The government will not give press accreditation to Internet websites, according to Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie.

"We have no plan to give licences to people putting up, 'apa nama' (what is it?) online," he said, referring to the "things" that are found on the Internet when asked about the rejection of malaysiakini's application for official press tags.

When queried on what the government is doing to acknowledge the existence of online journalism, Moggie declined to comment further ("[#1] Government is 'more a choke-point than a gateway'[/#] ", June 7)

However, in his keynote address yesterday at the Infosoc Malaysia 2000 conference in Kuching, Sarawak, Moggie said that "the principle that all citizens need access to information in an equitable manner is duly recognised."

"Initiatives to close the technology gap are part of the national conscience to ensure that no citizen is denied access to information, knowledge and opportunity in the digital economy," Moggie said.

According to Moggie, the rate of PC penetration in Malaysia is 11.3 per cent of the basic population, compared with the industrial world's average of 35 per cent.

"To ensure availability and equitable access to infrastructure and network services, we will need to provide wider and more balanced coverage between areas and groups within the country," he said.

"Our goals for the next five years is to have 500 fixed lines, 250 Internet lines and 10 broadband for every 1,000 people of the population," he added.

Moggie said that under Budget 2000, a total of RM318 million is allocated for the implementation of the "Wireless in Local Loop System" which will benefit 120,000 consumers in the rural areas.

He also reiterated that the telephone calls and Internet access charges in Malaysia are among "the lowest" in the world.

Later, in a dialogue with some of the participants, Moggie said the government cannot implement the flat-rate charge because Malaysia has a big hinterland to be covered. Thus, the building of the telecommunications infrastructure is very expensive.

The current Internet phone charges are between 1.5 sen to 3 sen per minute, which amount to approximately RM0.90 to RM1.80 an hour.

While MaxisNet does not impose any access fee on its users, it has a relatively high phone call charge of 3 sen per minute. The other two Internet service providers, Jaring and TMNet, charge 1.5 sen per minute, on top of an access fee of 1 sen per minute. ("[#2] No flat rate for Internet phone charges[/#] ", May 19)

"When you read about no (Internet) access fee, the ad is very misleading," Leo said, adding that the Internet service providers will need to repackage their core rate to recover their cost.

According to him, if there is a flat local rate for Internet calls, then it will have to be subsidised by higher international and long-distance calls' charges.

He said that there will inevitably be a "cost recovery somewhere" through readjustment to the pattern of the telephone charges (by Telekom).

"We want to keep long-distance call charges down so it can be competitive in the international market," Moggie said.

Infosoc Malaysia 2000 is co-organised by Sarawak Information Technology and Resource Council, Mimos and Pikom.