OVER TO YOU: Wan Junaidi presenting a laptop to An-Nur mosque chairman Abdul Rahim Masta, 61, from Kampung Stunggang Melayu.
KUCHING: About 107,000 laptops will be distributed to students and deserving members of the public statewide next year.
Deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said under the third phase of the programme, 65 per cent of the laptops would be handed over to students and the remaining 35 per cent to the public.
According to him, the programme was in line with the government’s mission to broaden the usage of broadband in the country.
“Apart from that, there will be more broadband hotspots to be built to allow easy access to the Internet,” he said.
He said this when presenting 280 laptops to community leaders from Santubong parliamentary constituency at Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) multi-purpose hall here yesterday.
Wan Junaidi, who is also Santubong MP, said under the first and second phases of the programme, about 14,500 laptops were given to secondary school students and about 60,000 laptops had been distributed throughout the state respectively.
“Under the first and second phases, 90 per cent of the laptops were for students and only 10 per cent were allocated to deserving members of the public,” he added.
For Santubong, Wan Junaidi said about 3,245 laptops had been distributed to 11 schools there.
The eleven schools were SMK Bandar Kuching No. 2 (339), SMK Sematan (310), Kolej Abdllah (189), SMK Agama Matang 2 (339), SMK Bandar Samariang (433), SMK Demak Baru (345), SMK Santubong (364), SMK Bako (364) SM Teknik Sejingkat (187) SMK Seni Kuching (230) and SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg (325).
He also said some 34 new hotspots would be built throughout the state.
Wan Junaidi pointed out that the government had decided to distribute one million laptops across the country after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the significance of progressing in the world of Information Technology (IT) and the need for the society to be exposed more to the Internet.
He added that community colleges would join hands in helping old folks to be IT savvy by conducting basic Internet courses soon.
“With the help from the colleges, it is hoped that they would be able to learn to access the Internet and enjoy the benefits.”
Meanwhile, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Sarawak director Ahmad Nor Hisyam Mohd Yussop was pleased to see the rapid development of Internet usage in the state.
“Sarawak will be expecting more Internet hotspots mushrooming in the state as the usage is getting broader and progressing well towards a wireless state.”