Many of today’s gadgets are beyond Dr M

PUTRAJAYA: He owns a mobile phone but he does not understand how to use it, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admits.

Speaking about the advancement of technology, the 93-year-old Prime Minister confessed that many of today’s gadgets are beyond him.

“Today’s technology is not easy for old people like me. I still cannot understand some of these new technologies.

“I cannot use my telefon bimbit even. I know how to use some features. I paid for the whole thing, but I don’t know how to utilise the rest.

“The young today love new technology and they easily make full use of them.

“The old people like me are unable to understand how these new instruments function,” said Dr Mahathir during a speech at the Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians Association’s (Sahoca) buka puasa event here yesterday.

Dr Mahathir recalled a situation where he was taught how to use electronic gadgets by a 10-year-old.

“She was teaching me something quite new. But she was able to move on the computer quickly.

“She showed me how to do it, but I still cannot understand which part to swipe or press,” he said.

“This is the new world we are living in,” he said, adding that if people did not make the effort to improve their knowledge, they would be left out.

“But the young people are able to adapt because they don’t find these technologies strange,” he said.

Dr Mahathir is the lifetime president of Sahoca and is a former student of the Kedah all-boys school.

“The college has done quite well. But now we are going through a new period where we have to teach in different ways, not in the way I was taught in 1930s.

“Now we use computers in order to teach lessons. I hope we can adapt to this new system of teaching. But I believe the system when adopted by the government will make things easier,” said Dr Mahathir.

Also present was his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali. More than 500 alumni members attended the event.

Source: TheStar