KUCHING, Nov 30: Federal Secretary of Sarawak Dato’ Amir Omar today advised all federal agencies in Sarawak to learn from Sarawak Multimedia Authority’s (SMA) good practices such as those involving the Internet of Things (IoT) and the digital economy.
“I hope that this Federal Agencies Benchmarking Visit to SMA today would allow us to learn the best practices available so that we can apply those practices in our respective agencies to improve our service delivery system,” said Amir during his Federal Agencies Benchmarking Visit to the SMA office here today.
He reiterated that SMA was established in 2018 to advise the State government on matters relating to policies for communication and multimedia activities, besides implementing and enforcing the provision of State laws pertaining to communications and multimedia.
“It also supervises and monitors communication and multimedia activities in Sarawak as well as support, direct, stimulate, and facilitate research and development in communications and multimedia,” he said.
Amir noted among SMA’s latest initiatives was the Kuching SMART City Masterplan (KSCMP) launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg earlier this year which was in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan and the Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC).
“The project involved 14 government agencies and a total of 1,236 public respondents during the preparation period of 10 months,” he said.
Amir noted that the Sarawak Telecommunications Secretariat co-chaired by SMA, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and the Sarawak government had presented updates on the progress of communications infrastructure projects such as the Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Telecommunications (Smart) and the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela) to the chief minister.
“These include mobile broadband, satellite broadband, high-speed broadband, and fixed wireless access (FWA). To date, 65 out of 82 State constituencies have high-speed Internet,” he said.
He added that 1,312 federal government departments and agencies throughout the State are now using the Integrated Telecommunication Network (MyGov*Net), which Mampu managed.
Additionally, he praised SMA for providing online payment platforms such as S Pay Global or better known as Sarawak Pay.
“S Pay Global was launched by the Sarawak government through SMA to drive the Sarawak economy through digital economy initiatives as well as to encourage cashless consumption in the State.
“This initiative is a step forward in facilitating payment transactions, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic situation,” he said.
Amir reiterated that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the process of entering Sarawak was very challenging.
“The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has prepared strict and comprehensive guidelines on entry procedures into Sarawak. In addition, to support SDMC’s efforts in curbing the spread of Covid-19 in Sarawak, SMA has introduced a digital surveillance solution via QR-coded wristbands for anyone entering Sarawak, Persons-Under-Investigation (PUI), and anyone ordered to self-quarantine.
“SMA also developed a mobile application called i-Alerts to inform the people about the latest Covid-19 situation in the State. Apart from that, this application also informs about current developments regarding the rabies epidemic in Sarawak. This is very helpful in ensuring the efficient and up-to-date distribution of information,” he added.
Amir said the Federal Agencies Benchmarking Visit to the SMA office today involved the participation of members of the Sarawak Federal Innovation Steering Committee (JKPI) consisting of various heads of departments and representatives from federal agencies in the State.
“For your information, JKPI is a significant platform in identifying the level of implementation and efforts towards improving the government’s service delivery system to ensure that the federal public service in Sarawak remains relevant,” said Amir.
Meanwhile, SMA general manager Dr Zaidi Razak gave the delegates a comprehensive briefing on SMA’s roles and functions.
Among those accompanying Amir were Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail and heads of various federal departments and agencies. — DayakDaily
