Kuala Lumpur: Beribu penduduk Malaysia membidas rancangan kerajaan bernilai RM50 juta ($20 juta) untuk memberi akaun e-mel peribadi kepada setiap rakyat yang berusia 18 tahun ke atas.E-mel itu bertujuan membolehkan 16 juta rakyat Malaysia menerima kenyataan dan makluman daripada kerajaan sebagai langkah mewujudkan perhubungan langsung antara rakyat dengan semua agensi awam mulai Julai ini.
Namun, selang 24 jam selepas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib mengumumkan rancangan itu, lebih 23,000 orang telah menyertai kumpulan Facebook bagi menentang projek itu.
Rata-rata mereka berpendapat projek itu satu pembaziran memandangkan ramai pengguna Internet sudah pun mempunyai akaun e-mel percuma di laman Google, Yahoo dan Hotmail.
'Tolong gunakan wang ini untuk bantu rakyat miskin. Mereka perlukan makanan berbanding dengan akaun e-mel,' tulis seorang anggota kumpulan Facebook itu, Encik Yap Fook Sin.
Perkhidmatan e-mel 1Malaysia itu adalah sebahagian daripada Program Transformasi Ekonomi Datuk Seri Najib untuk mencapai status negara maju menjelang 2020.
Datuk Seri Najib bagaimanapun menjelaskan bahawa projek e-mel 1Malaysia yang diumumkan kelmarin merupakan inisiatif sukarela sektor swasta dan tidak membabitkan wang awam.
'Sebelum saya tidur, biar saya jelaskan bahawa E-Mel 1Malaysia adalah projek sektor swasta. Ia tidak membabitkan wang awam dan keseluruhannya adalah sukarela,' kata Datuk Seri Najib dalam Twitternya awal semalam.
Ketua Eksekutif Tricubes Bhd, Encik Khairun Zainal Mokhtar, berkata syarikat berkenaan akan melabur RM50 juta dalam tempoh 10 tahun akan datang bagi membangunkan sistem e-mel berkenaan dan dijangka menyumbang RM39 juta kepada pendapatan negara kasar menjelang 2020.
Ini merupakan kali kedua sejak beberapa bulan lalu, projek besar yang diumumkan oleh Datuk Seri Najib mendapat tentangan rakyat.
Pada Oktober lalu, beliau terpaksa mempertahankan rancangan kerajaan untuk membina bangunan 100 tingkat bernilai AS$1.6 bilion ($1.9 bilion), yang didakwa penting bagi pembangunan jangka panjang Kuala Lumpur. -- Agensi.
Confused, bewildered by the 1Malaysia e-mail project
There is no need for such a project as anybody can get an e-mail account for free, say bloggers.
KUALA LUMPUR: Most people are bewildered by the Prime Minister’s move to set up a RM50 million 1Malaysia e-mail project.
The question everyone is asking is, why do we need this when any service providers will give you a free e-mail account.
According to Najib Tun Razak, all Malaysians aged 18 and above will be given a secure 1Malaysia e-mail accounts to allow direct and secure communication between the public and the government.
Tricubes Bhd, a little-known and dubious technology company, was picked to launch the e-mail project and it is already earning dividends from yesterday’s announcement. Tricubes shares hit 16 sen after brisk trading this morning, a jump of 6.5 sen from yesterday’s closing price of 9.5 sen.
Blogger Haris Ibrahim, who blogs at People’s Parliament, termed the project a “hare-brained” scheme that is “absolutely and utterly nonsensical”.
“Why in heaven’s name do we need this project? Whoever came up with the idea should be fired. If it is the prime minister who came up with it, he should be fired,” he told FMT.
“We are talking of spending RM50 million when we can get an e-mail account (for free) from any major server providers,” he said.
Haris said that the country’s level of Internet penetration should be considered before embarking on such an expensive IT-based project.
It has been reported that there is huge gap in the rural and urban divide in Internet usage in Malaysia, with 80% of Internet penetration only concentrated in urban areas.
He said that the money could have been better spent as 40% of households in Malaysia are having “tremendous” difficulty in making ends meet as they earn an income of less than RM1,500 and below.
Instead he said, “The caring 1Malaysia government claims that the project will not come from the taxpayers’ money. That is yet to be seen.”
He said the government had more pressing matters such as the Bumiputera, non-Bumiputera divide to be addressed and was completely missing the mark with initiatives such as the 1Malaysia e-mail account.
Najib, well aware the hostile reception his scheme is getting, tweeted last night: “Before I sleep, let me clarify that the 1Malaysia E Mail is a private sector project. No public money is involved and entirely voluntary.”
Negative online reaction
Another avid blogger, Nathaniel Tan, also raised reservations that no taxpayers’ money would be used to fund the project.
He had twitted, “Just like how submarine commissions ‘not paid by taxpayers’?”
He was referring to the naval arms manufacturer DCN’s sale of three Franco-Spanish Scorpene diesel-electric attack submarines to Malaysia in 2001 where allegedly various government-linked officials received kickbacks.
Tan said that the immediate reaction from Malaysians on social networking sites like Facebook and micro-blogging site Twitter has been negative.
The e-mail initiative had registered strong reaction from Facebook users with a group labelling itself, “1M Malaysians who don’t want Najib’s 1Malaysia e-mail” already having 184,777 people supporting the cause.
One user by the name of “Spectrum Rain” in the Facebook group wrote:
“It’s pointless to have a 1Malaysia e-mail account. E-mail is not new. Most of us have our own personal e-mail account. Why is there a need to waste another 50 million ringgit on something that we actually don’t need?”
Another group member, Yong Hao, aired his doubts about Tricubes Bhd which is tasked with funding and implementing the 1Malaysia e-mail account.
“Dear friends when e-mail and web service is free and at our fingertips, our PM has announced a brilliant plan to invest RM50mil for 1Malaysia e-mail project to a company which is said to be in financial problems.” -FMT
Persoalan kini: RM50 juta itu datang dari sumber mana?
Tricubes? Sedangkan Tricubes sendiri sebuah syarikat bermasalah.
Justeru nyata bahawa alasan PM ia tidak membabitkan wang awam dan keseluruhannya adalah sukarela adalah pendustaan semata-mata. -GB
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