Abang Johari (second right) trying out Sarawak Pay at the store, accompanied by Chai (right), Dr Sim on his right and others.
KUCHING: Since its launch in 2017, Sarawak Pay has recorded 172,429 transactions involving a total of RM14,199,124.53.
“People who are registered with Sarawak Pay as of April 28 this year number at 68,500, while registered companies numbered at 2,400,” revealed Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg at the launch of Sarawak Pay as a mode of payment by KK Super Mart at Kota Sentosa here today.
“These numbers are still increasing. All this are happening within the two years since Sarawak Pay was launched. It shows that Sarawakians are technologically savvy people.”
He said using e-payment methods such as Sarawak Pay was a new way of conducting business in this modern era, which everyone should embrace, including local farmers.
“It allows farmers and small industries to sell their products through retail outlets such as KK Super Mart. For example, KK Super Mart has a presence in Nepal and India. We can even sell our durian paste in India, through this outlet. The demand will be high and we can produce more.
“Farmers can get payment immediately if they have Sarawak Pay. They can use the money to plant more. This is the new way of doing business and Sarawak must follow suit. It is why the state government launched Sarawak Pay,” he said.
According to Abang Johari, Sarawak Pay has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for collaboration with e-payment service providers in Singapore and China.
“We have signed an MoU with Singapore Nets, a collaboration which is now pending approval from Bank Negara and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. That means if you go to Singapore, you can use Sarawak Pay to settle payment.
“Last month, we had an MoU signing with China’s Union Pay. We are still waiting for Bank Negara to approve it. Once approved, then you can use Sarawak Pay anywhere there that accepts Union Pay in China,” he said.
He later explained that Sarawak Pay could no expand to other countries on its own, but it could work through collaborations with similar mobile payment service providers of those particular countries.
The collaborations will be subjected to approval from the central banks of both countries involved.
On a related note, Abang Johari pointed out that the government was upgrading infrastructure to gear Kuching towards a Smart City status.
“For Kuching, particularly in heritage areas, we will be installing smart devices using 5G technology. We will be working with Huawei for this.
“With 5G, transactions can be done in less than three seconds.
“Once we are done with Kuching, we can move on to Greater Kuching. Kota Sentosa is in Greater Kuching. We will set aside about RM6 million to upgrade facilities in the Padawan Municipal Council area,” he said.
Earlier, KK Super Mart founder and KK Group of Companies executive chairman Datuk Seri Chai Kee Kan revalead that Sarawak Pay will be introduced at eight KK Super Mart outlets in Kuching and 12 outlets in Peninsular Malaysia, as well as one Slimming Sanctuary outlet and one Clara International outlet in Kuching.
“Our target is that within one month, Sarawak Pay will be used at all 380 KK Super Mart outlets throughout Malaysia, and also other companies under the KK Group of Companies such as Baiwago Plus Cafe, KK Hotel, KK Kopitiam, KK Food Court, KK Fresh Mart, KK Motorsports, KK Badminton Court and all Slimming Sanctuary beauty salons.
“Recently our state government has signed an MoU with Huawei to leverage on Huawei’s expertise in digital training and infrastructure and also to develop digital talents and technology innovation in Sarawak. As a Sarawakian myself, I am very grateful to have such a farsighted state government. We still have much to improve in building digital economy, but I am glad we have a clear blueprint on how to achieve that, and that we have already started striking partnerships to help us achieve our goal,” he enthused.
Also present at the launch were Sarawak Information System (SAINS) chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan, State Secretary Datuk Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, Padawan Municipal Council chairman Lo Khere Chiang, Sarawak Multimedia Authority general manager Dr Zaidi Razak, SiliconNet Technologies director Datu William Patrick Nyigor, SiliconNet Technologies general manager Dr Anderson Tiong, and others.