Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said although ICT development in Sabah was introduced in 1997 via the creation of the Sabah Public Sector IT Master Plan, ICT development then, which started as small effort, now places the state at par with developed States in the country in e-government.
Musa said during that time there were only 11 websites belonging to State government agencies but now there are more than 100 agencies with their own websites.
"I am proud of the commitment shown by every agency in the application of ICT as a catalyst to positive change," he said.
Musa said that in today's ICT era, websites have become the virtual gateway to an organisation, thus necessitating the need to have designs and contents that fulfill consumers' needs. Additionally, technology not only allows the accurate and instant channelling of information but also provides online counter service to customers.
To fulfil these needs, every State agency has to be creative in making ICT a culture by taking into account the high value added and effective costs, he said.
He urged all agencies to have relevant and valuable information on the websites and to make sure their contents are up-to-date. The time has come for websites to become a digital service channel and consumers who are still not able to use the websites optimally should be curious and make use of the service creatively to fully enjoy the application's value.
Because of the importance and effectiveness of ICT, the State government has allocated RM29 million for ICT-related programmes including preparing its infrastructure and human development, Musa said.
He said there are also other ICT programmes such as the e-desa which gives opportunities to rural communities to be exposed to ICT. A new programmes started early this year is the M-Lab, which is a mobile Internet and computer facility and the Job-Portal, among others.
Autor: Arman Gunsika
Quelle: Borneo Bulletin, 24.04.2006
