INTRODUCTION

Malaysiahas been aggressively promoting the usage of Information and Communication Telecommunication (ICT) to its citizens. Malaysia’s e-readiness level is also amongst the highest in the ASEAN countries (Tung et al., 2002) and this achievement can be credited to the government’s dynamic ICT initiative policy, specifically its’Vision 2020 Agenda’ of moving the nation towards an information society by the year 2020. Based on the 2007 figures, Malaysia’s Internet penetration rate for broadband connection alone increased tremendously from only 0.08% in the year 2002 (when it was initially introduced) to 5.0% in 2007 (MCMC, 2008), showing a rapid increase in the diffusion of ICT to the Malaysian population. However, one of the major hurdles for Malaysiato have all its citizens fully utilize the usage of ICT is the fact that it is still a developing country with a large rural population (more than 40%)[iv]. In Malaysia, there is an uneven distribution of the basic amenities, infrastructure and ifostructure between the urban and rural areas, with the rural area remaining relatively less developed. Therefore, there is a need to have a special program that will diffuse ICT to the rural population.  

OVERVIEW OF ICT DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

The distribution of ICT benefits across states inMalaysia is not encouraging, where almost 70% of users are concentrated in developed states: The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, andPenang . In terms of internet subscribers these three developed states are above the national level of more than 50 subscribers per 1,000 people. The most pressing issue affecting the rural population is digital access, and usage and sharing of information.

The Malaysian government has specifically set aside RM 1.1 billion from RM 5.2 billion of ICT allocation to implement the digital divide programmes under the Eight Malaysian Plan (8MP) - a five year development plan for the nation from the year 2001 to 2005, in order to overcome the digital divide between urban-rural populations. Under the 8MP, the strategic thrust in closing the digital divide and consequently, achieving a balanced development, will be implemented by upgrading and expanding the infrastructure accessibility in the rural areas. Among the programs implemented are the ‘InfoDesa’, ‘e-Bario’ in the state ofSarawak and ‘Kedaikom’. All these programs aim to engage the community to be exposed to and use ICT. This article will specifically explain and describe the findings from a study on ‘Kedaikom’, the community telecenters established for the underserved rural communities in Malaysia.  

BACKGROUND OF ‘KEDAIKOM’

The objectives of ‘KedaiKom’ are to build capacity; to introduce and to encourage the usage of ICT; and to create community communication equipped with a range of ICT services to facilitate Internet access, e-commerce and e-learning. The focus is on areas that involve an active community base but lack good infostructure, and relate to village or local area economic activities that can benefit from this access. Every KedaiKom will be provided with hardware by the MCMC as a one-off allocation with a minimum of five computers, a printer and its relevant peripherals. The facilities include satellite access solutions that provide two payphone services and broadband internet access with a dedicated 128kbp for downloading and 64kps for uploading. Internet connection will be supplied by an ISP and the monthly access fee of RM 400 per site is paid by MCMC. The operation hour for the telecenter is from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm on weekdays and will be extended to 10.00 pm on weekends and public holidays. The operators manage KedaiKom as their own business. The management team consists of a minimum of two personnel- a manager and an assistant manager. Training and courses are provided in the areas of usage of the Internet for the target groups including KedaiKom operators, local leaders, teachers, students, youth and women. Classes offered include those on basic competency in the use of personal computer, maintenance and Internet awareness. There are 58 KedaiKom projects that were implemented by June 2005, and 55 of the sites were in the state of Perak.  

A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF ‘KEDAIKOM’ IN DIFFUSION OF ICT  

STUDY OBJECTIVES

The study was designed to explore and investigate how community access to ICT would influence the digital inclusion. The role of telecenter as a medium that has capacity to build, decrease, or supplement the community development outcomes, specifically in diffusion of ICT was examined.  

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY  

Data Collection: Primary data was collected through the questionnaire that is distributed throughout the KedaiKom premises in the state of Perak.  

Data Sampling:

Research Setting and Sample Frame: The research setting comprised of 55 locations of KedaiKom in state of Perak (94.8% of the grand total of 58 nationwide KedaiKom operated throughout Malaysia).

Sample Element and Sample Size: The sample element is a KedaiKom user aged above 15 years old. With an average of 10 to 20 respondents to each KedaiKom, 600 questionnaires were distributed.

Sampling Design: Non-probability sampling, using convenience sampling.

Questionnaire Design: The study used a self administered questionnaire which included both fixed-choice and open-ended questions. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: first, community technology; second, the community’s technical and social access to KedaiKom; and lastly, user’s satisfaction levels. From the total of 360 returned questionnaires, 326 (90.6%) were useable for analysis.

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY

The respondents or users largely agreed that the main places for them to use a computer or the Internet is at KedaiKom (79.1%) compared to cyber cafés (65.6%), workplaces (60.7%) and at home (46.6%). Most of them (89.9%) agreed that the implementation of KedaiKom in the local community was good. In order to evaluate and examine whether KedaiKom has fulfilled its objectives in terms of digital inclusion, the beneficiaries or users’ profile was identified. The gender proportion almost balanced, where female users numbered 52.5% of the total (see Table 1). Single users comprised of 88.7% of total users. The proportion of users with a ‘single’ marital status closely related to the fact that 83.1% of respondents’ were less than 25 years of age. Majority of the users are single and students. As for the users’ education level, 67.8% of the users had secondary school level of education while 25.1% had attained tertiary education (attended polytechnics, colleges and universities).

Table 1: Distribution of KedaiKom Users by Gender, Marital Status, Age and Education

The socio-economic pattern of the users illustrates that most of them belong to poor and low-income groups and the majority were Malaysians. The study results disclose that 91.4% of the users have a family monthly income of less than RM 2,000; lived in their family home (78.5%); and 99.1% were of Malay ethnicity (as measured by the mother tongue) (Table 2). In terms of occupation, the majority were students (56.1%). About 45.0% of the users spend at least two hours per typical visit. Furthermore, 37.1% of the users have more than 3 years of computer experience compared to 29.1%, who have less than one year experience. Therefore, this finding reveals that most of the users are experienced internet users.

Table 2: Distribution of KedaiKom Users by Occupation, Income, Residence Type and Mother Tongue

This study also divided the users into two groups- active and passive users. Active users were those who visited KedaiKom at least once a week, and passive users were those who visited KedaiKom less than four times in an average month. It was found that 230 or 70.5% of the respondents were active users. In term of gender, this study found that male respondents generally tend to be more active than the female, and in terms of occupation, students tended to be more active than working users.

In responding to the issue of KedaiKom and digital inclusion influencing the beneficiaries’ ability to achieve desirable digital inclusion from their KedaiKom; the findings from Table 3 explained that the personalities of KedaiKom users will not influence their ability to achieve desirable digital inclusion from KedaiKom in the underserved community, particularly as active users, except for male and student users. This showed that the demographic factor has no bearing on the personalities of KedaiKom users, on whether an individual would be an active or passive user. No significant differences were found between the two user groups with respect to age, marital status, education level, and family monthly income.

Table 3: Active and Passive Users: A Demographic Factor Comparison

As for the community’s readiness to adopt ICT, the findings suggests that users are certainly ready and capable to adapt to ICT, with more than 70% of users agreed that ICT is important as a tool to develop the local community. More than 80% of the respondents agreed that community learning is enhanced by the incorporation of ICT in everyday life; that the rural community adequately supports the implementation of ICT initiatives; and local community leadership are willing to lead ICT development.

As for the issue of KedaiKom and digital inclusion for influencing community members’ ability to adopt ICT in their everyday life, the findings suggest that rural communities adequately support and are willing to participate in the implementation of ICT initiatives. In addition, rural communities place appropriate emphasis on the integration of ICT, and the willingness of local leadership to lead when implementing ICT development in their local area. Users also believed that community learning is enhanced by the incorporation of ICT in everyday life. In order to make the expansion of ICT, in particular to bridge the digital divide initiatives in underserved community successful, the combination of community technology and social support is crucial to overcome barriers. About 70% of users agreed that improving work related skills; improving skills to attain better jobs; and finding employment are important to them. About 70% of users also agreed that enrichment in information; social networking; encouraging information sharing among users; involvement in entertainment; and increasing interaction among community members are relevant for them.

More than 70% of users were satisfied with the services and facilities offered by KedaiKom. The result from the study also revealed that the conditions and the physical outlook of the KedaiKom as well as the availability of courses and training are not significant in attracting users. Instead, the staff disposition, Internet speed, operating time, and rates are more important for the users to consider their likely visit to KedaiKom.

IMPLICATIONS

The present research finding suggests that the implementation of KedaiKom in the underserved community is good and beneficial. With the majority of the users being youth, they are in a productive cohort that uses KedaiKom in a productive and effective manner. Majority of the beneficiaries of KedaiKom are also experienced internet users. It shows that active users are not influenced by the demographic factor, but the necessity and the need to use KedaiKom, especially for more significant reasons such as for job hunting, information seeking and sharing, acquiring knowledge and skills, social networking as well as in entertainment. The high level of ICT awareness and technology integration among community members will influence their ability to adopt ICT in their everyday life. Generally, the underserved community is ready and capable to adopt ICT.

The local community places an appropriate emphasis on the integration of ICT, with the support of the local leadership. Moreover, the community members are aware that for the diffusion of ICT and for bridging the digital divide initiatives in the local community, the combination of community technology and social support is crucial to overcome the barriers to technology integration. Those barriers include the lack of skilled staff, community support, information sharing, training, planning, infrastructure, funding and local leadership. The success prospects of a telecenter project are also affected by the combination of the interrelationship between the exogenous and endogenous elements. The exogenous elements include the function of the government and local authorities to continually promoting ICTs to the local community. The endogenous elements involve the strong support of ICT projects by the local. The most important usage objectives are related to the improvement of the user’s skills and knowledge, which include improved working skills; increased earnings; involvement in teleworks, e-commerce, and e-learning; and saving time for personal transactions. Thus, this positive usage of KedaiKom will eventually encourage the community members in the adoption of ICT in their everyday life.

Most of the users are satisfied with the facilities and services provided by the KedaiKom. The present research findings suggest that for the rural community, the implementation of KedaiKom in their community is more important than the physical condition of the KedaiKom itself or the supporting materials such as local content as well as the availability of related courses and training. The availability of internet access and the opportunity to use computers is more than sufficient for the rural folks for them to be the users of KedaiKom.

CONCLUSION

The KedaiKom is the main source for the underserved community to use computers and access the Internet rather than at home or at the workplace. Most of the KedaiKom users perceive that the most important step is to provide opportunities for them to access computers, the Internet and basic applications rather than providing quality services and environment, and ICT courses and training.

Overall, it can be concluded that the KedaiKom project, as rural telecenters to serve the underserved rural communities, has assisted the Malaysian government’s objectives of diffusing ICT to the rural population. The results from the study clearly show that the rural population, especially the younger generation that will shape the country’s future ICT agenda, is using the facilities at the telecenters as a point of access to ICT.

REFERENCES