SeCS, the state’s very own e-commerce association

Chew (seated fourth left), Lee Shieng Wei (seated third left) and other officer bearers in a group photograph.

KUCHING: With the establishment of a brand new ministry – The Ministry of International Trade and E-Commerce (MITeC) – and the launch of Sarawak’s very first digital economy conference – the International ICT, Infrastructure and Digital Economy Conference Sarawak – it has been made abundantly clear that the state government is aggressively pushing to bring the economy into the digital era.

Sensing an imminent change to the economic landscape, a group of young local entrepreneurs and business owners have taken it upon themselves to create the state’s very own e-commerce association – The Sarawak e-Commerce Society (SeCS).
The association which was officially formed this May 26 is the brainchild of its appointed chairman, local businessman Chew Heo Lee, and prior to its inception, Chew and a few of the association’s founding members held an open dialogue last May 12 at Li Hua Hotel in Sibu to discuss the direction and overall goals that they aimed to achieve.
From the discussion, the founding members of the association decided that the e-commerce association would aim to fulfil five goals that are intended to complement the state’s move into the digital era.
For its first goal, SeCS will strive to educate the general public and prospective entrepreneurs on e-commerce activities and functions, and how it can help to enhance their lives and businesses as trade moves online. In doing so, the association hopes that there will be more community involvement and participation in the rapidly growing industry.
Moving past education, the association hopes to be a platform for cooperation and sharing between its members in order to create an environment conducive for business opportunities.
Complementing that, consumer and or industry data would also be collected and shared among members to help improve business strategies and allow local businesses to operate with more cost and resource efficiency.
Next, the association has stated that they hope to be able to work closely together with MITeC in order to act as an open line of communication between the general public and the new ministry.
The move is intended to be a mutually beneficial initiative between the ministry and association as it would allow the association and its members a better understanding of future implemented e-commerce trade laws as the industry begins to get more standardised, while helping the ministry effectively implement these new regulations.
Finally, the association is aiming to create an online sharing platform akin to Alibaba to connect local e-commerce trade internationally. This is by far the group’s most ambitious goal but with good reason as an online sharing platform could very well cause rapid growth in local industries by allowing both small and large businesses to easily get their wares out onto a global stage.
While there is no further details on how this ambition will materialise, a few of its spokespersons have hinted that collaboration with courier services would need to be considered.
Despite being formed less than two months ago, there has been much interest in SeCS as they have members and branches in four urban centres in major divisions of the state, namely Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu.
To kick start their activities, the association will be holding an educational symposium this coming Sunday (July 9) at
Sibu Kingwood Hotel. The symposium will feature two prominent figures from the national Malaysia e-Commerce Association (Me) – president Master Xi and legal advisor Marcus Tan Kian Han.
Xi who specialises in search engine optimisation will be giving a lecture on how to jump start the local e-commerce industry while Tan who is a trained lawyer will be giving a talk on how to encourage and promote the e-commerce push while touching on the laws and regulations governing the current e-commerce scene.
The symposium will be held from 8.30am to 12.30pm and entry will be free.
Following the conclusion of the event, the association will then hold its inaugural installation ceremony for its board members on the same night (July 9). The association’s prominent members are chairman Chew Heo Lee, deputy chairman Lee Shieng Wei, secretary Lawrence Siew Seng Tak, vice-secretary Ting Fei Fei and treasurer Kong Kek Kok.
Entry for normal association members will be free while life-time members will be given VIP seating arrangements.
To obtain further information on the SeCS and how to join, please contact: Sibu division representatives, Agnes Wong (016-8981171) and Lawrence Siew (016-8600089); Kuching division representatives, Chua Wee Huat (016-8718836) and Jack Lee (016-8969158); Bintulu division representatives, Jack Lee (012-8072040) and Jackson Yew (013-8372922); and Miri division representatives, Alvin Lau (016-8603999) and Law Sie Chong (011-10539913).

Reported By: Rachel Lau, reporters@theborneopost.com

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