e-Desa Centres play significant role

Ronald signs on a plaque to mark the newly opened e-Desa Centre at Kampung Tangkarason in Paitan.

PAITAN: The existence of e-Desa Centres play a significant role in narrowing the digital divide between rural and urban areas, said Beluran member of parliament, Datuk Ronald Kiandee.

He said setting up the centres in remote villages enable the local people to learn using the computer and gain access to the Internet.

In the Beluran parliamentary constituency, there are three such centres with one each in Kampung Tangkarason, Taviu and Kuala Sapi which have benefited the villagers and particularly, the students.

He said there will be more e-Desa Centres opened in the district starting with Kampung Bauto.

“The e-Desa Centre is an initiative of the Sabah state government through the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Information Technology,” said Ronald when officiating at the e-Desa Centre in Kampung Tangkarason yesterday.

Ronald, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, said the federal government too had implemented programmes to bridge the rural-urban digital divide.

One such programme is the free wi-fi service that can be found in 11 villages in the district and a broadband centre in Sapi.

The project was carried out by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

He said the MCMC had also distributed 1Malaysia notebooks to rural folks to make sure they too can take part in the rapid growth of the Information and Communication Technology.