Information Communication And Technology (Ict) On Service Delivery In Sarawak Local Authorities

ICT use in malaysia

The Malaysian government started to transform its administration from industrial base to knowledge and information technology by introducing the Malaysian Super Corridor (MSC) to achieve the objectives of Vision 2020 and to be modern state by 2020. The Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was officially launched Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) on 12 February 1996 with RM2.3 billion was invested for this project. As a result, the numbers of people using internet was increased from 1.7 million in 1996 to 13.7 million in 2012 it is when the government implementing many programs to reduce ICT illiterate such as “One Home One PC” (The Economic Planning Unit Prime Minister’s Department Putrajaya, 2006). The government wish to reduce the digital gap among the people who live in the cities and the rural or remote areas in terms of ICT services. It gives great opportunity for everyone to benefit from this technology. After the launching of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), E-Government project was formulated in 1997 to transform public sector service delivery by using IT and multimedia.

Electronic Government means the government delivered and provide their public service through electronically Via Internet. Nywenya (2013) point out that E-Government helps to improve better public services to the people and business using ICT. Reding (2006) argue that E-Government can benefit the people where they can easily and quickly interact with the government at a lower cost. This can be supported by Ngwenya, Lubbe, and Klopper (2010), even though ICT is already used in the government, E-Government is better than just a tool. The administration and operation of the government is better with the implementation of E-Government where it is more efficient and effective because the public can easily access, transparent and accountable for the people. In placing more emphasis, Muir and Oppenheim (2002) claimed that E-Government is where the government organization delivered their services through the use of internet and digital means. This claim can also be supported by similar research done by Accenture (2004), stated that, the operations of organization can be improved when they are willing to change and transform the way they manage their information.

The administration of the government can be re-invented in terms of its quality services, system and their connection between all parties by the implementation of multimedia technologies in Electronic Government. According to Maniam, Murali, and Magiswary (2009), E-Government also can improve the internal operation and it delivery service. This can be supported by Abdullah, Mansor, and Hamzah (2013) and Siddiquee (2008) where indicate that since the implementation of E-Government, online services have also improved. However, these claims can be contended by Ramli (2017) who indicated that the implementation of E-Government is still not enough and limited. As a result, Malaysian government is still left behind compared to other developed countries in Asia such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

E-Government Steering Committee (EGSC) is an organization that responsible in policy direction, programme and activities of E-Government with MAMPU acts as the Secretariat to the EGSC. MAMPU was set up to reforms and upgrade the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative in the public sector (Maniam et al., 2009). MAMPU also acts as advisor and consultant for management and ICT development of the government organization.

ICT use in sarawak state government

Sarawak government has long recognized and implement ICT when ICT Unit was established under the Chief Minister’s Department to implement ICT in the State Public Service. The utilization of ICT in the State Public Service managed by the State Secretary to setting ICT policies and directions plan for ICT programs. The ICT Unit is responsible to assist the State Secretary to manage public service web pages, the development of ICT and digital content and ICT programs in the State Public Service.

The ICT Unit is divided into three sections which are Planning Section to plan and implement on the development of ICT plans, projects and budget, while State Geo-Spatial Centre section to implement of geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing programs for the State Public Service, and lastly, Electronic Government (EG) Section is to administer Sarawak GovNet, State Government Internet user accounts and Sarawak Government web sites. The operations of ICT in Sarawak were manage by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn. Bhd. (SAINS) which is a private company fully owned by the Sarawak State Government. It is responsible to organizing events and exhibitions on ICT and conduct ICT training programs for the people to aware on the use of ICT in Sarawak. SAINS also provide technological solutions, software development, systems engineering and multimedia content development, and act as consultant to other government agencies.

Local authorities in malaysia

Local government is the third level of Malaysian Government after the state and federal government level governed under the Local Government Act 1976 while, the local authorities in Sabah and Sarawak were respectively established under the Local Government Ordinance 1961 and Local Authority Ordinance 1996. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government is responsible to coordinate and standardized the administration of local government. Local government can be divided into four types which are City Council, Municipal Council, District Council and Special and modified local council which total of 154 consists of 15 city councils, 39 municipal councils, 94 district councils, and 5 modified local councils. This study will only limited to Sarawak local authorities where consists of 1 city hall, 2 city councils, 3 Municipal Councils, 19 district councils and 1 special council.

Local authority is important and closest platform for the people to interact with the government. According to Ahmad, Mansor, and Ahmad (2003), the use of ICT in service delivery is one of the alternatives done by the government to transform the administration and system of the government. Local government is responsible of the needs and demands of the people that live in their jurisdiction area. This can be supported by Yaakup, Johar, and Dahlan (1994), state that the major functions of local authorities can be seen in four aspects which are environmental, public, social and developmental. However, these claims can be contended by Cathy (2008), who indicated that issues on efficient allocation of resources by local governments is still been criticized and need to be address. This is why it is important to evaluate and measure the performance of local government because the people will only concerned on the quality of service and the people satisfaction level will be used to measure the performance of local authority. The local government have to always able to fulfil all the customer needs and demands to maintain the customer satisfaction towards their service so that high performance of local authority can be achieved.

ICT services performed by local authorities in Sarawak

Table 1 presents the ICT services in local authorities’ website in Sarawak in terms of application form, e-submission, e-serviceku, e-booking, talikhidmat, contact us, paybills Malaysia, Mobile SMS and online transaction statistics. Application form can be downloaded by the local residents in the local authorities’ website such as application form for sign board, entertainment application form and customer complaint form. From the Table 1 above, all 26 local authorities in Sarawak have application forms in their website. Service applications related to local council authority can be submitted online through e-submission portal. It is provided by local council authority to public via internet and designed as the single gateway or one-stop online service and capable to all registered users to track status of the online e-submissions where it can save their money and time. However, based in the table above, only Kuching North City Hall is available with e-submission in their websites.

Meanwhile, only E-serviceku in Kuching North City Hall is available with the portal out of other 26 local authorities in Sarawak. This is where the local residents in the Kuching North City Hall area can pay for their bill payment, pay parking summons and book any of Kuching North City Hall’s public facilities and services. While, E-booking is Sarawak State Government online facilities booking system developed under the Electronic Government initiative and it is made available to the public. It helps the public to search, view the calendar of facilities availability such as auditorium, field, and public hall, makes booking and payment online through e-booking. As we can see in the table, not all local authorities in Sarawak is available with e-booking and only 9 out of 26 local authorities are available with this e-booking in their websites.

Talikhidmat is a communication channel for the public to reach government agencies or non-government organisations in the state of Sarawak concerning public services and connect them with an accurate service provider section to handle the reports. The table shows that all the local authorities in Sarawak are using this talikhidmat to help them in delivering their services to their local residents. Contact Us is the information provided by the local authorities in their website which include their addresses, telephone number, fax number, their office hour operation, and their email to aid their local residents to keep in touch with them. All the local authorities in Sarawak provided Contact Us in their websites.

Another ICT services in the local authorities website is PayBills Malaysia. At PayBills Malaysia, the people can pay for their monthly bills in the comfort and convenience of their own home, or anywhere else where the payment can be done 24 hours 7 days a week and the bills also can be pay through their bank account. The local authorities in Sarawak are available with PayBills Malaysia in their websites except for Betong District Council. Mobile SMS is an initiative done by the Malaysian Government to enable public to an easy, concise and instant interaction with various government agencies via a unique short code of 15888. The use of mobile SMS in Sarawak local authority is not fully implemented where only 5 out of 26 local authorities are using this mobile SMS. Lastly, online transactions statistics is a statistics of online transactions such as number of facilities booked, number of cases logged, and number of payment by month and year which is available in all local authorities website.