(Sarawak Tribune; June 26, 2010)

DEBAK: An ICT Service Centre, named Creative IT Learning, owned and operated by RiGHT Technopreneur graduate, Encik Fadly Sulaiman, aged 30, was officially launched in Kampung Babu, Debak, Betong recently.

ICT Service Centres in rural communities are one of the continuing development plans for graduates of the Rural ICT Guided Home-based Technopreneur (RiGHT) Programme. The RiGHT programme, which was established in 2005 by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) working in collaboration with the Sarawak State Ministry of Rural Development, is in-line with the Sarawak State Government’s goal of bridging the rural-urban digital divide. The RiGHT programme has played an important role in bringing sustainable ICT development to rural areas, particularly in providing opportunities for those wishing to start up home-based businesses.

Candidates for the RiGHT programme are chosen from rural areas of Sarawak and are given 6 months of training by SAINS experts before they are exposed to various aspects of ICT operations. Leaders of rural communities are encouraged to work with the organisers to identify suitable candidates to take up the challenge of being ICT “anchors” in their respective rural communities. It is hoped that other government institutions and private sector corporations will come forward to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility and help bridge the digital divide in the State the “RiGHT” way, from bottom up.

Under this initiative SAINS adopts and trains rural youths and assists them in providing useful ICT services to their respective communities to further develop and sustain human capital among rural communities.

A total of 6 re-conditioned computers were donated by SAINS to assist Fadly in his business. In addition to serving as an income-generating opportunity for Fadly, the ICT Service Centre will help facilitate the adoption of ICT in rural communities on a sustainable basis. Fadly, a success story for the RIGHT programme, was from the 4th RiGHT training programme intake in 2009.

The RiGHT ICT Service Centre operates from 9am-9pm during the weekend. The Centre offers internet services, computer repair services, scanning, photocopying and printing services and sells computers, computer accessorises and prepaid reload phone cards to its customers which include community members as well as students, teenagers and teachers from nearby villages. During the week, Fadly conducts his training classes at a training facility provided by Lembaga Amanah Kebajikan Melayu in Debak.

Encik Fadly has already begun to train 10 school leavers, aged between 17 and 20, from his village. The students were exposed to office automation and hands-on use of the computer.

Fadly is currently operating from his own house. “In addition to operating from my house, I also go to customers’ houses to provide my services to the nearby villages of Kampung Babu, Kampung Bungey and Kampung Bungey Hilir in Debak. Debak has a total of 784 households.

He thanked SAINS and the Ministry for their support which allowed him to start his business with minimum cost. The centre makes about RM3,000.00 income a month for him. Fadly hopes that he will be able to generate enough income to move his business to a shop-lot.

The Chief Executive Officer of SAINS, Mr. Teo Tien Hiong, together with the representative from the Ministry of Rural Development, Encik Mohd. Saini, were on site to launch the ceremony. Joining the ceremony were Ketua Kampung Babu, Encik Juki Jimbon, Ketua Kampung Bungey, Encik Safari Jaafar and Ketua Kampung Bungey Hilir, Encik Abg. Abdullah Abg. Sazali.

The Ketua Kampung Babu, Encik Juki said that he was very happy and felt fortunate that SAINS and the Ministry of Rural Development had chosen this area for the RiGHT programme. “I hope this programme will continue to support the rural communities in Sarawak as it is a very good programme for the people to be exposed to ICT,” he said.

Mr. Teo mentioned that he was pleased to see the tremendous amount of support the people of Debak have for this programme. As of today, SAINS has helped to establish four other ICT Service Centres, managed by RiGHT graduates. They are Kampung Sungai in Lundu, Kampung Baru Hulu in Betong, Sebangan in Simunjan and Kampung Tambirat in Asajaya. SAINS will continue to develop RIGHT participants in other rural areas based on the availability of candidates and sponsors.

For more information, please visit the RiGHT Programme website at http://www.rightsarawak.com