Malaysia+-+Multi-media+Super+Corridor

Ashley Cingolani =Malaysia- Multi-Media Super Corridor = = = = =

__**History**__
Malaysia is one of the most beautiful and fascinating countries located in South East Asia near Indonesia. Its landmass is over 127,354 miles and is seperated by the South China Sea into two regions called the Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Malaysia is relatively close to the equator and boarders Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore (phpclasses.org). For the past ten years, Malaysia has been eager to make their way into the Information Age in order to become more technologically advanced. Malaysia has initiated this technological growth by constructing a national IT( Information Technology) agenda called the Multimedia Super Corridor (also known as the MSC) designated by the government. This Corridor was first launched in 1996 in order to leap-frog Malaysia into the Information Age. The hub will provide a global examination for multimedia technologies.  In terms of the location, the Corridor begins at the Kuala Lumpur City Center and travels south to the Kuala Lumpur National Airport (which has became the hub of this unique corridor) and is 9 by 30 miles. Putrajaya and Cyberjaya are the center cities that will form around this technological center, in order to accomplish two goals. Putrajaya known as Malaysia’s new directorial capital will use information technologies to initiate new methodologies to the electronic government in order to provide public services. Cyberjaya’s incentive is to create a headquarter for these International Technology companies (local and multinational) in order to research the development and worldwide marketing and manufacturing activities in multimedia products and services. According to the Multimedia Development Corporation, the Corridor accommodates the MSC central goals which include high-technology projects such as e-Government, Telemedicine, Smart School, Multipurpose Smart Card System, Research and Development Cluster, e-Business and Technopreneur Development. The purpose of this will be to attract a mass influx of companies to the Corridor that will enable international association. Mainly, this Corridor will provide unique services in order to unify national desires while encouraging international collaboration. The objective of the Multimedia Super Corridor's is to attract foreign and local companies to develop innovative high technology products and services within the Corridor, mainly focusing on multimedia technologies (Danabalan).

=__Strategies and Goals __ =



The master plan pertaining to Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor according to prime minister Dr. Mahathir portrays the corridor as "a global test-bed" for the new roles of government, new cyber laws and guarantees, collaboration between government and firms, companies and companies, new broadcasting, new types of entertainment, education and delivery of health care. The Corridor is aimed to be the world center for the application and testing of the leading information technology advances and discoveries. Overall, Malaysia foresees the Corridor as a chance for them to enter into the “new knowledge-based economy,” which will eventually target the national vision, called Vision 2020 ( mscmalaysia.my).

In fulfilling this vision, Malaysia hopes that they will become a fully developed country. According to the Malaysian Business Council, Vision 2020 focuses on shaping their nation in constructive and beneficial ways. The vision also includes that Malaysia will eventually develop into a united nation with a strong Malaysian society by exuding strong moral and ethical values. Furthermore, the Corridor relies on research and development, but also on the business relationships. Companies that qualify for location in the Corridor are permitted Multimedia Super Corridor status. Additionally, there is financial incentive that allows businesses to see the many perks that the corridor offers such as, tax-free holiday for ten years, investment tax allowance and exemption from duties on imported hardware and software have been made available. To solidify these incentives, the Malaysian Government has declared a ten point Bill of Guarantees to all companies. According to the Malaysian government the Bill will provide: · Creation of university-company partnerships to educate and train potential employees in specific skills (Kiat.net).  This Bill provides incentives, rights, and privileges from the Government that offers an environment in the Multimedia Super Corridor that is favorable to the development of MSC entities (mscmalaysia.my). These guarantees are provided for potential and current investors to ensure that the Malaysian Government maintains a strong and protective legal structure pertaining to this Bill.
 * Provide state-of-the-art physical and information infrastructure
 * Allow unrestricted and user-friendly employment of local and foreign knowledge workers;
 * Ensure ** freedom of ownership ** within the MSC zone to accelerate the growth of the MSC and enhance its attractiveness to world-class companies;
 * Allow freedom of sourcing capital globally for MSC infrastructure and freedom of borrowing funds;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Provide competitive financial incentives including no income tax or an investment tax allowance for up to ** 10 years tax exemption **, and unlimited duty-free importation of multimedia equipment;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Protection for intellectual property rights;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Become a regional leader in international property protection and cyber laws;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Ensure ** no censorship ** of the Internet;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Telecommunication costs will compete with US telecoms rates and special time- or distance-independent tariff structures will be developed for MSC companies to ensure global competitiveness;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Provision for gas, water and electricity supplies by reliable local utilities companies;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Tender key MSC infrastructure contracts to leading companies willing to use MSC as their regional hub
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Provide a high-powered implementation agency, the Multimedia Development Corporation ( [|MDC] ) to act as an effective one-stop shop;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">A dramatic increase in the number of technical and business professionals graduating from Malaysian universities;
 * ** Multimedia University **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> and the MSC campuses of top IT universities. Also, all schools within the MSC will be connected to the Internet;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Creation of ** Cyber laws ** covering electronic commerce, digital signatures, intellectual property protection, computer crime, telemedicine, and electronic government;

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">**__Current Developments__**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> One of Malaysia’s fundamental goals is to offer the essential services and technical skills for local and foreign businesses through its flagship applications and business services that it offers within the Corridor’s capability development (mscmalaysia.my). These flagship applications help business’s break the digital gap between Malaysia and fast moving e-commerce economies. A few examples of these applications and developments are: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">.**Smart School**- These schools guarantee that every school in Malaysia will “Be Smart” by 2010 and making sure that the Smart School Qualification standard is met. This satisfies and benefits business by reassuring that their future generation of workers will exemplify tech proficiency and will also be accustomed to the progressing digital age. . **Telehealth**- Health care has always been a tremendous obstacle and factor in many countries economy. The Telehealth application helps the Healthcare Industry by including a faster rate of service which helps other Healthcare professionals connect to a more systematic medical information database to improve the quality of service, without the hassle of location. .**e-Government-** This application helps Malaysian businesses who are both public and private to adopt electronic businessess. This will be one of the components for future economic growth and has helped many businesses by making them more familiarized and receptive to this application. Applying the e-Government application to all businesses can be a strong step into Vision 2020(mscmalaysia.my). The goal intended for these flagship application programs is to test new ways of applying emerging technologies to improve the quality of life, study the role of information and multimedia and its impact on society ( Danabalan).
 * .MyKad** which has already been a major success is a National ID Card system that works for various purposes such as convocation system, discount card, e-hotel booking, library card, loyalty program, online statements, record management and traffic management.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">__** Global Impact **__ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">

Many countries have contributed to the building and ongoing development of the Multimedia Super Corridor. In September of 1998, more than 242 companies who were foreign and local applied in becoming a part of this Corridor. Of those 242 companies only 171 were approved and have taken advantage of the incentives and benefits that are provided by the MSC. Some companies like Siemens, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, NTT, ACS, BMW, DHL, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Shell, Unisys and many other companies have set up their base in the MSC due to the fact that it is affordable in cost. Furthermore, Malaysia offers the lowest wage inflation, highest staff retention rates, well-educated and multilingual workforce, world class infrastructures, and conducive business environments (mscmalaysia.my).

It is important that each and every country finds a way to interact and share information with each other. The reason being is that we all share a common future and are in desperate need of world interaction. The belief of the Malaysian government is that new technologies should serve mankind and benefit all of us. If there is any time to make these adjustments in which how we work together globally, it seems that the time should be now. It is our responsibility to see the Malaysian view in which we should promote and adopt international partnerships in the advancement of the digtal age(kiat.net).

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">**__Refrences__**

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">About Malaysia. Where is Malaysia (1999-2010). Retrieved 22 June 2010. __<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] __ Danabalan, Dato 'V. "Multimedia Super Corridor: Malaysia Test-bed for International Cooperation." (8 September 1998): 285-87. Print. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> MDEC. Multimedia Development Corporation (1996-2009). Retrieved 26 June 2010. __<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] __<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">

Malaysia Government’s Official Portal. Multimedia Super Corridor ( 2008). Retrieved 24, June 2010. __<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">http://www. malaysia.gov.my __ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> MSC. “ Thinking Big”( 2009). Retrieved 22, June 2010. []