PUTRAJAYA wants to restore Cyberjaya’s original purpose as a digital economic development hub as it was intended during the establishment of the satellite city over two decades ago, said Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

According to Azmin, he has been instructed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to put Cyberjaya back to its original intent and not as a city for land development as it is today.

“Cyberjaya has now become a property developer, it has run away from its original goal of becoming an IT hub (information technology).

“The instructions from the prime minister is to review Cyberjaya’s development and to take it back to its original purpose, and attract technology players,” he said in Sinar Harian’s Mind-Talk programme in Shah Alam today.

Azmin said Cyberjaya did not resemble Silicon Valley in the US as its original motives have changed, unlike what was conceived in its establishment during first administration of Dr Mahathir.

Azmin was responding to a question on why, despite the available infrastructure and facilities, Cyberjaya had not become Malaysia’s “Silicon Valley”.

“We are looking into this because Malaysia cannot afford to fall behind in embracing new high-technology industries,” he said.

Cyberjaya was launched on May 17, 1997 as a fully integrated city and Malaysia’s pioneer tech hub in a 2,800ha of mostly undeveloped land, 40km south of Kuala Lumpur.

Cyberjaya is today home to more than 800 companies, of which 40 are global and regional multinationals. – October 12, 2018.