A software engineer, Mohamad Shuhaimi Yusoff, said such a move would not be possible due to the sheer volume of communications, saying the government would have to monitor millions of emails, even if only half of Malaysia's 27 million population were subscribing to the service.
"I have read numerous reports and reactions in the media and on the Internet over the myemail.my service and found such suspicions to be baseless," he told Bernama here.
In any case, he said, why would the government want or need to monitor communications through the myemail.my platform when there were dozens of other electronic mail providers being used by Malaysians?
It would be impossible to monitor them all, even if this was done using certain keywords, he noted.
Shuhaimi believes that the government's initiative to introduce myemail.my should be widely, and continuously, explained to help people understand its goal to promote e-government services, as well as the need to channel secure information through their respective myemails.
Myemail.my, developed by Tricubes Bhd, allows numerous e-government services, such as income tax assessment, summonses, road tax renewal notices and quit rent bills, to be channeled in a secure manner to the public.
Tricubes will develop the RM50 million project over a period of 10 years that will include web portal development, a one-stop centre for government services and various value-added applications, such as social networking and online bill checking and payments.
Tricubes chief executive Khairun Zainal Mokhtar said myemail.my would allow access to secure online communications with the government through the use of a single sign-on user ID.
Its analysis shows that in the next 10 years, the public, through the email facility, will be able to help save about 8.5 million pieces of paper, or 4,250 tonnes of paper, which translates to approximately 102,000 trees equaling about 188 times the height of the Petronas Twin Towers.
As to why only one company was chosen to provide the service, he said, Tricubes fulfilled the government criteria based upon the best-in-practice technology, company experience, as well as security and confidentiality of information.
ICT analyst Azli Paat said, however, that the myemail.my issue took a controversial turn because people did not fully understand its benefits.
"It is not just an ordinary email; it's not like those that are provided by search engines like Yahoo or Google," said Azli, the director of Adavista Sdn Bhd, an ICT consultant firm.
"It's a specific way for the government to communicate with the people," he said, adding that the government would have verified the owner of the intended emails to ensure all electronic mails were sent to the intended recipients.
"Myemail.my will be a valid communication platform between the government and the people. If the government communicates with them using the free email services, it won't be able to verify whether the intended recipients are the actual owners of the email address," he added.
On the concerns that government would monitor communications among the myemail.my email users, he said such concerns should not arise because users could communicate using their other email accounts.
Azli said most of the criticism towards the service came from the lack of understanding and the notion that users need to pay to register and that the project was meant to help cronies.
Vitaldelta Sdn Bhd project manager Syahrul Izwan Abdul Wahab, meanwhile, said the service would allow government agencies to remain in contact with the public in the event of changes in their postal address.
"This will address problems such as undelivered mails, bills running into arrears and so on," he said.
Vitadelta is an ICT consultancy firm specialising in system integration, consultancy and maintenance and development.
Syahrul Izwan said the service would be fully undertaken by the private sector and that the government only acts as the facilitator.
"To ensure its success, however, the project should be able to reach the people, either those in towns and cities or in rural areas," he said.
Those not well-versed with ICT should be taught how to use the email, he said, adding that the public should give the project a chance and not brush it aside merely based upon suspicions.
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Quelle/Source: Bernama, 04.05.2011
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