April 21, 2021

@Isad Chung , Choon-Siang Lai, Khairil Yusof (2021) Subang Jaya Community WiFi Social Audit, Sinar Project

This project is a continuation of the Researching the Digital Divide in Subang Jaya back in 2018

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A social audit in Subang Jaya to seek into the realities of the community wifi (Wifi Smart Selangor) in Sri Tanjung Flats, USJ16 and the necessities to empower the community with internet connectivity and technology.

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Tool: Social Audit: A Toolkit (Centre for Good Governance, 2005)

Key findings from this audit include:

  1. A majority of the B40 group can only afford RM 50 or less for monthly internet service and 53% of total respondents strongly agree that the cost of purchasing internet is too expensive for them
  2. Laptops and computers are not affordable for the lower-income group. Half of the respondents can only afford one if it costs less than RM500.
  3. From the B40 group, 18% of them are not able to work from home especially during the lockdown, while 25% of them are not comfortable working from home.
  4. Almost everyone from the B40 group (95%) only have a smartphone to access the internet.
  5. Respondents earn significantly less than the median household income for the State of Selangor at RM 8,210 and the national level of RM 7,910. From the survey, 84.5% of them earn less than RM 4,000. Broad Internet access policies that target median income, will fail to address access issues of lower-income communities.

From this audit, we also document our process in getting the wifi ready from Smart Selangor. Often times, the execution of government programmes requires time and effort to keep updated on the progress.

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Read the social audit project report to learn more about the community wifi and how it contributes to helping the community during Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

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Additional Resources

Acknowledgements

This project was possible with the support and funding of ISIF.Asia Grants