Digital economy also covers grassroots, says Kapit DO
KAPIT: The state’s vision of digital economy involves not only the urban Sarawakians, but also the rural community and the grassroots.
In this regard, Kapit District Officer Elvis Didit believes that local community leaders must not have the ‘wait and see’ attitude; instead, they must be proactive in ensuring that their communities would not be missing out on the opportunities presented by digital economy.
“We cannot merely wait for instructions to come from the higher authorities for us to move and leap forward. This means it can no longer be business as usual – we have to prepare ourselves,” he spoke at the meeting between local community and grassroots leaders the district office’s conference room recently.
According to Elvis, the meeting was meant to prepare them for the new era of digital economy and also the Upper Rajang Development Agency ( Urda) set to be running next year.
Back on digital economy, he said the first step in preparing the local community leaders for this transformation would be to implement a clear set of key performance indicators ( KPIs) for them.
“This is the first step. The outcome (of the KPIs) would be revealed half-yearly to assess their competency and performance.
“I believe that for Kapit District, we have taken a bold step in bringing together all the community leaders – the temenggongs, the pemancas and the penghulus – who are the ones leading the grassroots.
“We cannot engage with the community without the effective participation of the community leaders.
“Having said this, I’m glad that the meeting had gone really well with all those attending supporting the implementation of the KPIs,” he said, adding that among the KPIs for the local community leaders are for them to engage directly with the district office six times a year, attend community
We cannot merely wait for instructions to come from the higher authorities for us to move and leap forward. This means it can no longer be business as usual – we have to prepare ourselves. Elvis Didit, Kapit District Officer
leaders meetings at least twice, attend activities run by the district office at least six times, attend dialogues at least twice, to attend community programmes at least twice, to attend village security and development committee (JKKK) meetings at least 12 times, update the profiles of their respective villages or longhouses at least twice, attend ‘gotongroyong’ (work parties) at least six times, to submit applications for development projects to the relevant authorities, settle at least three problems faced by the villagers, and share with the community the information about government policies.
On poor wireless coverage here, which was also highlighted during the meeting, Elvis told the local leaders that during the divisional action committee ( DAC) meeting, the district office had requested for the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ( MCMC) to bring in more telecommunications (telco) towers.
“I understand the relevance of this issue – digital economy could only be realised and implemented effectively if there were more telco towers; otherwise, many areas would not be able to connect to the Internet. In this regard, the MCMC must do something. On our (district office’s) part, we are prepared, but the authorities must prepare the infrastructure.
Kapit District Office administrative officers Anyie Awing, Robert Anyaw and Wan Mohd Shukri were also present at the meeting.