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Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

Monday 22 January 2024

How Malaysians can learn to love AI


How Malaysians can learn to love AI


DIGITAL initiatives seem to be coming fast and furious from the government.

We had the launch of the Central Database Hub, or Padu, on Jan 2 and just this week, on Tuesday, the AI for the Rakyat portal, was unveiled.

AI untuk Rakyat


AI For Rakyat

, https://ai.gov.my/#/home

The introduction at its website, ai.gov.my, is interesting: “AI untuk Rakyat” is a self-learning online programme designed to raise public awareness about artificial intelligence (AI).

“It aims to demystify AI for people from all walks of life – a student, a stay-at-home parent, a professional in any field, a senior citizen – basically, anyone interested in getting acquainted with it and wanting to build a ‘Digital First Mindset’.”

If all goes well, the portal could indeed help to address the country’s growing digital divide as those with access to the digital world pull away from those who don’t have the means to benefit from it.

Padu is entirely designed and maintained by the government to ease fears of our data being misused in the hands of a third party.

Similarly, AI for the rakyat is largely government-driven, with the Economy Ministry working with just one private company, Intel.

And we are glad to note that apart from Bahasa Malaysia, the portal is also inclusively available in English, Chinese and Tamil (the last is rare indeed).

The government is hoping to have one million Malaysians become familiar with AI skills in three years.

That’s all well and good, but we must ensure that this portal does not go the way of previous tech initiatives, like the Multimedia Super Corridor, which did not reach its full potential.

All these digital initiatives need real support in the form of nurturing ecosystems and infrastructure, serious investment, and an open acceptance of all sorts of different talents.

Most importantly, “knowing” AI does not lessen the urgent need for solid cybersecurity laws and a moral code of ethics to govern the use and development of all digital initiatives, including AI.

As Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli stressed at the portal’s launch, there must be optimal end-to-end conditions and wholesome policies to accompany the growth of AI.

Rafizi argued that without trustworthy data and secure channels, the products and services driven by AI technology could not be implemented properly.

“To be the regional and global AI hub, we must be able to create new uses for AI. This can only be done if we have ready and accessible data,” he said, pointing out that Padu is a step towards this.


AI untuk Rakyat


AI For Rakyat

, https://ai.gov.my/#/home

https://ai.gov.my/#/home

About AI untuk Rakyat

AI untuk Rakyat is a self-learning online program designed to raise public awareness about Artificial Intelligence (AI). It aims to demystify AI for people from all walks of life – a student, a stay-at-home parent, a professional in any field, a senior citizen - basically, anyone interested in getting acquainted with it and wanting to build a ‘Digital First Mindset' 

The program is divided into two sections: AI Aware and AI Appreciate

Both sections can be completed in about four hours. Each section is based on AI-related concepts explained through engaging activities and quizzes. The users can take the quizzes as many times as they want. After they complete these quizzes, they become bearers of AI Aware and AI Appreciate badges that they can share on their social media accounts.
AI Aware illustration
AI Aware Badge

What is AI untuk Rakyat?

Who is this program for? Who should/ can attend/ participate in it?

What is the duration of this program?

What is covered in the program?

What are the prerequisites for this program?

What will I get once I complete the program?

Can I call myself an AI expert after attending this program?

I have finished the program. What is the next step?

I am unable to select my birth year on the registration page. What should I do?

I did not receive the OTP. What do I do?

My query is not resolved yet - whom should I reach out to?

 

Thursday 23 November 2023

Scam rampant, become a ‘scamdemic', with victims being forced to commit online crimes also believed to have set up scam centres in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Not only is Malaysia suffering from a “scamdemic” with citizens continuing to fall victim to job scams, but the country is also believed to be the location of scam centres with international syndicates having set up operations here, according to a United Nations report.

Coined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, the term “scamdemic” has gained traction as scam cases surge, particularly in countries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

In its latest policy brief, UNODC says international NGOs have identified over 40 nationalities of trafficking victims in scam parks in South-East Asia, including Malaysians.

These scam parks, a gathering of criminal organisations specialising in financial fraud and human trafficking, are known to deploy operatives who excel at running job scams, among others.

ALSO READ : ‘Greed and risky mindset lead to more victims’

While there is no accurate data on the number of victims trafficked for forced criminality, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 100,000 predominantly young men and women from Asia had been trafficked and forced to commit online scams and fraud, says the report.

The actual number of Malaysians who have fallen victim to job scams is unknown, although the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation, an NGO that assists in rescuing Malaysians from such scams, claims that there are at least 1,000 Malaysians in Myanmar alone.

At the recent parliament sitting, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin said 518 Malaysian victims of job scam syndicates had been rescued as of Nov 3, and that the ministry is identifying another 26 in Laukkaing, Myanmar.

In the same policy brief, UNODC also suggests that scam parks exist in Malaysia, following reports from trafficking victims who had escaped over the last three years. However, the report does not provide details on the existence of the scam parks.

“Since early 2021, an increasing number of stories started to emerge of trafficking victims escaping from scam compounds in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar and even Malaysia,” says the report.

UNODC says concerns over citizens being trafficked and severely mistreated, primarily in scam compounds in the Golden Triangle (the area in which the borders of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos meet), were also expressed to the body and other UN agencies by several governments in the region.

UNODC says the victims related similar stories of how they were lured by lucrative job offers, only to find themselves forced into modern-day slavery to work as scammers themselves. They tend to be working in casino complexes or highly guarded buildings.

“After travelling to or within the destination country, they were confined to large casino or hotel complexes, or other secure buildings tailored to harbour or confine victims, where they were forced, for up to 15 hours a day, to conduct online scams.

“These online scams and fraud, committed primarily by trafficked persons under duress, have defrauded thousands of scam victims around the world of, on average, US$169,000 per victim,” says the report.

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Social and Policy Studies chairman Dr Chin Yee Mun said it can be concluded that Malaysia is indeed experiencing a “scamdemic” following recent findings from a survey carried out by a group of academics on Malaysians’ awareness of the matter.

“Firstly, our survey shows that nearly 40% of the respondents have encountered scams, and about the same percentage have someone in their social circle who had undergone similar experiences,” he said.

“Secondly, we have similar experience or have someone in our social circle who encountered scammers or has been scammed.”

Universiti Teknologi Mara Perlis’ Dr Azhar Abdul Rahman said that although the number of Malaysians who remain trapped in scam parks is uncertain, there may be many more, judging from the continuous reports of rescued victims.

“These scammers are always prepared with their plans to entice the gullible with (jobs that offer) easy access to wealth,” said Azhar, who was part of the team that carried out the survey.

But Malaysians are not new to experiencing job scams, said crime analyst Kamal Affandi Hashim.

“Malaysia has long been suffering from this ‘scamdemic’. And Malaysia is not alone as the whole world is facing this problem.

“The only difference now is that this matter is being put under the spotlight. The scammers are also technologically savvy and sophisticated in reaching out to potential victims,” he said.

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Related:

The grass is not always greener on the other side

Roshaidi (right) and his friend refused to work as scammers as told by the syndicate

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Scam jam

Resumes and regrets

So rampant, it’s become a ‘scamdemic’

‘Greed and risky mindset lead to more victims’

Scammers’ new game?

Government needs to do more against scammers

Scam parks: No promised land

The map shows locations of known or raided scam parks, including illegal casinos, in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar as reported by regional law enforcement authorities as of June 2023.

THEY arrive at an exotic, foreign land with hope for a new life or new love.

But what they get is despair, and some even death, as they are locked up, tortured and forced into a life of cybercrime.

This is what happened to an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 predominantly young men and women who have been conned and held captive in the “scam parks” of South-East Asia, where they are forced to commit online scams and fraud, says the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).

Calling it a “scamdemic”, UNDOC highlights in its report, Casinos, cyber fraud, and trafficking in persons for forced criminality in South-East Asia, that the huge scamming “industry” has swept across the region in the wake of Covid-19.


According to the report which was released in September, the scam parks – also known as fraud factories – are run by transnational organised crime syndicates taking advantage of the existing casino and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) infrastructure in the Golden Triangle area, namely in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

These syndicates are believed to be gangs from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, who due to the pandemic, were forced to close down or move their illicit operations, especially illegal casinos, to less regulated spaces such as conflict-affected border areas and the SEZ, as well as to the increasingly lucrative online space.

Covid-19 had also created the perfect conditions for this scamdemic to flourish with its “toxic combination” of unemployment, lockdown isolation, and increased social media use, says UNDOC.

With millions of migrant and expatriate workers stranded during the Covid-19 lockdowns, while thousands of millions others were confined at home, the pool of easy targets for job scams and other online fraud schemes only grew. Then as the region reopened in 2021, traffickers took advantage of those who had lost their jobs because of the pandemic and were desperate for work.


UNDOC says these organised crime groups have developed and implemented a sophisticated plan to scam people, utilising the latest artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including face swapping and voice replication to bypass banking security systems.

The scam park trafficking crime is also growing into a global problem as victims come not only from across the Asean region, East Asia and South Asia, but also further afield from Africa and Latin America.

The trafficked victims in turn are forced to scam thousands worldwide, very often their own countrymen. It is estimated that these online scams have defrauded thousands worldwide of an average US$169,000 (RM789,801) per victim.

According to another UN agency, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), these scam parks are also seeing a new type of victims.

An OHCHR report published in August says that while trafficking cases in South-East Asia used to involve mostly victims who had lower educational qualifications and worked in low-wage jobs, the latest findings show the trend now includes those who are well-educated – many previously held professional jobs and have graduate or postgraduate degrees.

Most are also IT-savvy and multilingual, fluent especially in English. (This is so they can trick scam victims more effectively, the report says.)

Many ensnared are also from supposedly more developed nations in the region such as Singapore and Taiwan.

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'CLICK TO ENLARGE''CLICK TO ENLARGE'

OHCHR adds that while most of the trafficking victims are men, there are also women and young persons.

Luring them with the promise of stable jobs overseas, the traffickers arrange for the unknowing victims to travel to countries like Thailand and Myanmar, before smuggling them across the borders to Laos and Cambodia.

They are then taken to scam parks, which are secure buildings tailored to confine victims and operate these online scams, including large casinos and hotel complexes.

Once inside the scam parks, some of which are fenced with barbed wire, the victims’ passports are confiscated, and they are forced to work as scammers for up to 15 hours or more a day.

Those who try to escape are often beaten before being forced back to work.

There have been reports of trafficking victims being sold and moved from one scam park to another.

While thousands of victims have escaped, been rescued, and returned to their home country, say the UN agencies, overall, the problem is not abating, with new scam compounds being built and existing scam compounds expanding in size and geographical scope.

Saturday 14 October 2023

Budget 2024: SST increased to 8%, capital gains tax at 10% and luxury goods tax introduced

 


KUALA LUMPUR: A number of taxation reform measures will be implemented next year to expand the country's revenue base and at the same time not burden the majority of the people.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the tax collected by the government is one of the lowest in Asean at 11.8 per cent of gross domestic product compared to Singapore (12.6 per cent) and Thailand (16.4 per cent).

ALSO READ: Budget 2024: Five shelved LRT3 stations back on track, Penang LRT planned

Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the government plans to increase the service tax rate to 8.0 per cent instead of 6.0 per cent and this does not include services such as food and beverages, and telecommunications.

"The government will also expand the scope of taxable services to include logistic services, brokerage, underwriting and karaoke," he said when presenting Budget 2024 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

ALSO READ: Budget 2024: Up to 15% discount for PTPTN repayments

Anwar said the government will enforce the implementation of capital gains tax for the disposal of unlisted shares by local companies based on the net profit at a rate of 10 per cent from March 1, 2024.

The government is also considering the exemption of capital gains tax on the disposal of shares related to certain activities such as approved initial public offering (IPO), internal restructuring and venture capital companies subject to specified conditions.

Anwar said the government will enact new legislation to tax certain luxury goods such as jewellery and watches based on the threshold value of the goods. - Bernama


Wednesday 27 September 2023

Malaysia's FDI figures down but not out


The year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in FDIs for 1H23 was also due to the strengthening of the US dollar, which capped FDI inflows, on top of the uncertainties before the state elections. - Nixon Wong


PETALING JAYA: Since coming into power last November, the unity government has made it abundantly clear it is eager to keep Malaysia as a magnet for foreign investments.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has travelled to several countries to promote Malaysia as an investment destination, including to China in April and recently, as well as to the ongoing 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, following the Invest Malaysia New York event in The Big Apple.

On the other hand – while Anwar has been busy making stops worldwide to foster economic ties on behalf of the country – the official numbers from the Statistics Department showed that for the first half of 2023 (1H23), foreign direct investment (FDIs) into Malaysia amounted to RM15.1bil, only a third of the funds that came in at the same time last year.

For the whole of 2022, Malaysia had managed to garner RM74.6bil of FDIs, which plainly means that it would be a mountain to climb for the country to match that number this year.

For many analysts, the apparent political ambiguity before the six-state elections back in August had played a role in discouraging foreigners to commit their funds to Malaysia, and with that having been resolved, they are looking forward with more optimism.

According to Nixon Wong, chief investment officer for Kuala Lumpur-based fund management firm Tradeview Capital, the year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in FDIs for 1H23 was also due to the strengthening of the US dollar, which capped FDI inflows, on top of the uncertainties before the state elections.

However, he believes the tide could be changing, with major global players such as Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG as well as Intel Corp, Amazon Web Services and Tesla Inc of the United States having set up shop in the country or pledged to commit further investments.

Moving forward, he told StarBiz: “I believe with the initiatives on green energy generation and increasing adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in doing business could attract more FDIs our business environment becomes a better match to the ESG criteria these global players are looking into.

“Also, momentum could be built by taking advantage of trade diversions due to uncertain geopolitical tensions that include the United States-China trade conflict and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.”

At the same time, Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau is similarly expecting “more FDI good news” towards the end of the year and into 2024.

“Of course, there were also other factors for the y-o-y pullback (in FDIs into the country) such as the high interest rates environment globally, but there is a sense of relief now that politically the country is stable. This, coupled with the aggressive efforts of the Prime Minister, means things should improve from here,” he predicted.

Having said that, Lau believes the upcoming tabling of Budget 2024 would be essential to clarify Putrajaya’s policies on many issues, including how it intends to further encourage and more importantly ease the entrance of FDIs into the country.

Besides that, he noted that the targeted subsidy reforms and the possible amendments on the government’s tax base could also set the tone for FDIs if further details could be ironed out next month.

While recognising it may be a big ask for Malaysia to surpass the RM74.6bil FDI amount of 2022 for this year, Lau is hopeful of the situation over the longer term as the government has been active in its efforts in attracting investments.

“This can also be seen by Bursa Malaysia organising its first physical Invest Malaysia New York in six years last week, which is part of a push for investments for the Madani Economy initiatives,” he told StarBiz.

Offering his views from an economical perspective, Centre for Market Education (CME) chief executive Dr Carmelo Ferlito opined that FDI quarterly volatility has been a consistent trend over the long term, and therefore should not set off any alarm bells yet.

In addition, he said the 2022 FDI data is likely to have been boosted by the post-lockdown recovery that the country experienced last year, an effect that is quickly fading.

While the news has been flushed with reports of FDIs being granted approvals since the start of year, such as the RM170bil commitment by China and RM23bil pledge by Japan that was announced in July, Ferlito suggested it may be more meaningful to look at implemented FDI’s instead of just approved ones.

He said that back in April, the CME has backed a call by former second finance minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani for the setting up of a special committee under the International Trade and Industry Ministry to monitor investments in Malaysia.

“The commission would have had to monitor not only the inflow of FDIs and the approvals, but also how many get implemented, as well as the reason why some of them are not implemented and so on. It was a good proposal, and we think it deserves to regain interest,” he says.

With Anwar having called for the cutting down on red tape and striving to improve the ease of doing business, Ferlito said the Prime Minister is aware there are issues for foreign businesses to enter the country which are related with institutional arrangements.

As such, he has urged Anwar to take the lead in creating a reform process to achieve those goals of reducing red tape and increasing the ease of doing business, as advocated in the Prime Minister’s Ekonomi Madani speech.




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