MSC Malaysia (formerly the Multimedia Super Corridor,
and also known as the MSC in Malaysia) is a Special Economic Zone in Malaysia.
The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) program was officially inaugurated by the
4th Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 12 February 1996.
The
establishment of the MSC program was crucial to accelerate the objectives of
Vision 2020 and to transform Malaysia into a modern state by the year 2020,
with the adoption of a knowledge-based society framework
Purpose
The MSC flagship applications were launched to boost
the MSC Malaysia initiatives and to create a multimedia utopia (hub) for
innovative producers and users of multimedia technology. Consortia comprising
both the local and foreign companies (MNCs) collaborated with various
government agencies, departments and ministries to enhance the socio-economic
development of Malaysia in the new millennium (Information Age). The vision and
mission of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) as expressed by Dr Mahathir
Mohammad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia at the time (1981–2003), is
essentially this:
“MSC is paramount to leapfrog (Malaysia) into the
21st century and to achieve Malaysia’s Vision 2020, the MSC was created to
endeavour the best environment to harness the full potential of the multimedia
without any artificial limits. MSC is a global test bed (hub), where the limits
of the possible can be explored, and new ways of living, working, and playing
in the new area of the Information Age.” (Ibrahim Ariff & Goh Chen Chuan,
2000; Jeong, 2007)
The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is a
Government-designated zone in Malaysia designed to leapfrog Malaysia into the
information and knowledge age. It aims to attract companies with temporary tax
breaks and facilities such as high-speed Internet access and proximity to the
Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
MSC Malaysia covers an area of approximately 15 km
(9.3 mi) × 50 km (31 mi) (that is, 750 km2 (290 sq mi)) stretching from the
Petronas Twin Towers to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and including
the towns of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. On 7 December 2006, Port Klang was added
to the MSC.
This project was announced by former Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir at the Multimedia Asia Conference on 1 August 1996. Dr
Mahathir's visit to the United States of America in January 1997 to promote the
MSC to companies there succeeded in attracting the interest of many large
information technology companies. During the visit, an international advisory
panel comprising 30 information technology experts were formed to exchange
ideas toward the success of the MSC.
The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC,
formerly MDC) was created to oversee development of the MSC.
Effects on press freedom
Though Malaysian law had provided for strict
government controls on print media since 1984, a founding principle of MSC
Malaysia was that government censorship of the Internet would not be permitted.
Seeing a loophole, journalist Steven Gan and colleague Premesh Chandran decided
to start an online news resource that would be free of the controls that they
felt stifled print media.[1] In November 1999, the pair founded Malaysiakini,
an online, independent news source that would become one of Malaysia's most
popular websites.[2] The site was awarded a Free Media Pioneer award from the
International Press Institute in 2001,[3] and Gan was awarded one of the 2000
CPJ International Press Freedom Awards for his work with the site.
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