MY govt to add 180 new PEDi to address digital and income disparity

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The Malaysian government will add 180 new Digital Economic Centres (PEDi) by the end of this year which aim to address the digital and income divide in the country. With 911 PEDi in operation currently, this will bring the total to 1097 PEDi nationwide.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that the PEDi will act as a one-stop centre for the use of broadband internet in less attentive areas.

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The level of mastery of knowledge in a new field must be quickly worked on and mastered so that society does not lag in the rapid flow of change, he further added in a Facebook post seen by A+M.

Of the 180 PEDi, Pulau Mutiara will have 41 new centres while RM47 million has been allocated for the construction and operation of 38 new PEDi in Penang.

Digital transformation is an important agenda in efforts to translate the insights of MADANI Economic framework, PM Anwar explained.

The PEDi was launched in 2007 and is fully funded by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) through the Universal Service Provision (USP) Fund, according to a statement by MCMC.

PEDi serves the community through upskilling programs related to information and communications technology (ICT), entrepreneurship and multimedia as well as awareness programmes such as Klik Dengan Bijak (or Click Smartly in English) and the Personal Data Protection Act. Other services provided by PEDi include printing, laminating, photocopying and scanning.

“The aim is to empower the local community to accelerate the growth of digital economy. The focus now will be to nurture and develop entrepreneurs to adopt and digitalise their businesses to further accelerate the digital economy,” said MCMC in a statement.

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