Sarawak can adopt Estonia’s digital technologies model

0

Lamas (left) and Tariq field questions from the participants after their talks.

KUCHING: Estonia can be a model for Sarawak in developing its digital economy policies.

Professor David Lamas from Tallinn University’s School of Digital Technologies said 99 per cent of Estonia’s public services are online.

“With a population of just 1.3 million people, Estonia’s development is quite impressive. It also attracts the attention of world leaders, academicians and venture capitalists to invest through high-tech initiatives,” he said in his talk titled ‘e-Government Action Services’ here yesterday.

Lamas also mentioned that in 2002, Estonia launched a high-tech identity card system that comes with a digital signature.

He added Estonian citizens use the system for all services, with the exception of marriage, divorce and property transactions.

He shared e-Estonia’s experience by providing a historical perspective, introducing key building blocks, illustrating the main services and reflecting upon how they are shaping the society.

The talk, held at SMA Creative Heritage Innovation Centre at Jalan Masjid, was organised by Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) in collaboration withUniversity College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS). UCTS School of Computing and Creative Media head Associate Professor Dr Tariq Zaman also gave a talk on ‘Co-Designing Technologies with Indigenous Penans’.

He shared his experiences and insights in co-designing mobile technologies with indigenous communities for digitisation and preservation of indigenous knowledge in Sarawak.

He ackmowledged that the representation of indigenous knowledge is transformed within the digitisation process under the limitations and capabilities of technology.