Civil servants have been urged by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today to hasten in upgrading their ICT skills so as to benefit fully from the e-Government programme.

Acknowledging that it will take some time for all government staff to become fully competent with all e-programmes in place, he said they must also be prepared for a full-fledged ICT status in the country.

However, the prime minister was happy to note that departments located in Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur have started using ICT (information and communication technologies) quite competently.

"We need to introduce this to other places very soon and we want all to catch up as fast as possible," he told reporters after launching ICT Malaysia Month in Kepala Batas, Penang.

At the event, the premier launched Penang as the first cyber city outside of Cyberjaya. Another two Sarawak and Pahang will follow soon.

Internet abuse

Earlier, in his speech at the launching, hosted by the Penang Government and Malaysia Development Corporation, the prime minister cautioned against abuse of the Internet.

"Do not use the Internet for non-beneficial purposes, worse still to spread lies, gambling and downloading pornography," he appealed.

"Even though this is done by a handful of irresponsible people, the government is still very concerned about this and had taken steps to curb internet abuse," he said.

SUSAN LOONE is malaysiakini 's Penang-based stringer.