*5.2. Rethinking the Viability of Smart City Domains and Strategies*

A smart economy tends to possess high value-added industries, so it is proposed that high value-added industrial investment promotion initiatives be reconsidered geographically as the distribution of secondary industry is unbalanced and currently heavily favors the Peninsula and urban areas [119]. Sabah and Sarawak are still heavily dependent on primary products (i.e., timber, oil, and LNG). Targeting the relocation of manufacturing sectors to less-developed areas, which would create new urban growth centers or smart cities, needs far more attention, rather than targeting high-value investment in the already mature urban and metropolitan areas. Furthermore, wages in less-developed areas need to be improved since continuing to invest in high-value industries in urban areas will further exacerbate the urbanization issues. Malaysia could learn from India in promoting balanced and sustainable economic growth and ensuring all economic activities work well at the local level (refer to [20]). Furthermore, Malaysia could also learn from Hong Kong in placing greater focus on sharing economic activities among regions and in the re-industrialization of the necessary supporting primary and secondary sectors (refer to [8]).

Another point to consider is the potential of e-commerce. Online transaction expansion initiatives that are gaining a place in the hearts of consumers can be created in line with the increasingly busy lifestyle of urban citizens. A study of online purchasing practices in Malaysia by [120] found that buying online was chosen because it is a convenient and easy way to shop for necessities while avoiding long queues at the counter. Online shopping is a trend in modern society since internet usage has increased in the last decade. It has accelerated under the stay-at-home new normality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic threat. Thus, considering online shopping initiatives as part of the smart economy initiative should enable improvements in the economic status of urban residents, either as traders or customers, which would facilitate the lives of both parties [25].

For smart living, the experts rejected the understanding that the crime rate in Malaysia remains high compared to other countries. The respondents thought that the crime rate was under control level. This opinion matches the findings of [121], whose local studies in Kuala Lumpur showed that city residents are comfortable with the crime situation. Additionally, Ref. [121] found that the perception that the crime rate was high in Malaysia actually did exist in the foreign discourse. Thus, the authorities could consider all such perspectives, turning their focus to the means of adaptation to the fear of crime, the omnipresence of police in public spaces, and assistance to prevent criminal acts in community areas [47,121].

Furthermore, in terms of smart living, voluntary and more active community involvement initiatives related to the safety, educational, and health aspects of the local community can be added to reduce the extent of the dependence on government resources. According to [122], community involvement ensures that the needs and aspirations of the community are not neglected; the result is that community members will be educated and subsequently empowered. This shows that the role of the community can resolve local issues more effectively.

In terms of smart people, referring to skilled and talented human capital, the government must rethink tertiary education and determine how to actively produce digitally talented innovative graduates to suit the value-added industry in the Industry 4.0 era. More structured and holistic learning opportunities within the areas of IoT devices development, telecommunications, middleware, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence are needed. This is because engineering students currently focus mainly on hardware and connectivity aspects while computer science students learn middleware and big data analytics separately [104]. To adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in Malaysian smart city society, a radical paradigm shift in educating graduates so they transform into talented human capital should be the priority, a notion that was reaffirmed by the Prime Minister [67]. Thus, the 2013 national education policy is somewhat outdated, so rethinking how to enhance it through the Industry 4.0 perspective is crucial. Questions such as how to nurture young people so they master the fundamental Industry 4.0 technologies in stages, from primary, secondary, and tertiary education up to life-long learning for the elderly community members, should become the central aim in formulating a new national education policy.

Next, moral and ethical development, as mentioned in the MSCF, is considered a good move for developing countries like Malaysia, as many Western developed countries have resolved this moral element (refer to [2]). As mentioned in the literature, Ungku Aziz's 1980s ideas are still considered fundamental and remain relevant enough to be adopted in the current smart city development in Malaysia. Although the values of education related to moral development were stated in the National Education Blueprint 2013, the latest education plan could be enhanced based on the five principles of Maqasid Al-Syariah, namely caring for religion, caring for life, caring for intellect, caring for one's offspring, and caring for property. Maqasid Al-Syariah refers to the noble purpose of Islamic law, which is based on the principle of Maslahat and which mankind could universally obtain through the text or authority of Islamic law [123]. This universal concept is seen by all as practicable.

Another aspect to enhance in terms of smart people in Malaysia is the level of civic participation in local authority decision-making and programs [73]. Participation in decisionmaking differs from community empowerment: the former involves the level of citizen power and can influence agenda setting, while the latter refers to the tokenism level of service delivery stages [61]. Furthermore, in the former, people are active in decision-making and co-creating with the authorities, whereas, in the latter, people tend to be in a weaker, beneficiary, or reactive position when they are deemed 'empowered' by the authorities. Contemplating the lower level of participation in decision-making in Malaysia, the authors argue that the implementation of the MSCF could enhance the extent of this form of participation. Although it may face dissensus of opinion, in the long term, this move will help in building more democratic spaces and independent citizenship for Malaysian nation-building [124].

On the governance issue, excessive bureaucracy, delays in approving applications and licenses, as well as a lack of information on new policies and regulations are among the main problems plaguing the government's delivery system [81,82]. Inter-governmental data sharing is another challenge due to the separate departmental practices in Malaysia. To address this, Hong Kong's initiatives can be adopted, such as building a new big data analytics platform; adopting public cloud services, which would enable real-time data transmission and sharing among government departments; and enhancing security features so that government departments can deliver efficient and agile e-services [8]. Future smart city governance should make effective use of their data assets to secure outcomes that are appropriate to citizens' needs. Investment by agencies in system-wide data capture, integration, and analytics capabilities [75] is a crucial aspect to develop.

Apart from data sharing, smart governance ultimately aims to produce public values for citizens, such as from the perspective of asset management and financial and economic sustainability [93]. To realize such public values, e-democracy must be upheld through active e-voting and e-decision making [71], which is a major topic for Malaysian smart development advocates to deliberate. According to the Democracy Index 2020, out of 167 countries, Malaysia (ranked 39) and India (ranked 53) fell into the category of flawed democracies. Meanwhile, Hong Kong ranked 87 due to its hybrid regime of flawed democracy and authoritarian control [125]. In terms of the purpose of building independent citizens [2] within the conception that smart cities are democratic ecologies [126], Malaysia and similar places must actually strive further to achieve higher transparency and open governance. As suggested by [127], 'good enough governance' for smart city societies in Malaysia should consider the cultural context of the Muslim majority, prioritize governance content that allows more scope for political participation and free speech, and cultivate the imagination and unselfishness of children.

Furthermore, it was found that the understanding and acceptance of initiatives in the smart environment is the most critical among all the domains. In this regard, announcements on smart environment initiatives must be intensified and expanded to ensure the sustainability of the existing environment. Most importantly, the authors' view is that environmental accountability initiatives must be added to this component to enable each party to understand the concept and play their respective roles in caring for the environment. In the case of maintaining a clean environment, Ref. [57] found that all stakeholders should take responsibility, not solely the authorities. Efforts to maintain and preserve the environmental space relate to the question of community awareness and attitude, which, if sufficiently high, would ensure that the environment is always clean, healthy, and sustainable.

In terms of preserving parks and green spaces in urban areas, Malaysia's development control guidelines set a minimum of 10% green and open space reservation, which is considered relatively low. In comparison, the city of Wuhan, China, has launched its Wuhan Low-Carbon Urban Development Plan 2013, which reserves 28% for green areas in the city [48]. Therefore, a rethink is suggested that would impose a greater green space allocation in new development plans and, together with agencies such as PLAN-Malaysia, the MSCF could incorporate this higher green space allocation as one of its smart environment initiatives.

In terms of smart mobility and, in particular, electrical vehicles (EVs) in Malaysia, Putrajaya city bought 150 electric buses (each costing RM 1.5 million). They operate in Putrajaya and the vicinity, the aim being to cut carbon emissions, noise pollution, and traffic congestion while improving public transport and parking systems [128]. The operation of the electric buses is calibrated by battery capacity and charging facilities and has been found to outperform conventional bus operations [129]. However, cases of the inefficiency of public transport management were identified, whereby the electric buses were found abandoned at the Depoh Putrajaya. Bus breakdowns are frequent due to lack of maintenance, unreliable and delayed bus arrival times, and reductions in bus routes [130]. Thus, although electric cars are efficient in costs and energy saving with long-term usage [84], the adoption of an EV ecosystem is required, involving features such as efficient management and the availability of efficient power charging stations.

As for privately-owned electric cars, it has been found that the understanding and acceptance of the community is still low. The respondents in this study felt the costs involved in owning and maintaining a private electric vehicle were higher than those of a typical vehicle. It is true that research has shown that the cost of electric vehicle ownership in Malaysia is not yet as competitive as typical internal combustion vehicles [131]. This shows the market and society acceptance of electric cars remains still low. Those involved in the MSCF should rethink the issues of EVs, along with the latest National Automotive Policy 2020, in promoting affordable new technologies. For example, incentives and funding are available under the National Automotive Policy 2020 to develop the technology and engineering required for NxGV (next-generation vehicles), autonomous vehicles, MaaS (mobility-as-a-service), and Industry 4.0 [132]. Thus, MSCF initiatives such as promoting collaboration with the private sector in developing affordable EVs could be implemented.

Last but not least, for the smart digital infrastructure, in terms of the cybersecurity and personal data protection issues, it seems that the MSCF did not provide clear direction on how to strengthen the necessary cybersecurity and personal data protection. The ranking of Malaysia as eighth out of 194 countries in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2021 [133] seems to contradict the results of this study's finding. Recently reported cyber intrusion cases [103] were over the targeted 9000 to 10,000 per year [9], and the assessment of the National IoT Strategic Roadmap was also ambiguous [104]. All the supporting agencies, such as Cybersecurity Malaysia, the Department of Personal Data Protection, and the Malaysia Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit must work more closely together and actively provide improvements or amendments to the policies, especially more strict enforcement of the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010.

As for the issues of low internet speed and digital infrastructure coverage in lessdeveloped states and rural areas, more MSCF initiatives could be planned in conjunction with the latest National Digital Infrastructure Plan (JENDELA), the Malaysian Industry 4.0 Policy, and the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital). For instance, the current wireless broadband coverage in Malaysia is 96.7% for 2G, 95.3% for 3G, and 91.8% for 4G coverage in populated areas, with 25 Mbps speed [134]. Therefore, MSCF initiatives could plan to achieve 100% 4G coverage in populated areas and a speed of 100 Mbps by adopting 5G.
