Malaysian govt takes services online

Although one-third of Malaysian government services are now available online, most Malaysians still do not use them, The Star Online reports.

Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) DG Datuk Mohamad Zabidi Zainal says online services provided by government only recorded 43% usage.

Bernama says government is drafting new methods in ICT management. In addition, cloud computing has been applied in 36 government agencies so far, and this will be expanded to 100 more agencies in the future.

By 2015, up to 90% of Malaysian government services will be available as e-counter and online services, according to Mampu. This is part of the paperless government programme, where 70% of correspondence, memos and minutes of meetings will go online.

Zabidi says the majority of Malaysian users of the online services were in urban areas, New Straits Times states.

"It is still low in rural areas because of the limitation of infrastructures and the socio-economic status. We are trying to promote the usage of online services by setting up several ICT centres to reach out to new users," he adds.