E-Government In Malaysia: Its Implementation So Far And Citizen's Adoption Strategies

The Electronic Government initiative in Malaysia was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It has improved both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.
Current applications of e-Governement in Malaysia such as
i. E-filling
ii. MYEG
iii. KWSP i-Akaun
iv. E-perolehan

E-filling
E-filling is a method of filling of all income documents of tax payer in Malaysia that uses an electronic format rather than a traditional paper format. To use these services, taxpayers need to make a tax registration. Malaysia’s Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will send the PIN for online tax registration through mail to the taxpayer.

MY E.G.
MY E.G. services Bhd (MYEG) was incorporated in Malaysia as private limited company on 2000 as Marvel Sdn Bhd. On 2005, the company changed its status to a public company as My E.G. Services Berhad. MYEG focuses on delivering improvement in the Government Internal operation and in the delivery of services to the consumer. Those services provided my MYEG are:
- Driving License Renewal
- Auto Insurance Renewal
- Road tax Renewal
- LDL Application

KWSP I-Akaun
Akaun is a member’s or an employer’s personal account to be used on the Internet, specifically on myEPF portal. By having this account, user are able to access EPF services that are being offered online. Through i-Akaun, members can use the internet as another channel to gain access to number of EFP’s services online. Members need to register and activities their online account to be able to use i-Akaun services. There services provided by i-Akaun include:
- Check statement of account
- Check withdrawal status and history;
- Update addresses and other contact details; and
- Calculate the amount eligible for withdrawal for various withdrawal schemes.

ePerolehan
ePerolehan is an online procurement system that allows local entrepreneurs to register as suppliers for government offices or renew their registration, besides that it also allows the government offices and agencies to procure product and services through a fast, web-based electronic application. ePerolehan was establish in 1999 as part of the MSC initiatives, and developed by Commerce Dot Com, a company partly owned by the government.

However, there are some problems faced in e-government implementation:
• Technological barrier - Lack of technical infrastructure.
• Online behaviour - Malaysians remain sceptical on being distrust on electronic transaction especially on online banking buying from an Internet store.
• Lack of public awareness - Public are not aware of the services offered.

Ways to encourage more citizens to use the e-government applications:
• Provide consultation services on how to use those services.
• Simplify procedures needed to access to the e-government services.
• Increase awareness through TV and radio advertisements, and organising workshops at shopping malls.



Reference:
http://www.myeg.com.my/history.htm
http://www.kwsp.gov.my/index.php?ch=p2iakn&pg=en_p2iakn_about&ac=1558
http://www.kwsp.gov.my/index.php?ch=p2members&pg=en_p2members_iakaun&ac=52
http://www.google.com.my/url?q=http://skorcareer.com.my/blog/what-is-eperolehan/2008/04/10/&ei=bmFVSqDTHIuEswO-u7H0AQ&sa=X&oi=spellmeleon_result&resnum=1&ct=result&usg=AFQjCNEVRG7gLksAaRo6uJIlmu5pCEQuyA
http://www.google.com.my/url?q=http://www.uniteperolehan.gov.my/soalanLazim_bi.php&ei=bmFVSqDTHIuEswO-u7H0AQ&sa=X&oi=spellmeleon_result&resnum=2&ct=result&usg=AFQjCNGlyEylld0yyu0jsVt13RgOtJvDxA

A discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective

Today e-learning has been gaining more and more power and it is learning or education program that provided by electronic. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) in some way to provide educational or learning material. (Derek Stockley 2003)

E-learning offered in Malaysian universities such as University of Malaya, University Teknologic Malaysia, University Teknologi PETRONAS and so on. However, there are still many questions about pros and cons of getting higher education online, the details as below:

Pros of e-learning

Flexibility and convenience

Learners can study wherever they have access to a computer and Internet. They can access instruction at their convenience, no matter where they live or travel because e-learning courses are primarily independent of time and place. Furthermore, they are flexibility to join discussions in the bulletin board threaded discussion areas at any hour, or visit with classmates and instructors remotely in chat rooms. Learner’s class work can be scheduled around work and family also one of the factors that convince learners who is working as full-timer.

Cost and time reduction

E-learning has been becoming more and more popular among learners living in developing and undeveloped countries. They can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities by saving extra expenses for traveling, accommodations, food and high fees for tutors. Furthermore, learners can reduce cost of buying paper or photostat if learners can get online resources, send a query and write term paper at any time they can get access to the Internet.

Reduce conflict among classmates

As we know that different people has different learning style and behavior. This situation can create conflict among classmates with different age, level of experience, gender, race or background who study in a class if our lack of communication skill in face to face communication. Therefore the learners can avoid this happen in their learning life if implement e-learning. Beside that, the learners can refer back to previous lectures without affecting the learning pace of other students.

Cons of e-learning

Lack of face to face communication

Lack of face to face communication allows learners to reduce conflict among classmates. However, this was indirectly to eliminate opportunity of learner to face to face communication with tutors or lecturers when learners need help in education. While lecturers cannot easily feel a student's demands, interests and motivations, a student can simply be lazy being non-motivated enough and bad study habits may fall behind. Next, online classes, conferences and discussions are limited in time and totally exclude emotional interactivity, lack of gesture and so on.

Computer literacy

For the learners who are beginner-level computer skills, managing computer files and online learning software can sometimes seem complex. Therefore, it can become one of the factors that affect process of learning. Furthermore, slow internet connections or older computers may make accessing course materials frustrating will affect the learners who have financial problem and unable to buy a new computer.

References:

http://derekstockley.com.au/elearning-definition.html

http://elearning.perdana.um.edu.my/login.php

http://elearning.utp.edu.my/

http://elearning.utm.my/

http://www.ecsd.net/online_courses/pros_cons.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Pros_and_cons_of_e_learning

http://www.articlesbase.com/e-learning-articles/pros-and-cons-of-elearning-685765.html

http://www.dso.iastate.edu/asc/academic/elearner/advantage.html

http://writingandsnacks.blogspot.com/2006/08/pros-and-cons-of-e-learning.html

Review a local e-commerce site

Nowadays,many companies start using e-commerce for their business. This phenomenal not just within the services or banking areas but it also include the food industry.When you feel hungry and would like to order pizza, usually you will order by phone but now there are an alternative method for you to order pizza. Now you can order pizza through online with Domino's Pizza because it was the first fast food industry that offer online services in Malaysia.

The local e-commerce site that i have review is www.dominos.com.my

Domino's Pizza was one of the food industry in Malaysia.It is a franchise company that own by Dommal Food Services Sdn Bhd. Their commitment is “30 minutes to customer's doorstep” and this is still applies even you order through online. Beside that, they are also totally free for deliver.

When you first visit the home page, there is an advertisement that promote their new product or any promotion that are available. They were using yellow colour for this advertisement and it make attractive to customers. Beside that, all the information about Domino's Pizza such as menu, promotion, combo meals will be at the left hand side of the home page. This is clear and easy for those first visitors. Other than that, there is a loyalty program for those loyal customers. They can register as a member and get more benefit or discount.

Otherwise, one of the services that provide by Domino's Pizza is favourite order. This is the most services that i like and feel that Domino's Pizza was really care about customers. The reason is when you register as a member, they will save your past order record and they will show you what is your favourite order. Therefore, it will be easily for me to order.

The speed and navigation of the web site is fast and smoothly. Customers can easily turn from one page to another page or link to other information. Order pizza through online is convenience but there are still have some people will worry about the payment. This is because not everyone would have credit card. However,customers don't have to worry about it because the term of payment for Domino's Pizza is Cash On Deliver. This have been clearly stated in the ordering policies.

As a conclusion, Domino's Pizza's web site is clear and easy to understand. Inside the web site, it has provide many sufficient information and it is easy to understand .

References:

http://ok-lah.blogspot.com/2005/11/top-5-ecommerce-companies.html

http://www.dominos.com.my/

Corporate blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

Nowadays, more and more organizations use corporate blog as a new marketing communication tool.




First and for most, what is corporate blog???



Well, Corporate blog is actually a web blog used and published by an organisation to achieve its organisational goals. Corporate blogs usually classified into external or internal corporate blog. Internal blogs are accessed through corporation’s intranet that only employees can view. External blogs are publicly available weblog where employees, teams, spokespersons and others people can share their views. It is often use to announce their new products and services.



However, corporate blog are new but powerful marketing communication tools for the organization. No matter what kind of organization you are: large or small, domestic company or international company, primary or public company can create your own corporate blog. Besides helping strengthen the relationship with your customers, a good corporate blog can also help to attract more potential customers!










An example of corporate blog is Dell's Direct2Dell. This team is extremely plugged in to the blogosphere and social media in general. The statement is right in the banner: "A blog about Dell products, services, and customers".

Corporate blog brings a lot of benefit to the customers and organization.

For customers:
-It provides the latest news and information about company and its product.
-It allows customers express their personal opinion, suggestion and complaint here.
-Customers are easier to search their products by using blog.

For organizations:
-Easy to publish and set up.
-Free customer feedbacks and suggestions about your products.
-Providing more detail or accurate information to your customers.
-Building better relationship with your customers.

Disadvantages of corporate blog:

• It’s easy to start a blog but it is hard to be maintained. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake.
• Could be harmful for company if some employees use to write negatively comments about the company, thus leading to bad publicity.

Reference:



http://www.scottmonty.com/2008/03/corporate-blogging-how-pros-do-it.html

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/01/13147.aspx

http://www.helium.com/items/254062-the-pros-and-cons-of-corporate-blogging

http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/advantages

http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/disadvantages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog