The Education Ministry should be commended for pioneering electronic government to provide direct two-way online services to the people.
The Education Minister, Datuk Najib Tun Razak, announced yesterday that applications to local universities for the 1998 intake can be made at the touch of a button using the telephone or through the Internet and that applicants will no longer need to buy and send in application forms as is the practice now.
This facility will be made available under the second phase of the Unit Pusat Universiti’s information system or UPUinfoLINE where users can submit their applications by dialling a number or send them through the Internet.
Najib said the system, which is part of the ministry’s move towards a paperless society, would make applications to universities much easier and speedier.
Najib’s announcement would have been more welcome if this form of online electronic government service could be introduced for the 1997 intake of university applications, as such an online electronic government service would not be available until the second quarter of 1998 - which means another 16-18 months. In this connection, it is worth noting the observation that a human year is about five Internet years - and this would mean a delay of some seven “Internet years” before this on-line service for university applications could be implemented.
For the moment, under the first phase of UPUinfoLINE, callers could retrieve information pertaining to their applications, such as whether their applications have been received, the preliminary results and make changes in courses as now school leavers send in applications before the results are announced. They can also receive statistical information like the release and sale of application forms, closing date for applications, the type of courses available and the minimum requirements.
I particularly welcome Najib’s announcement of the first online services to the people by the Education Ministry, as I had been pressing for the immediate introduction of a wide range of online services of electronic government in Malaysia as it is within the capability of the government to do so.
In the past few months,I had repeatedly asked inside and outside Parliament how Malaysia could claim to want to be a pioneer in electronic government in the year 2000 when there is not yet a single government transaction or service which could be conducted directly online, while other countries have already introduced electronic government services to their citizen, such as applying for scholarships, international passports or submitting taxation returns.
It is a sad commentary on the electronic capability of the Malaysian government that after spending billions of ringgit on its computerisation programme, this is the first direct two-way online service which is provided to the people
The Cabinet should seriously consider my proposal in Parliament last month that an Online Government Council should be set up to work out a Master Plan as well as detailed action plans to begin to provide online electronic government services in Malaysia.
I would call for competition among Ministries and government departments for the next 12 months on providing two-way online service to establish which are the “leaders” and which are the “laggards” in providing electronic government services to the people.
(3/12/96)