With the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the country, the state of Selangor possesses the largest economy in Malaysia, consistently contributing over 22 percent of the country’s GDP over the years with a large number of multinational corporations making the state their base.
Even when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the national GDP to contract by 5.6 percent in 2020, Selangor recorded a growth of 2.09 percent. At the same time, the state attracted 18.4 billion ringgit (US$4.42 billion) in foreign investments out of the total 64.2 billion ringgit ($15.43 billion) received by Malaysia in 2020, making it the country’s top investment destination for three years in a row.
Yet as the pandemic accelerated digitization across the world, Selangor is committed to building a digital economy and ecosystem, keeping it at the forefront of technology while at the same time attracting more investors.
In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, Invest Selangor Berhad CEO Dato’ Hasan Azhari Bin Haji Idris said the state had developed the Smart Selangor Vision 2025, outlining four main domains in ensuring the digital ecosystem within the state was ready by 2025.
“At its core, Smart Selangor is an initiative by the state to empower its people, businesses and the public sector by optimizing digital technologies toward delivering the Smart State objectives,” he said.
The four key domains that will drive the initiatives are Smart Government, Smart Economy, Smart Community and Smart Digital Infrastructure.
According to Hasan, the digitalization of the public sector deliverables and services under the Smart Government domain is key in pushing through the agenda, and increasingly so with the restrictions brought forward by the pandemic. The developments include the establishment of the Smart Selangor C5i Operations Centre, Intelligent Traffic Management System and Citizen e-Payment gateway.
For its digital infrastructure plans, Selangor also has rolled out the Selangor Gigabit Network (SeGNet), Smart Selangor Hybrid Data Centre (SSDC) and Local Cloud Computing initiatives.
The state’s continued focus in stepping up its digitalization agenda was made apparent in its 2021 state budget, where nearly one-third of Selangor’s 369 million ringgit development fund was earmarked for digital infrastructure initiatives and programs.
This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title “Malaysian state of Selangor focuses on digital ecosystem, economy”. Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/adv/2021/08/27/malaysian-state-of-selangor-focuses-on-digital-ecosystem-economy.html.