LANGKAWI (Jan 20): Malaysia can achieve the objective of being a developed country earlier than 2030 if it applies 5G technology properly for development, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

The prime minister said the vision can be attained by 2025 perhaps.

Malaysia can be better administered with 5G technology because it enables productivity increases as the people can make choices faster and more accurately, he told a press conference.

Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak were also present at the event.

Dr Mahathir said: “5G is very comprehensive and gives the most amount of information to help you make decisions. Malaysia should be better administered with 5G because things can be done much more efficiently and done by people who are knowledgeable.

“If you don’t have the knowledge, you can always access people with the knowledge.

“So, my hope is that everybody learns how to make use of 5G; the environment is totally different, not like before.”

Earlier Dr Mahathir visited the 5G Command Centre at the Langkawi Police headquarters here.

Elaborating, the prime minister said that, for example, with 5G applications, paramedics can get information from experts and they can eventually decide what to do.

At the same time, he said, if someone is going to the hospital, the hospital will be prepared to receive the patient because it already has the information in advance.

Dr Mahathir said it is the same case with agriculture, with government departments in terms of administration and also in the case of the police.

“Certainly, you will find that what you are doing is actually known to the police. If you do something wrong, you will get into trouble, even parking in the wrong place.

“Now, we expose ourselves to being known to the police and everybody else. Do be careful now that we have 5G in Langkawi. So, when you come to Langkawi, please behave yourself,” he said to laughter from his audience.