Staying Put But Going Far: Empowering Online Rural Communities in Malaysia

Currently, equity of and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a burning issue in many countries around the world. Malaysia, as a nation of about 22 million inhabitants, has taken some strong strides in recent times to bridge the access and equity gaps through appropriate strategic national programmes as well as policies. One such initiative has recently been submitted to the government for consideration to be funded for the next five years under the national developmental budget. This paper will look at some of the key elements of this programme and identify some of the major challenges that it hopes to resolve.