I was going to write something about the 1Malaysia email and how the idea is preposterous and my suggestions of an alternative but then I read this article and I thought it was brilliant and decided to refer you to it instead.

The article isn’t only about the email fiasco. In fact, the author rightly points out that it is only a symptom of a deep rot that exists in the system. But for those who aren’t familiar with 1Malaysia email and the company that is responsible for developing it, here’s a summary by the author:

For those unaware of the proposal, the gist of it is that Tricubes, a distressed public listed firm, won a bid to provide Malaysians with an email service. That’s right — to provide Malaysians with an email service. Oh, the best part of this proposal is that Tricubes would be charging the government RM0.50 for every email sent by the government to Malaysians.

If you think that doesn’t sound too bad, take note that the goal of the project is to get all Malaysians on board with this new email eventually. Hmmm, let’s do a little math shall we? How many people do we have living in Malaysia? Close to 30 million according to Wikipedia. So if the government wants to make an announcement about say… an impending General Election, how much would be spent?

15 MILLION ringgit.

That’s ONE email people. Oh, wait, wait, you say. Sure, the government wants everyone to eventually have an email but not everyone has Internet. You’re completely right. So how many Internet users do we have? 16 million people according to here and here. Let’s say the project still goes forward with an uptake of a measly 1% uptake (I have an idea how you could probably eventually make it ‘compulsory’ for people to sign up but never mind that) that would still be a swell RM 80,000. Let me say that again for effect…

80,000 Ringgit for ONE Email!!!!

Well it’s a good thing I don’t get sent my tax form. I feel I’m doing my part to help save the environment and an extra RM 1 from going to waste. I wonder all these years how much money has gone down the drain if that is really the cost of each government snail mail (quoted from here). So, the Government doesn’t fund the project but instead pays to use this service huh? I think I would have preferred the former option.

While I understand perfectly the need for Tricubes to make money and hence the transaction model (I know how profitable this model can be), this price structure is beyond ridiculous and is so far from market pricing. An independent company like Aweber providing email/autoresponder services are USD 130/month for 25,000 subscribers on your list. Assuming my math is correct, that means for 160,000 subscribers it would be roughly USD 1,000 a month making that USD 12,000 a year. Just what, that’s only around RM 30,000 a year! Oh, the other thing… UNLIMITED emails.

ANYWAY, I digress…

This particular proposal was, in fact, not even Tricubes’ little invention to make money off public coffers. Neither was it a deep nefarious plan by the government to spy on and control all Internet activity as the popular blogger Sakmongkol has alluded to. The proposal really came from Pemandu’s entry point projects, and much like all world domination plans, it had a simple beginning.

You see, the idea was mooted in the NKEA labs. It was discussed, tabled, approved and signed off. As these things go in the government, due process was followed and the idea got escalated up the food chain, punted over to Mampu to execute and subsequently bunted off to TriCubes to implement. Nothing extraordinary, just standard big organization bureaucratic SOP’s at work.

Interesting…

Remember the MSC? The great Multimedia Super Corridor that is one of the legacies left behind by the great Dr. Mahathir? I still remember being in Form 4 when it was launched and suddenly the favourite topic of every essay given for exams would be about it. I never really understood the concept and hence I always flunked essay writing if that came out. Some students were really good at it though… Well, more than 10 years later I still don’t really get it. Haha. All I know is that lots of money was used to create lots of buildings in a place called Cyberjaya and top class infrastructure was put in place so that you could download torrents at top speed… oops, I mean to promote the growth of high tech companies to spearhead the IT future of Malaysia.

Well…

MSC Malaysia, the key strategy vehicle for the government’s software ambitions, was set up in 1996 with grand plans of replicating the success of Silicon Valley in South East Asia. In this period of time, we have seen two Internet booms and countless wildly successful Silicon Valley startups. Google, YouTube, GroupOn, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, PayPal, so on, so forth.

Silicon Valley has not been merely successful in the period of time but successful beyond comprehension. Countless millionaires were certainly created, but a large number of billionaires as well with fortunes larger than the national GDP of a number of countries.

In this interweaving period, MSC Malaysia has successfully missed out on riding every single technology wave. That includes online video, search technology, social, payment systems, biotechnology, group buying … and, let’s not forget, web-based email. The consistency in failing to ride the wave is, in itself, shockingly impressive.

Amazing isn’t it? The author also has interesting insights as to how the government went about setting up this grand world class software ecosystem.

The general thinking was that with millions of ringgit of grant money handed out, surely someone and somewhere would be enticed to build great software. Nobody sought to question this line of thinking and as a result, the system was quietly gamed over the years.

In recent years, this system was replaced by a refined system of handouts in the form of smaller sized grants and larger sized software projects. The government’s approach in spearheading technology direction was achieved by identifying key growth areas and funding the implementation of software projects by the private sector in these areas.

Does anybody remember the four flagship applications launched under the MSC Malaysia umbrella? What happened to the Telehealth initiative? Are Malaysians enjoying improved standards of healthcare? What about the MyKad project? Has it taken off in the private sector as a secure ID platform as originally envisioned? RM7 billion and more was invested in the smart school projects. Where are our smart students?

Probably all the smart students have immigrated overseas, hehe. Here’s what the article builds up to:

One follows the other and that’s the key insight here. Compared to the private sector, governments (and any big organizations) are horrible at technology management, and as a corollary, at technology development. They should be the last people tasked with building the software sector, because as history has shown, they will flub it at every possible opportunity.

To help us move forward and build a working software ecosystem, the government needs to withdraw its grants and big projects. No more key focus areas and handouts. No more handouts and training exercises. No more junkets and technology conferences.

Just let the ecosystem be. Let them compete on their own merits, as they may be, and find their way. Let them make their mistakes and learn from it. Trust me, with the pressure of having to succeed, they will learn fast.

And who knows, they may even be wildly successful beyond anybody’s expectations.

Do read the article in it’s entirety. I think if you’re in the IT industry working in Malaysia this is especially relevant for you.

Original article source:

The government needs to exit the software ecosystem — Ditesh Gathani

Other articles on the 1Malaysia Email can be found here.