KUCHING: The state government is enhancing its online services in order to communicate better with the people.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the range of services available was quite broad, from bill payment to enquiries and application for scholarships and other government services.

“People can apply online and submit complaints online. If they want to know more about the services offered by the government, they can also do it online,” he told reporters at the state assembly here.

Abang Johari said one of the new services introduced this year was the eBooking system for government facilities available for public use.

Currently, the accommodation and facilities at national parks and the facilities of Bintulu Development Authority such as the auditorium and sports centre can be reserved via eBooking, with more facilities to be listed online soon.

“The notable approach in travelling now is to book everything online. With eBooking we are following the same approach. This is very much part of our service to all categories of consumers, including tourists.

“At the moment, we are working together with Sarawak Forestry for accommodation in national parks as well as BDA,” he said.

A new payment channel has also been added for the Public Works Department’s water bill, which has been available online via Paybills Malaysia for over 10 years.

However, due to the lack of telecommunication infrastructure in rural areas, the state government decided to use Ejen Berdaftar Bank Simpanan Nasional to collect the bill.

Altogether, 26 government-to-citizen and 15 government-to-business services are available online and can be accessed at the state government’s official portal www.sarawak.gov.my.

Abang Johari said this was part of the government’s approach to enhance its communication with the people.

“What is important also is that the government can get feedback from the rakyathow to improve our delivery system.

“That is why we have been talking about upgrading our Internet infrastructure so as to allow people to communicate with the government efficiently,” he said, adding that there were currently about 120,000 registered users of the online services.