(Borneo Post; October 24, 2009)

KUCHING: Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) has won the United Nation's World Summit Award (WSA) - the world's most prestigious ICT award.

SAINS is the first organisation in Southeast Asia to win the award, which was presnted in Monterry, Mexico last month.

WSA is a flagship partnership initiative by the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, and serves as a global contest and award of excellence for best practice examples in e-Content.

SAINS Integrated Court System (ICS) won worldwide recognition as "The World's Best e-Content", under the e-Government and Institutions category.

ICS is an innovatively designed, end-to-end solution built by SAINS, which integrates IT, video and mobile technologies to improve the efficiency of court case dispositions and the quality of judiciary services.

It triumphed over more than 24,000 other ICT products and projects distilled from 157 United Nations member countries participating in this fourth edition of the WSA award.

The ultimate WSA winners were decided by a grand jury of imminent ICT experts from 34 countries after evaluating 545 submissions in the final stage.

SAINS chairman and Deputy Chief Minisyer Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan yesterday led a delegation to present the trophy to Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud at Wisma Bapa Malaysia.

Among those present were SAINS Chief Executive Officer, Teo Tien Hiong, Sarawak Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman, Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Abang Openg, High Court of Sabah and Sarawak Commissioner of Justice, Rhodzariah Bujang and Registrar of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak Azhahari Kamal Ramli.

In the press release, Teo said the company has literally grown from zero-base to be a world award-winning corporation in the relatively short period of 18 years.

"We have systematically recreated ourselves over the years to compete successfully not only beyond the public sector but also nationally as well as internationally".

"Our winning of the WSA 2009 provides SAINS a timely independent quality platform for building our growing regional and internationally business as well as the confidence of delivering world class solutions and services”, he said.

He added that the award was aslo significant in terms of its exclusivity and strategic importance for Malaysia and Sarawak.

With this international recognition, SAINS, as a local world-class ICT solutions and services provider will be able to provide a critical advantage to the State as Sarawak’s economic horizon rapidly expands with the execution of SCORE related mega projects.