KUCHING: S Pay Global, Sarawak's mobile application for cashless payments, has registered some 590,290 users with 85,445 merchants state-wide, with a total transaction worth RM1.8 billion.
Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) general manager Dr Zaidi Razak said S Pay Global had been collaborating with Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) to provide online transaction services to the rural people through the appointed bank's agents.
"S Pay Global users in rural areas who have no access to any financial institution can receive and send money to their families, friends and business partners via e-wallet through any of the 236 BSN bank's agents in Sarawak," he said in a statement today.
Zaidi said the mobile application, which was formerly called Sarawak Pay, was the first Sarawak e-wallet to promote a cashless payment lifestyle.
He said its users had increased tremendously during the Covid-19 pandemic which many entrepreneurs and public at large prefer not to use cash during their daily transactions, which also contributes to the participation of local retailers in the state.
"Sarawak and the rest of the world have virtually been affected in all sectors of socio-economic activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It was through the setting up of SMA, which emphasised on digital economy, that has enabled Sarawak to handle the devastating effects of Covid-19 pandemic in our daily lives," he said.
Zaidi said that through SMA, the Sarawak government had been able to roll out the various initiatives to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 that had affected all sectors in the state.
"SMA's Initiatives such as the Online Application to Enter and Exit Sarawak and electronic Health Declaration Form (eHDF) have greatly helped the state government to control travelers entering Sarawak in order to curb the spread of Covid-19," he said.
"The implementation of the eHDF system has also enabled the frontline agencies to identify travellers' movements while under quarantine period.
"All travelers entering Sarawak will be attached with the unique QR coded wristband and required to log their location twice a day to ensure that they comply with the quarantine order issued by the Health Ministry.
"The digital surveillance solution has given the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) the 'scalable capability' to manage and control the Covid-19 disease from all point of entries (POE) in Sarawak upon the arrival of travellers," he said.
In addition, Zaidi said SMA came up with an official mobile app called i-Alerts to keep Sarawakians informed of the latest Covid-19 situation in Sarawak. The iAlert App also helped the State to correct fake news posted on social media and disseminate more accurate news to the public during this crisis.
Zaidi said SMA had also collaborated with GLCs such as Sarawak Information System Sdn Bhd (SAINS) on the development of the Covid Trace System before the federal government introduced the MySejahtera application.
"Above all, initiatives and proactive actions implemented by SMA have contributed to the decrease of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak," he said.