KUCHING: In order to ensure the sustainability of the state’s e-Wallet application Sarawak Pay, Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) cannot work alone. Instead, a collective effort is needed.
“It is not just one party which contributes to this sustainability. We need to get more parties to come in and contribute.
“In order to sustain Sarawak Pay, we need to get the market or the people to use it. At the same time, we need the business community to join us,” said SMA general manager Dr Zaidi Razak.
He said this when speaking as a panellist during a webinar entitled ‘Malaysia Smart Cities Outlook: Review Current, Envision Tomorrow’, organised by the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology today.
Zaidi added that the cooperation of other agencies is also important to ensure that the sustainability of the e-Wallet application, such as by offering vouchers in the application.
“We need other agencies to introduce benefits of using Sarawak Pay. For instance, Sarawak Tourism Board has agreed to provide vouchers as a form of reward.
“People can use these vouchers for tourism products, such as when booking accommodations, visiting national parks and so on,” he explained.
Zaidi said SMA has plans to also allow business entities to introduce their own vouchers under Sarawak Pay.
“In this way, people can use these vouchers and it will not just be on the government to provide cash reward every time the application is used,” he said.
He pointed out that in the early stages of Sarawak Pay’s implementation, its usage among the people was quite minimal as they had not yet realised the importance of contactless payment.
However, he said once the Covid-19 pandemic struck, more people could see the benefits of using Sarawak Pay.
