According to its Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, work is underway to develop a blueprint for e-government implementation among local authorities, particularly in providing online delivery of their current services. “The Ministry, with the help of Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), is in the process of identifying the needs and strengths of each local authority, in terms of information and communications technology (ICT), before coming up with an overall proposal. We are also trying to put in place some uniform software development programme through the local Government department,” he told CompuTimes in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday.
All local authorities, Ong said, should work towards embracing the e-government concept in their day-to-day running and their administration that would enable them to become more responsive to the needs of both citizens and businesses.
“We would like to see this happen over the 9MP period. However, this depends whether we can get more allocation to help them under the period. Definitely, something has got to happen under the 9MP,” he said.
Of the 144 local authorities, nine are city halls/councils, 37 municipal councils and 98 district councils. It is estimated that more than 50 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) contribution resides within these authorities. Ong said the Ministry will be leveraging on the experience of the local authorities which are more advanced in their e-government efforts to assist the local authorities that are lagging behind.
“For example, Subang Jaya Municipal Council, Petaling Jaya Municipal Council and Kuala Lumpur City Hall are already practising e-submission of forms, e-payment of taxes and licence renewals, facilitating e-communities as well as making available a lot of information through their Web sites. Some of the other local authorities cannot even afford to do that so we will look at how they can emulate the advanced ones,” he said.
Ong, who is also the president of MCA, had earlier officiated the launch of the MCA ICT Resource Centre (MIRC), which marked the centre’s “e-enablement” campaign. Through the campaign, MIRC intends to equip small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the basic ICT building blocks to enhance and drive the businesses to a higher level.
The event also included the signing of a memorandum of understanding between MIRC and Microsoft Malaysia in a joint initiative to prepare local technopreneurs to develop world-class products and commercialise them for the international market.
Signing for MIRC was its chief executive officer Andrew Wong while Microsoft was represented by its business marketing organisation director Christopher Yong.
Under the agreement, Microsoft is investing RM2.3 million in the form of tools, technology and training for technopreneurs over the next 12 months. Additionally, Microsoft will fully subsidise the cost of the Microsoft Platform Tests for independent solution vendor solutions for the first 10 ISV entrepreneurs who pass the tests.
Autor: Rozana Sani
Quelle: New Straits Times, 11.04.2005
