1Malaysia e-mail a circus, says Pua

Patrick Lee | April 28, 2011

Why is the government washing its hands of the project when it is linked financially to e-mail owners Tricubes Bhd, asks DAP leader

PETALING JAYA: The DAP said the 1Malaysia e-mail project is fast turning into a “circus”, thanks to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak washing his hands of the project.

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua said that the RM50 million allocated for the project could still be put to good use even though Najib had said otherwise.

“The circus over a simple RM50million e-mail project, instead of showing a reformed government machinery has instead exposed Najib’s weak administration,” said Pua.

Pua asked why the government had chosen to use its own 1Malaysia e-mail when citizens could have responded to them through their own e-mail addresses.

“By doing so, government agencies will be able to communicate with ordinary Malaysians by sending unlimited e-mails at absolutely no cost!”

“If banks and credit card companies can do the same, there’s no reason why government agencies are unable to do the same,” he said.

Much scorn was heaped on the 1Malaysia e-mail project undertaken by the until-recently unknown IT company Tricubes Bhd. The project was intended to provide a direct link between the government and the rakyat.

One big mess

The government came under fire after Tricubes’ CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar revealed that agencies would have to pay 50 sen per e-mail sent to registered users.

Pua also condemned this and said that the government billing could run into the millions because of the e-mails.

“This will result in millions being spent by each government agency should they be sending just one e-mail to the forecasted 15 million users,” he said.

Pua also took a swipe at the RM5.5 million seed capital to Tricubes from the finance ministry-owned Malaysia Venture Capital (MAVCAP).

He was unimpressed by MAVCAP’s denial that the money was not for the e-mail project, but for one of Tricubes’ subsidiaries, Tam Tam Sdn Bhd.

Tam Tam Sdn Bhd is allegedly involved in mobile salesforce automation products. Putting the blame squarely on Najib, he warned the PM not to take a hands-off approach for the project, which he predicted will create a huge mess in the future.