PUTRAJAYA • He owns a cellphone but does not understand how to use it, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad admits.

Speaking about the advancement of technology, the 93-year-old leader 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," said Tun Dr Mahathir during a speech at the Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians Association's (Sahoca) breaking-fast event on Monday.

"I cannot use my telefon bimbit (mobile phone) 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 it. Old people like me are unable to understand how these new instruments function."

Dr Mahathir recalled a situation in which 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," said Dr Mahathir, 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."

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

"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 the 1930s," he said.

"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."

Also present at the event was Dr Mahathir's wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali. More than 500 alumni members attended the event.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK