FOUR-THOUSAND new students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s 2019/2020 intake recently attended a dialogue series that introduced them to the Digital Native Agenda 23 Initiative (DNA23).
The session was part of the university’s Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa (MMM) that was organised prior to the start of the first week of the academic semester.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who championed the initiative with the aim of bridging the digital gap, was present to raise the students’ morale.
He said technology and the Internet should not only be accessible to the urban community.
“We also want the suburban, rural folk to be given a chance in experiencing digitalisation.”
Launched in March, DNA23 revolved around three priorities, namely prosperity and happiness, future-proofing graduates, and promoting ethics and culture.
Anwar said there should be a humanising part in DNA23.
“Youths who excel in digital technology must also be equipped with a sense of humanity, justice and nationhood.
“Digitalisation and the advancement of technology will cause massive unemployment in the future. However, this means that there will also be massive opportunities for new jobs,” he added.
BMT Management Consulting co-founder Andrew Lee, who is part of the DNA23 implementation team, said job displacements tend to occur with the change of economy.
“Job displacement is not a bad thing. We are extremely aware of this. Traditional jobs will become obsolete, hence, with DNA23, we plan to upskill the community so that they will have the relevant skills in future.
“DNA23 is a five-year plan. We are going on roadshows to share this agenda with the people,” he said. Other speakers were Naluri Hidup chief executive officer Azman Osman Rani, KiddoCare CEO Nadira Yusoff and Tencents Holdings senior executive vice-president Lau Seng Yee.
Lau, an alumnus UKM’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, piqued the students’ interest when he shared how he embarked on a career that led him to the tech world despite not having a related educational background.
He was recently appointed to sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s board of directors.
Nadira shared her inspirational story in starting her own business to meet the needs of society.
She co-founded Kiddo Care — a mobile application service to connect busy parents with trained babysitters.
“We aim to empower women who want to pursue childcare as a career or to generate income. Many of our babysitters are also students, and we are glad to help them financially,” she said.
MMM activities includes campus tours, social events and cultural events, as well as seminars to help new students to begin their university life.