KUALA LUMPUR: The National ICT Association of Malaysia (Pikom) is urging the Government to address the affordability and availability of ICT goods and services in its upcoming budget plans.
Pikom states that with the move to introduce coding in schools, it is imperative to ensure ICT goods and services are affordable for Malaysia’s over five million schoolchildren, not forgetting their families.
To do this, Pikom recommends that ICT products and services be zero-rated as the impact of GST and the weakening of the Ringgit has caused a slowdown in the local ICT retail sector. The most affected are SME companies that contribute some 31% to the national GDP while employing about 56% of the local workforce.
In addition, Pikom recommends income tax deductions of RM3,000 once every two years for PCs, instead of the current three years. The association also wants smartphones to be included in the proposed plan. To encourage ICT adoption, the association hopes that the EPF Withdrawal Scheme for ICT products, services and broadband will be reintroduced.
Further, as Malaysia’s ICT sector continues to face a brain drain challenge – as revealed in the Pikom ICT Job Market Outlook in Malaysia 2016 report – more talent must be upskilled and trained accordingly to fill the gaps.
Thus, Pikom recommends allowing double tax deduction on cost incurred (up to a capped amount) for individuals pursuing ICT-related certification programmes. Companies should also be allowed to claim double tax deduction if they are footing the cost of the training.
Lastly, while Pikom lauds the government’s continuous efforts to make broadband more affordable, more effort is needed to bring down the cost of Internet connectivity in Malaysia while simultaneously ensuring it is up to par with that of regional peers.
To that end, a regional benchmarking comparison should be in place to ensure that Malaysia remains a competitive ICT nation. This should cover speed, coverage and quality of service, added Pikom.
