2019, or even earlier, in 2010, so it’s been rolled out for a long time and we can see how it’s progressing,” he said.
He said there are also other states implementing smart city initiatives such as Wilayah Persekutuan, Johor and Sarawak.
“The ministry will look at how we can assist in this process,” he said.
