‘Unfair not to give rural highspeed internet subsidies’

KUCHING: The government’s decision not to subsidise the development of high- speed internet in rural areas is unfair to Sarawak folks, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) Women’s national vice-president Voon Shiak Ni.

According to Voon, this goes against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s many policies and pledges to close the digital divide between urban and rural areas as well as enhance connectivity and internet services, especially for rural areas.

“The federal government needs to be reminded of their Wireless Village project, which was mooted seven years ago in 2010 and also the 1Malaysia netbook project, which was said to be in support of the National Broadband Initiative (NBI) and High Speed Broadband ( HSBB) to achieve broadband penetration of 75 per cent by 2015,” she told a press conference yesterday.

According to her, 1.2 million 1Malaysia netbooks were distributed free to rural folks, with 179,778 in Sarawak alone.

“What is the use of having the netbook when there is no internet connectivity and we also need to remember that more than 50 per cent of our schools are located in rural areas,” she said.

Voon also claimed the Wireless Village project was plagued by complaints of slow connection and insufficient coverage for the entire village.

She noted the state government’s commitment of RM1 billion to enhance Internet connectivity, including in rural areas, to boost e- commerce and the state’s push for a digital economy.

“A serious question here that needs to be asked is whether the state government is doing the right thing.

“It seems that the state government is mooting many projects that Sarawak pays for when the federal government has an obligation towards Sarawak as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“Are we spending our Sarawak state coffers unnecessarily when the federal (government) should be paying for the repair and renovation of dilapidated schools in the state and the like?” she asked.

During the TN50 e-Entrpreneur Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 31, Najib had said highspeed internet would only be extended to areas with high demand.

He said the government would not use the people’s money to subsidise development of highspeed internet in rural areas with low demand.

However, Najib said he believed the internet access gap would be bridged from time to time.