More Internet centres for rural folk

M. Hamzah Jamaludin
New Straits Times
06-29-2008
More Internet centres for rural folk
Byline: M. Hamzah Jamaludin
Edition: New Sunday Times
Section: Main Section

KUANTAN: More cyber centres will be built in rural areas to increase the Internet penetration rate among villagers to 60 per cent by 2010, Rural and Regional Development Minister Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib said yesterday.

He said 142 of such centres, known as Medan Infodesa or MID, had been built by the ministry while 87 others were under construction.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the government has allocated RM50 million for the construction of 180 MIDs and another RM20 million to provide training in information and communications technology (ICT) to villagers.

"We want to bridge the digital divide between urban dwellers and those who live in rural areas," Muhammad said after opening a cyber centre in Kampung Panching Utara near here.

He said that of the total Internet penetration in Malaysia, 6.7 per cent was in the rural areas while 93 per cent in the urban areas, and of the total Malaysian computer ownership, only 11.2 per cent was in the rural areas while 88.8 per cent in the urban areas.

Muhammad said the ministry would also build similar facility in subdistricts and villages after completing the construction of cyber centres in all rural districts.

Each MID costs RM250,000 to build while a smaller cyber centre in subdistricts and villages costs about RM120,000.

Muhammad said to date, more than 59,000 villagers, including housewives, had joined the ICT courses held at such centres.

In his speech earlier, Muhammad urged the villagers and Felda settlers to buy computers so as to expose their families to ICT.

(Copyright 2008)