Sabah Officially Launches State E-Wallet, Sabah Pay

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

13th February 2020 - 3 min read

(Image: The Star)

Sabah has launched its own state e-wallet, Sabah Pay, to enable cashless payments at various government departments, public service agencies, and commercial entities.

Developed and managed by the Sabah Credit Corporation (SCC), Sabah Pay can be used for the payment of all government bills, such as water bills, house assessments, compounds, permits, loans, and so on. The application can also be used to pay for e-hailing and food delivery services.

Additionally, the state e-wallet will have tabs where it shares news by the government departments and agencies, announces upcoming events in Sabah, as well as notices on offers and deals by business/commercial entities. It also allows users to report and highlight incidents to the relevant government agencies.

(Image: Borneo Post Online)

As of the moment, 27 state government departments and agencies are participating in Sabah Pay. They are also joined by another 28 business and commercial entities from sectors such as services, retail, hospitality, chambers of commerce, and associations.

However, only 5 government agencies are currently listed in the newly launched e-wallet: Kota Kinabalu City Hall, Land and Survey Department, Water Department, Environment Protection Department, and Veterinary Services Department.

“We want to get (the involvement of) all departments, including the district and municipal councils. We start with five agencies this month and will increase the following month. Hopefully, we will manage to get 80 per cent on board by year-end,” said the chief executive officer of SCC, George Taitim Tulas. He added that they are also looking at bringing Sabah Railway, the public transport, and other government agencies that charge an entrance fee on board the effort.

(Image: Buletin Sabah)

George further commented that they hope to introduce more services in the next phase of the e-wallet, like virtual accounts, e-Parking, e-Ticket for parking entrance fees and transport, and smart loans.

Tourists may also benefit from Sabah Pay in the near future, such as being able to make cashless payments at Sabah Parks. George also hinted that they may soon engage with Alibaba Group to enable Chinese tourists to make payments using Sabah Pay through their existing Alipay e-wallet.

“I do hope that everyone will be on board and use Sabah Pay. It is (a) convenient and cost-effective money transfer (process). You can do a transaction without having to carry your money around,” said the Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal. He added that he hopes to see a possibility of the e-wallet being utilised outside of Sabah in the future.

(Image: Borneo Post Online)

The Sabah Pay initiative was initially greenlit in October 2019, and SCC eventually partnered with Boost, Sunline International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, and Alibaba Cloud Malaysia Sdn Bhd for the project.

Sabah Pay is now available for download on Google Play, and is expected to be rolled out on the Apple App Store soon.

(Source: The Star, New Straits Times)

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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