(From left) Digi’s head of Sustainability Philip Ling, Open University Malaysia director Centre of Research and Innovation Dr Soon Seng Thah, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Steven Sim, Kjoel, and Joachim during the launch of Digi’s Partnering For Reduced Inequalities.
SUBANG JAYA: Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) unveiled the results of its third nationwide online safety survey, the Digi Yellow Heart Cyberbullying and Youth Disposition Survey 2018.
The survey sought to understand how youth stay safe online, and determine the link between their disposition and cyberbullying. The survey results were shared at the company’s annual Partnering for Reduced Inequalities (PFRI) Summit.
Digi’s chief corporate affairs officer Joachim Rajaram said this online safety survey – the third of its type published by the company – forms a vital part of Digi’s sustainability efforts over the past seven years.
“The hypergrowth in mobile adoption over the past decade gave rise to a generation of digital natives for which the mobile device predominantly, and the internet broadly, became an always-on portal to the world.
“Realising this, our efforts have largely centred around working with partners to nurture a generation of citizens who are both responsible in their online conduct, and resilient to its inherent dangers. Being one of the few credible bodies of data available on the subject of online safety, these insights have helped us and our partners make more informed actions in addressing emerging issues in this space,” he said.
The survey gathered responses from close to 2,000 youths aged 13 to 21 years old, predominantly from rural schools. These youths were required to answer a list of questions relating to their personal disposition, experiences with cyberbullying and how they responded when encountering these risks. The survey ran for 10 months and was conducted online as well as through UNICEF’s U-Report platform. The data was then analysed by Dr Kuldip Kaur, Consultant Educationist and Dr Soon Seng Thah, Director of Centre Research and Innovation from Open University Malaysia.
Yellow Heart is Digi’s commitment to reduce inequality by keeping families safe through responsible digital usage and empowering Malaysians with access to the internet.
The PFRI summit gathered the community of change makers under the Yellow Heart banner to discuss the way forward mainly on these two areas. Their discourse focused on how the internet and technologies can be used to efficiently reduce inequalities among Malaysian youths, and the critical role of partnerships in affecting this change in a bigger way.
In his message to summit attendees, Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Gobind Singh Deo emphasised the importance of preparing Malaysian youths for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) which is changing how we live, work and communicate.
“In this digital era, Malaysian youths need to be nurtured to stay relevant for future job markets. They need to be prepared to embrace opportunities or risk being left behind. Malaysians from all walks of life must be given equal opportunities to succeed in this new digital world and this challenge requires all parties to play their part in working together, and re-thinking the future. I commend the efforts of all the parties involved in coming together to do their part to reduce inequalities now and the future,” he said.
In addition to online safety, the PFRI Summit also addressed the growing demand of IR4.0 by equipping youths, especially from marginalised communities, with necessary digital skills to stay relevant for future job markets.
Among the guests and speakers who attended the summit include chair of Digi’s Board of Directors, Haakon Bruaset Kjoel, UNICEF Representative to Malaysia, Marianne Clark-Hattingh, Ministry of Education director of Education Technology Division Hj Zaidi Yazid, and Arus Academy co-founder Alina Amir.