The Communications and Digital Ministry (KKD) intends to attract more people to be involved in the digital economy through the Digital Economy Centre (PEDi) platform that has the potential to advance the economy of the people, especially the young.
Its Minister, Fahmi Fadzil said for that purpose, the thinking on PEDi operations needs to be changed from just being a community internet centre to a digital economic catalyst centre.
“Considering the capability of the digital economy to improve livelihood, especially among young people, the potential of digital economy is indeed very helpful as some started to sell online using applications like Shopee, Tiktok and so on, may earn RM600.
“But once they know how, some earn RM5,000 and above, so the potential is very big…now we see many people like to sell with Tiktok live for example, so what we can do is to enable more people to participate and my wish is to see more people involved in the digital economy through PEDi,” he said.
He told reporters after visiting Seberang Terus PEDi at Suka Menanti state constituency here today, which was also attended by KKD secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek.
Fahmi said the ministry will also look into the possibility of improving the Small Entrepreneur Digitization Empowerment Programme (PUPUK) by taking into account the current technological developments.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said he saw the justification to review the salaries of PEDi managers across the country because some of them have up to 10 years of experience managing the centre.
“I want to talk to telecommunications companies to help raise the (PEDi manager’s) salary slightly. This is what I have heard from many PEDi managers, we will discuss why cooperation from telecommunications companies is important to enable PEDi managers to get a slightly higher salary,” he said.
He said it was in line with Malaysia’s MADANI concept of the Unity Government which emphasises the human aspect.
In the meantime, Fahmi said KKD plans to open 186 new PEDi across the country and of that number, four PEDi will be opened in four state constituencies in Kedah.
According to him so far, there are 911 PEDi across the country.
“At the same time I also saw in terms of internet speed in PEDi with some having 20 Mbps (megabits per second), some at 100 Mbps.
“So with the successful implementation of the Jendela programme under MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission), I see that there is a need for us to discuss with the service providers who manage PEDi to increase the internet speed in PEDi. I hope we can reach an average of 100 Mbps,” he said.
