1M cyber centres transform lives in rural Padang Terap

KUALA NERANG: A decade ago, few people in the rural inland district of Padang Terap used computers to access the Internet. Times have changed. Today, the district – the third largest in Kedah – has seen vast improvements in computer and Internet literacy rates.

It began 10 years ago. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) started setting up 1M Internet Centres (1MIC) in rural parts of Malaysia under an initiative to bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban communities.

Recently, MCMC organised a media visit to Padang Terap to show how the rural Internet centres have emerged as a public facility for the local populace.

Padang Terap has nine 1MICs. To become a member of 1MIC, a oneoff fee of RM5 is imposed. To use the Internet facilities, members pay only RM1 an hour and non-members, RM2. Students and senior citizens can use the facilities for free.

MCMC’s communication and digital ecosystem head Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus said the centre initially focused on conducting basic courses on information technology and communications for the people, as well as teaching them to use software like Windows and Excel.

Later, more classes were added. Users were taught on how to use Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp so that they could keep pace with social media.

Kampung Tanjung 1MIC manager Wan Suriyani Wan Senu spoke of how small- and medium-sized enterprise operators made use of the centres.

“When they came to know that our 1MIC also offered applications like Dashboard Myshop (that allow entrepreneurs to promote their products online), they came to our centre to learn to use the app,” she said.

“Many of the villagers came to know of 1MIC by word of mouth,” she said, citing the example of one woman who sold bedak sejuk (face powder made from fermented rice).

“She came to our centre asking if she could sell her products via the Internet. We helped her market it through Dashboard Myshop and not long after that, she started receiving orders.

“There was even a customer who ordered 250 jars of bedak sejuk,” Wan Suriyani said.

A resident, novelist Nor Mayani Ismail, 30, started frequenting the 1MIC two years ago. Initially, she just wanted to use the Internet to send e-mails to her publisher.

“On my first visit, I realised that it was not like other cyber cafes. There were many things I could learn at the centre,” she said, adding that she was thankful to 1MIC staff for exposing her to copywriting and Photoshop techniques.

Nor Mayani is now conducting copywriting classes for companies and is also a ghostwriter for business entities that wish to publish books.

She has even launched a Muslim headscarf collection under her own label.

“My success is mainly due to the marketing strategies I picked up at the 1MIC,” she said.

MCMC has also introduced the cluster concept to the nine 1MICs in Padang Terap district to enable the staff to jointly promote products and services including those related to tourism.

The 1MIC is among the early projects implemented under the Universal Service Provision, a MCMC initiative to provide access to communications in under-served areas.

Currently, there are 797 1MICs throughout the country. As of June 30, membership totalled 546,775.

The total number of 1MICs is expected to increase to 950 by 2020. — Bernama