A study on the level of public awareness and perception towards Sabah Lands and Surveys Department's e-Cukai system / Jenita C. Bansin @ Masyitah Abdullah

Information Technology (IT) has changed the way the private and public sectors conduct their business operations. Reduced costs and simplified processes are but simply some of the benefits being reaped by through improve technology usage. Malaysian government has identified initiatives to implement the modernization of the public sector. MSC is Malaysia's initiative for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry. The e-Government initiative was launched in Malaysia in the year 1997 as one of the seven flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative. e-Cukai is used to collect quit rent or assessment through online payment. The main objective of e-Cukai is to improve Sabah Lands and Surveys services and operation with the end view of fulfilling customer needs. With this method, the department's customers can make payment through online and this will cut their waiting time by queuing at the department's counters. Online payment is expected to improve the department collections of quit rent that have been outstanding for many years. The study reveals, however, the implementation of e-Cukai online payment in 2006 does not show a lot of improvement in collecting quit rent. There are two main reasons for this poor performance : Awareness or rather lack of awareness among the respondents is the main reason. No proper training provided by the department and lack of confidence towards the system, are among the main reasons. Attitude of the staffs is also one of the main reasons why the respondents are not using the service. The department has to consider the recommendations made in this study.