I am very glad to read in this morning’s press that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is now of the view that there is a need for Malaysia to switch to use electronic methods to facilitate Government and public interaction even before the electronic government is introduced into the new administrative capital in Putrajaya next year.
Speaking at a three-corner teleconference last night from Kuala Lumpur with information technology (IT) experts who were in Tokyo and Monterey in the United States, Mahathir said the switch was needed so that the public need not queue up to do business with the Government.
The Prime Minister’s recognition that there is a need to speed up the introduction of electronic government is most welcome, as in the past year, I had been advocating both inside Parliament and outside that there is no need to wait until the new Prime Minister’s Office is completed in the Multimedia Super Corridor in August next year before Malaysia start introducing electronic government to provide more convenient, responsive and higher quality service to the public.
Malaysia, whether at the Federal or State Government level, does not lack the technology to immediately introduce electronic government but only the commitment and will from the highest political and bureaucratic leadership to make full use of IT to provide better services and information to Malaysians.
The Penang State Government, for instance, which had declared its intention to come a “cybercity”, has all the necessary IT infrastructure in place to immediately introduce electronic government through the Internet and it should live up to its motto “Penang Leads” by being the most advanced IT state and be the first state to introduce electronic government.
By taking such an initiative, the Penang State Government would be able to serve four other objectives:
The Penang Government should lose no time in going IT as it is very far behind other societies. Singapore, for instance, launched the national network initiative known as ONE (Network for Everyone) last June, which involves linking all homes, offices, commercial establishments and government offices in Singapore with a high-capacity cable system that can carry voice, data and video into computers.
With a click of a computer mouse, residents in Singapore would be able to “chat” with a government official, pay bills, conclude a business deal, do research, order meals or surf the Internet. Public computer kiosks would be set up offering access to the system.
The ONE network, expected to be completed by 2001, will turn Singapore into the world’s first fully multimedia-cabled “intelligent island”.
The Penang State Government should establish an Online Government Council to plan and implement the introduction of electronic government service in Penang this year.
Penang should also lead in being the first state in Malaysia to develop a programme to identify, foster and nurture gifted children, regardless of race or socio-economic background.
Although there is at present no national-level policy or programme to foster and nurture gifted children, there is no reason why the Penang State Government should not set an example to show that it values talent, achievement and excellence by developing a programme to identify, foster and nurture gifted children in Penang so that the tragic story of Mohd. Sohkeri Hadafi, a four-year “wonder boy” who made headlines in 1976 for his ability to read passages from magazines and newspapers but who is now a chicken seller in Baling because of lack of support and nurture of his talents, would never happen in the state.
I read recently that the Singapore Chinese High School had a Gifted Education project since 1993 to provide gifted students with a challenging, differentiated and enriched curriculum in mathematics, science and computer science.
If a school in Singapore can have a Gifted Education project, there is no reason why the Penang State Government cannot have a Gifted Education programme to develop the full potentials of gifted and talented Penang children to meet the challenges of the new millennium.
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