Sarawak's State Disaster Management Committee reaps Malaysia TEA for Digital Initiative

i-Alerts and enterSarawak are applications designed to help the state and its citizens prepare for in-state disasters.

The Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) bags the Digital - Non-Profit or Government Organizations award at the recently concluded Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review.

The awards event honours organisations that take risks and lead the charge in developing groundbreaking projects, digital services, reimagined strategies, and technological initiatives. Winners were judged on the basis of uniqueness and innovation, effectiveness and impact, and dynamism.

The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) developed i-Alerts, a digital application intended for use by the public to be better prepared when disasters occur.

i-Alerts is a Digital Initiative by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA). Designed to cater for all disasters in Sarawak and serve as the Core Integrated Disaster Management Platform to address current and future disasters with the core technological framework prioritizing Data Interoperability (DI).

With more than 32 different stakeholders and agencies being part of the SDMC (Police, RELA, Health Department, Malaysia Civil Defense Force and more), i-Alerts allows for the connectivity between these stakeholders to discover, access, integrate and analyze task-appropriate data together.

Unique biometric administrative credentials are required for each stakeholder to access the system, where data and information are shared and integrated so that the appropriate data can be analysed for disaster-related decision-making and resource allocations, such as personnel assignments.

Through the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the Sarawak government has identified the maturity of certain systems and determined how to overcome interoperability barriers by formulating a set of “interoperability best practices” that will serve as guidelines to continue improving the overall functionality of i-Alerts.

Developed in less than 36 hours, enterSarawak is an advanced fully integrated component of i- Alerts, which serves as the digital frontline that enables contactless tracking of inbound and outbound travelers access to all 33 borders in Sarawak. These apps played an instrumental role during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The harmonised approach of data gathering and transmission from border control agencies simplifies the process and ensures overall efficiency. Whether delivering a stay-home notice, or quarantine order, enterSarawak speeds up the processing of passengers whilst providing a strong layer of border security.

Equipped with biometric security encryption, the app allows functional access only to authorised individuals. This integrated platform is characterised by speed, systemisation, and standardisation, thereby facilitating the disaster lifecycle from preparedness to recovery.

Aside from monitoring the short-term entry of travelers and deployment of essential services staff, other functions on the i-Alerts internal Command Dashboard include digital surveillance and combating fake news.

Through its open standard and interoperability, the app has enhanced scaling and improved the efficiency and timeliness of information transfer. By using the existing data in disaster management, i-Alerts can adopt mechanisms that ensure resource verification, accessibility, reuse, and leverage the growth of existing open-data initiatives by the government.

The Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review, was held via video conferencing throughout the month of September.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Justin Ong, Partner and FSI Financial and Regulatory Risk Leader at Deloitte Asia Pacific; Alvin SH Gan, Executive Director, Partner, Head of IT enabled Transformation (ITeT) at KPMG Malaysia; Hari Iyer, Executive Director, Advisory at BDO Kuala Lumpur; Michael Lim Jr, Managing Director at Crowe Growth Consulting Sdn Bhd; Jade Leong, Partner, Advisory at Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd.

If you would like to join the 2021 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technological innovations, please email Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected]