E-Government in Malaysia

Just like every other countries, Malaysia too has its very own dream of becoming a first class nation. One of the initiatives taken by Malaysia to achieve this goal is to introduce the usage of E-Government in 1997 which was said to bring the citizens of Malaysia and the Government closer. The implementation of E-Government is able to improve the convenience, information flow and processes with government, and quality of interaction with citizens and businesses. The Malaysian Government main website can be accessed through here Perhaps one of the latest and most proud achievements of E-Government recently is the implementation of the system which allows citizens to replace their MyKad quickly. With the well built up system, Malaysian citizens can now replace their MyKad in one day in Putrajaya and Melaka. I personally find this fascinating as I can still remember the days of waiting in the JPN office when I was young. It was dreadful. Other services that are popular among citizens are the job application via TheJobsMalaysia, checking traffic summons, checking the EPF statements,and filling in tax returns. After providing numerous services, perhaps the most feared outcomes that Malaysia might receive is that no one is using it. People used to say that Malaysians have first world infrastructure but with third world mentality. In order to boost acceptability and inviting more people to use these services provided, Malaysia needs to educate the users and create awareness of the availability of such services. At the same time ensuring the users of their safety and confidentiality on every aspect. Also not forgetting making the sites more user friendly and easy to navigate.

The application of pre-paid cash cards for consumers

People have been frantically looking for newer ways to make payments. One of the few types created is using Prepaid Cash Cards. This card is not to be mistaken for credit cards or debit cards. Though their concept is the same, all of them allows you to purchase items without literally handing in cash, there is one major difference.

Credit cards allows people to buy first, and pay for the items later. Debit cards on the other hand is directly linked to the user's bank account and if any purchases is made, it would be deducted through the amount in their bank account. Which also means that one should not be able to purchase anything if their bank accounts are empty. Pre-paid cash card is a whole different thing altogether, it does not give you a loan (like credit cards) or neither is it linked to your bank balances (like debit card). It has a whole account by itself. In order to buy something using a prepaid card, money must first be deposited or pre-loaded into the account of the card.

Prepaid cash cards are not new in Malaysia. One of the most highly used prepaid card in Malaysia is the TouchNGo card. Thanks to having many many tolls in Malaysia, this prepaid cash card becomes a necessity in order to not slow one down while travelling. The TouchNGo card was firstly created for the purposes of tolls payment which then later started to expand. Now they are allowed to be used in KTM's and so on. Of course prepaid cash cards have their advantages such as they provide control to people so that they don't over spend and at the same time removes the risk of becoming in debt like credit cards. But at the same time they too bring their little disadvantages. Imagine yourself in a supermarket after a long queue to purchase some groceries, then when you've reached the counter, you realised there is not enough credit in your prepaid card or the counter does not accept the prepaid card you are holding. One word.. "pissed".

As much as many different ways have been formed for payment, nothing feels more secure than cold hard cash in your pocket. It certainly makes me feel safe because cash can bring you everywhere and cards without a reader is nothing more than mere plastic. Till Malaysia is equipped with a card reader at every store even a mini market or grocery shop, I prefer to always have papers with Agong pictures in it by my side.

Review on - Using Touch n Go to buy Fast Food

Good news to fast food lovers! Previously created as an e-purse to be used at toll, KTM stations, LRT, and parking, on April 2008, Touch n Go customized its services by giving Malaysians the privilege to use Touch n Go card to purchase at selected retails and fast food outlets. Using Touch n Go Card to buy fast food would be AWESOME!! No more digging out money from your wallet and waiting for the cashier to give you back the change.

Now, there is no need to carry a bulky purse when you want to go out to Burger King. A&W or Dunkin' Donuts for meals. You could just simply touch your Touch n Go card on the scanner and walk away with your food. Isn't that simple and convenient? All you have to do is pay in advance and you could use the money all you want. You can even reload up to RM1,000.

With this new feature, customers need not have to wait in a long queue for their turn to purchase their food. It saves time and also takes away grumpy faces of angry customers. Business in fast food outlets will be much more improved.

But I still think that Touch n Go would be more successful if it is incorporated in McDonalds and KFC as both these fast food outlets are very famous among Malaysians. Often in either McDonalds or KFC, I have to queue in a long queue waiting for other customers to dig out money from their pockets and then wait for the cashier to give back the change. After a long queue and it finally reached my turn, I couldn't find a place to enjoy my meal anymore and this often upsets me. I would be more than delighted if there's Touch n Go in McDonalds and KFC.

Mobile payment system in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

Mobile payment (M-payment) is a payment method for goods and services purchased via mobile devices, the most common device is cellphone. As we are moving forward to a more technology advanced era, wide range of mobile devices are available such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), Smartphone and so on. Now, as long as we sign up for such service and bring mobile devices along, we can pay the transaction amount in anytime anywhere!

Is mobile payment system widely adopted in Malaysia? Well, the first mobile payment service called TeleMoney was launched in 20th November 2001, nearly 8 years it is implemented in Malaysia!!!

Systems@Work was the one pushed TeleMoney in E-market. It picked TeleMoney as master merchant meanwhile Hong Leong Bank incharging the Mpayment processing. At that time, Celcom, the oldest mobile telecommunication company in Malaysia, having quite a large numbers of subcribers, coorperated with Systems@Work to prosper M-payment system in Malaysia. At the very beginning, this service was only offered to post-paid subcribers, however as this system is getting more and more developed, M-payment is available prepaid subcribers as well.

Recent growth of M-payment was the launch of world's first contactless mobile payment service--- Maxis FastTap, which uses near field communication (NFC). This new launched service is partnered with Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch n' Go Card. Users who sign up for Maxis FastTap will be benefited to buy goods and services at more than 1800 of Visa payWave merchant location, pay for toll and others only by using Nokia6212 classic phone.

M-payment overcomes the limitation of payment make through cash, credit cards, cheques etc. Consumers do not need to hold large amount of cash during shopping; payment will be made only if the users' have balance in their bank accounts, thus no worries about bounce cheque or unable to pay amount due. Furthermore, M-payment help consumers to save up a lot of time. For instance, consumers pay car loan through mobile phone instead of waiting in the long queue in bank. Besides, when making mobile payment, security PIN which for authentication purposes will be given to payer to keep user's information private and confidential. Isn't that make Malaysians' life easier?

There are criteria that make Malaysia's M-payment to be having a potentially bright future.

The following link is the illustration adopted from noewave.com on the process of mobile payment.

Related links:
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_howitworks.asp