(Borneo Post; May 26, 2006)

KUCHING: The State government has set its sights on full electronic government (EG) status by the end of 2008 when all major services of the government will be available online, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan.

Dr Chan said the government was committed to bringing usage of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the Internet to its height to improve its processes and services to people.

“In order to achieve EG status, the State government is also increasingly automating and putting its work processes online..these must be protected,” Dr Chan said yesterday when officiating at a seminar on cyber-security initiative in Malaysia.

On services currently available online, such as bill payment, job recruitment and job application, Dr Chan said the government would take pain to protect the interests of the public and ensure continuous delivery without any interruption.

He vowed that despite the successful system-protection to date, the government would “not rest” but continue to be vigilant and continuously upgrade its cyber-defences.

Later at a media conference, Dr Chan told reporters that he would mobilise relevant departments, including Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd, to help Sarawakians get techno-ready for the use of online government services.

“I've reminded SAINS to make sure the services are widely known and to show people how to use it and know about the advantages,” he said, adding the SAINS was expected to spend money to advertise and educate the public.

“We can also get children to teach their parents,” Dr Chan added to laughter from the floor.

Teo Tien Hiong, chief executive officer of SAINS, said almost of government agency was currently connected through SarawakNet, the state's flagship information and electronic network, with the exception of a small number of isolated government offices.

“To our knowledge there are very few (government agencies) not connected. I can tell you there are very hardly any. We have made a huge effort to covert everybody,” he asserted.

On getting Sarawak ready for an electronic government, Dr Chan remarked it was important for government departments to do a better job of keeping their websites updated to retain people's confidence in ICT.

“We have been trying to keep them updated...(but) I think that now, we should really emphasis this. It must become a habit, not a one-off action. We should get a crew to check on and remind the departments,” he said. Zamani Zakariah, chief director of Malaysian Information Communication Multimedia services, identified bigger challenger for Sarawak's ICT development due to its sheer size and varying demography.

He said vast differences in size and population dispersion would render a fair comparison ineffective when listing a state by state ranking of development.

“At a state level, if you compare Sarawak with Penang, it's not applicable. The challenges of bringing the technology infrastructure to all areas of Sarawak are greater,” he said, adding, “If you take urban clusters, Sarawak is among the highest (ranked) in ICT initiative and orientation.”

The seminar was organized by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commisison (MCMC) in the conjunction with the commemoration of the World Communication Day (WTD) on May 17. The seminar was aimed at developing public understanding of matters related to cyber-security, which is becoming increasingly important with the rapid development of digital services and infrastructure.