Bangi MP reveals Malaysia government developed 200 apps, but half of them are pointless

Bangi MP Dr. Ong Kian Ming posted a Twitter thread regarding his evaluation of 200 apps all created by Malaysian government agencies. He suggested some recommendations after he went through the ratings and reviews of those apps from Google Play Store.

“My interest in evaluating (government) mobile apps started after my colleague @WongShuQi asked a parliamentary question on this matter (and) received a reply that there were 200 apps which had been created by (government) agencies,” tweeted Dr. Ong Kian Ming.

In August, parliament member Wong Shu Qi revealed that there were 200 government apps in total. These apps were made by 93 different government agencies. The list of government apps can be found at gamma.malaysia.gov.my—there’s even an app made “to keep track” of all these apps (iOS, Android). However, Ong Kian Ming said that not all of the apps can be found there. MyBayar Saman (iOS, Android) under PDRM isn’t listed.

Ong Kian Ming wrote that he had the help of an intern to Icompile relevant stats such as number of downloads and ratings for 199 apps. He then used the ratings and reviews from Google Play Store to compile a list of recommendations.

Get rid of “useless” apps

According to Ong Kian Ming, 97 out of the 199 apps have been downloaded less than 1000 times. That means that less than half of the 200 apps that were developed aren’t even frequently used. He referred to MyWC2U (iOS, Android) which apparently helps users find the closest public toilet. Reviewers called the app “boring” and “the most redundant thing ever”.

Make sure the app fulfills its function

The MP reported that I-Kredikom (iOS, Android) was created by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to provide details of licensed moneylenders. However, reviewers said that scammers have used this app to advertise their own services.

Listen to user feedback

UPUPocket (iOS, Android) has been downloaded 500,000 times by students who have made applications to IPTAs. But the reviewer said that the app wasn’t user-friendly and “keeps lagging”—with no response from the developers.

Apps should be updated regularly

MyKafeTeen (iOS, Android) was designed to help teens “express themselves and consult with doctors and counselors”. It was frequently used during the pandemic as it was downloaded 5,000 times with a high rating of 4.5 and decent user reviews. However, the app was last updated on December 2019.

“Of course, just because apps are regularly updated, doesn’t mean that they are used often. MyPotholes (iOS, Android), an app developed by the Ministry of Works, was recently updated in June 2022 but only has 50+ downloads and does not have enough ratings to register a score,” tweeted Ong Kian Ming.

For ministers and deputies to actually use the apps

Ong Kian Ming used this recommendation to apologise for his “own oversight” when he was Deputy Minister at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The app MySaham2U (Android) was launched in Jan 2018, but it has bad ratings and reviews.

“I never got around to looking at this since this issue was not under my purview,” said Ong Kian Ming.

Add functionality to apps that are frequently used

The MP suggested that hourly updates with good GPS location tracking would make MyCuaca (iOS, Android) a “very useful app”—especially during the monsoon season. It was also suggested by a reviewer, who also said that the UI was “passable” but not intuitive.

Work with private sectors if they have better alternatives

There are plenty of health appointment booking apps that have better developers and UI, like BookDoc. Instead of having the public download Sistem Temu Janji Klinik KKM (iOS, Android), which has a measley 1.2 star rating, Ong Kian Ming suggested that the government should work with the private sectors instead.

However, in cases where government services have been contracted out to the private sector, there should be monitoring of the services being provided. The MP gave MyEG as an example, which has a relatively poor rating of 3.3 and negative user feedback.

The federal government should work with state governments (and local councils) to improve apps for local services

For parking apps, as an example, Ong Kian Ming named Smart Selangor (iOS, Android) as “user friendly” with a rating of 3.8, but the Smart Parking app (iOS, Android) was rated lower at 2.9. He suggested that the two work together to create a parking app with the same and improved quality.

MAMPU to be the central coordination agency for government apps

The MP suggested that MAMPU (The Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit) should be the central coordination agency to give advice and consultation to the various government ministries and agencies to introduce best practices for the rollout of apps. MAMPU is the agency that compiled the list of the 200 government apps.

Ensure data privacy is protected

“Pity that some of the public has lost confidence in (MySejahtera)’s data protection policies ever since it was revealed that the owner/developer of the app is not @KKMPutrajaya. Many potential public health uses for this app,” said Ong Kian Ming.

He referred to how a report by CodeBlue claimed that there was actually already been a deal between Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as KPISoft Malaysia) and MySJ Sdn Bhd, with the latter agreeing to pay Entomo RM338.6 million for MySejahtera’s intellectual property and software license. It came a day after Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin denied that the MySejahtera app had been sold to a private entity. 

Make sure the app ratings aren’t fake

Lastly, Ong Kian Ming suggested that the government should find a way to crosscheck the ratings of each app so that the ratings cannot be artificially increased by positive “bot” ratings, or artificially reduced to make an app look bad. He added an example, like it would be a red flag if an app received a lot of “1” and “5” ratings.

It still blows my mind that government agencies have developed 200 separate apps—with less than half of the apps not even being frequently used. We’ve also experienced our fair share of downloading bad government-made apps—like the PULSE app that’s meant to be helpful for public transport users. Minister Annuar Musa also announced that he’s going to develop an anti-hacking app, which sounds absolutely ridiculous.

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