IT was on March 18, 2020 that we went into our first lockdown in Malaysia. Since then we have seen the Miti website crash, not once but several times, and experienced spotty service on the RM70 million vaccine registration website. Information stored on the MySejahtera app has been known to vanish.

As a citizen-user, I was compelled to question the government’s information and communications technology capability. We are well into the digital and information age, and even digital adoption laggards have had to catch up to survive. Schools are online, businesses are online, and meetings are online, yet the Malaysian government’s employment of ICT in public service delivery is sadly below par. 

Much of the information is convoluted while useful data is scarce on the government websites. We need less of pictures of meetings and visits and more of useful information, such as how to apply for scholarships, loans, grants, licences, etc. 

My short stint in government service made me witness to malfunctioning projects that required ICT expertise. I am sure many of my friends in government service concur with me but do not say so to avoid stepping on toes. 

The Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) in the Prime Ministers’ Department needs to buck up. The government chief information officer leading the public sector ICT technical committee needs to  improve public service delivery via ICT.  Budget 2021 allocated RM134.4 million to Mampu, slightly more than the RM112.2 for the National Security Council.

Furthermore, there needs to be a central database for basic information so that we do not need to fill in basic details again and again for the most simple of applications. An immediate concern is personal data protection, which can nonetheless be overcome. Singapore, for example, has launched MyInfo, which is authenticated by Singpass and acts as a digital personal data platform that helps citizens to quickly fill in digital forms. It should be noted that MyInfo is not a centralised repository that stores user data in a common database, but is safeguarded by cybersecurity measures, including a combination of end-to-end encryption and multi-layered security. 

Final point: it was great when Mohd Sidek Hassan introduced the “No wrong door” policy for the civil service, meaning a customer must be served in the most efficient and cordial manner and not made to run around no matter which government department has been approached. 

I am sure we’ve all called a government department only to have no one pick up, to be told the person we wish to speak to is away, or we’ve called the wrong department.

Of course I know of very helpful officers who have gone out of their way to help me resolve an issue, and I am very grateful to them. This does not mean the situations described above occur any less frequently.

I hope the current chief secretary to the government Mohd Zuki Ali will be able to reinforce the “No wrong door” policy to improve public service delivery.

Is this important in the middle of a pandemic? Of course! Many regular citizens are frantically trying to make sense of the government’s ever-changing policies during this period, The government needs to improve delivery beyond sharing PDFs and social media posters. It needs to keep up with the times and keep us informed in an effective and simple manner. – June 18, 2021.

* Tan Wai Wai reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.