The Star Online: TechCentral 28 June 2005

Ninth Plan to ready Malaysians for global market

BY CHARLES F. MOREIRA

PUTRAJAYA: A major thrust of the Ninth Malaysia Plan will be human capital development, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said last week.

Its focus will be on the development of expertise, leadership skills, managers, technologists and workers in the new growth areas identified under the plan, he said.

We will also need to ensure a workforce imbued with innovative and creative qualities which can make a difference for the country in the global market place.

Samsudin was speaking at the Microsoft Government Leaders Conference 2005 here last week.

The conference was organised by Microsoft Knowledge Capital Centre with Mampu, Intan and the Energy, Communications and Multimedia Ministry. It discussed the evolving technology landscape and the implementation of e-government strategies.

Besides information and communications technology (ICT), other new growth areas under the plan include agro-based industries, especially health and educational tourism, services, the extension of the Multimedia Super Corridor to other parts of the country, biotechnology, development of small- to medium-sized industries and further development of the halal food industry.

However, Samsudin could not say how much has been allocated for these various initiatives since funding has yet to be finalised and included in the plan, which is due to be tabled in Parliament soon.

On e-government, Samsudin lamented the lack of multimedia applications for handheld devices which deliver quality services for end users over cellular and WiFi networks.

He said the Government is looking into using these technologies as alternative channels for the processing of tax assessments, car registrations, quit rent and so on,

which can then be submitted by the public from mobile devices.

Samsudin expressed pleasure that the one-stop, citizen-centric myGovernment portal (www.gov.my) that he announced two years ago, now includes 900 websites of federal, state and local authorities, and hosts 2,430 online services offering more than 2,500 downloadable forms. He also noted that that its online services section records 249 hits per day on average while its downloadable forms section records 152 hits daily.

Samsudin was also pleased with the increased number of e-government applications available today. As an example, he cited the ePerolehan electronic procurement application which currently has 95,000 registered suppliers, of whom 28,231 are enabled to transact electronically with the Government.

During that period, close to 50,000 transactions worth more than RM340mil were recorded, said Samsudin.

A total of 583,835 transactions worth RM16.8bil were conducted through electronic fund transfers in 2004, he added.

Other successful applications are E-Syariah which has improved the quality and services of the Syariah courts and improved the productivity and efficiency of their management.

Another is the Road Transport Department's JPJ Electronic Driving Test Taking facility which has enabled 500 candidates to take their driving tests each week, versus the 50 per week before the system was introduced.

About 200 senior government officials and education sector leaders attended the two-day conference.