Today saw Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reshuffle his cabinet of ministers and as reported by NST yesterday, former communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo has made a return to a federal position. Additionally, Anwar announced that the current communications and digital ministry is being split into two.
With that, Gobind will be appointed as the new digital minister later this afternoon whereas Fahmi Fadzil will stay on in the cabinet as the communications minister. As for their deputies, Hulu Rajang MP will be appointed as the deputy minister for the digital ministry whereas Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching will be taking on the role of deputy minister for the communications ministry.
To refresh your memory, Gobind was the communications and multimedia minister under the Pakatan Harapan administration from 2018 to 2020. His tenure oversaw the significant reduction in broadband prices with the implementation of the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP) in an effort to provide faster internet at lower prices for Malaysians.
The reason for the split of the ministry, according to the Prime Minister, is that he wants his administration’s communications to focus on imparting accurate information on its policies. On the other hand, the newly-formed digital ministry will focus on “digital transformation” as well as artificial intelligence. As of now, it’s unclear whether the regulation of telcos and ISPs will fall under the digital or communications ministry.
(Sources: MalaysiaKini, Berita Harian)
