LANGKAWI: Malaysia can achieve its ambition to become a developed nation by 2025, five years earlier than envisaged, if it adopts the 5G technology.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pointed out that Malaysia’s productivity had always risen with the adoption of new technology.
“5G represents the latest technology, and it is the most comprehensive to date. It enables the right amount of information to be dispensed to help one arrive at a decision because it does things efficiently,” he told a press conference, after visiting the district police headquarters and the Langkawi 5G command centre at the district council complex here.
Mahathir had, during his first tenure as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, put the nation on the path to developed status by 2020 under his Vision 2020 concept.
However, after returning to power in 2018, he said the mismanagement by the previous government had necessitated a delay in achieving that dream by up to 10 years.
Today, he urged all Malaysians to learn how to use the 5G technology. “The environment is different now. With 5G, you can make choices faster and more accurately,” he said.
“I am amazed how 5G has enabled Malaysians to do things that they were incapable of doing previously,” he added.
He pointed out that the technology could be applied in many areas - from education and security to industries such as healthcare and tourism.
Even in agriculture, he said, Malaysia could double its yield of vegetables if 5G technology was introduced in the farms.
Mahathir cited the ability of Dubai to produce enough vegetables to meet the needs of trade visitors during a six-month-long exhibition despite its dry and mostly sandy landscape.
He said there should be a more equitable distribution of wealth to ensure everyone got access to the technology.
On the issue of business subsidies, he said it was better for those who were venturing into business to do it without government intervention.
For instance, he said, it could cost RM200,000 to invest in 5G for a vegetable farm but the returns could come within 14 to 15 months without the need for subsidies.
