Want An Email Address With That Birth Certificate?

Not quite clear how this would work, and it sounds a bit gimmicky, but definitely worth a ponder: New Straits Times reports that all babies in the Malaysian state of Perak will be issued with email addresses when they are born:

Newborns in the State will soon be provided not only with birth certificates but also email addresses. The holders will later be able to utilise the facility for various purposes, like applying for jobs.

The move, in what is probably believed to be the first in the country, will be implemented through the "Email4All" project, which is among 25 drawn up under the Perak information communications and technology strategic action plan 2010.

State Education, Multimedia and Human Resources committee chairman Datuk Dr Zambry Kadir said the email addresses would be issued separately from the birth certificate.

(Perak Darul Ridzuan is the second largest state in Peninsular Malaysia.)

This follows an announcement by the Perak government that it will be going paperless in July:

From July, meeting notifications and correspondence between State agencies and departments will be done through email and the short messaging service.

Actually, if the report is to be believed, Perak has gone some way to implementing e-government already:

The Menteri Besar said some departments and agencies were fully computerised, such as the State Town and Country Planning Department, while land applications and quit rent payments could also be done online.

Tajol Rosli said computer usage and penetration in rural areas in the State had increased, especially after the setting up of 54 Kedai.com Internet cafes .

"Even village chiefs are emailing me now," he said, adding that the ICT push would transform the State’s economy from commodities to knowledge-based industries.

Interesting. Lots of people try this kind of thing, few succeed. Although I have to say getting married in Singapore is pretty much all done online.