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Investigating the potential of mobile phones for e-governance in Indonesia

By Sri Ranjini Mei Hua and Ezmieralda Melissa

Abstract

This paper brings to the fore various issues that inhibit the adoption of e-governance in developing

countries, particularly in Indonesia. It articulates the importance for understanding and taking into

account citizens’ needs and priorities in the application of e-governance. While the existing literature

has examined e-governance mostly in isolation, this paper argues that it needs to be considered in

tandem with citizen engagement through an analysis of the relationship between citizens and the

state institutions. We define citizen engagement as a process of participation in state affairs that goes

beyond being able to voice an opinion, but also to participate in decision-making processes. Active

engagement means being able to seek greater accountability and information through increased

discussion and consultation.

As mobile platforms provide the same functionality as internet kiosks and household computers, at a

lower investment and operating cost (Samarajiva, 2010), this study investigates the role and potential

of mobile phones in e-governance, and more specifically e-engagement. In order to determine the

level of connectivity and method of engagement that Indonesian citizens have with their government,

we will assess the reach and communication effectiveness of e-government initiatives through an

analysis of web metrics of government websites. While the target of e-government measures involves

four main groups: citizens, businesses, governments and employees (Ndou, 2004), this paper will

focus on the relationship of e-government with citizens.

The paper begins with a review of several definitions of e-governance and assesses what they mean

in the developing country context. Then, it goes on to evaluate the primary conditions of access and

good governance for successful e-governance implementation in developing countries. Next, it

examines the merits and challenges of e-government implementation in Indonesia and evaluates the

current state of its development. In an evaluation of the data gathered through web analytics of

government sites, it was found that mobile social media usage was an important channel through

which information were accessed. Therefore, this paper proposes the need to examine the role of the

mobile phone in e-governance especially with the rapid diffusion of mobile technologies in Asia and

the increasing trend toward using smartphones as the main access point to the Internet in Southeast

Asia (Nielsen, 2011).

Keywords: governance, mobile phones, access, citizen, applications, information, markets

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Introduction

The concept of e-governance has gained currency in recent years throughout much of the developed

world and increasingly in the developing countries in Asia and Africa. Since the mid-1990s,

governments have introduced a slew of initiatives taking advantage of information and communication

technologies (ICTs) to support stakeholder relationships and policy goals (Andersen, Belardo, and

Dawes, 1994) as well as to improve efficiency, maintain cost effectiveness, and promote transparency

and responsiveness in governance.

While the benefits of e-governance have been observed in many high-income developed economiesi,

there is still much skepticism about its applicability in the global South. In the 2012 United Nations e-

government survey rankings of its 193 member states, the Republic of Korea emerged as the world

leader, scoring 0.9283 on the index, followed by the Netherlands (0.9125), the United Kingdom

(0.8960), Denmark (0.8889), and the United States (0.8687). The composite index measures the

capacity of governments to develop and implement e-government services, and ranges from 0 to 1

(an index closer to 1 indicates a higher level of readiness). The three sub-indices that make up the

index are national website assessment, telecommunication infrastructure, and human capital (adult

literacy and gross school enrolment ratio).

Of the top 20 countries in the e-government development index, the majority are from Northern

America and Europe, while three are from East Asia (Republic of Korea, Singapore and Japan).

Overall, at the regional level, Northern America (0.8559) and Europe (0.7188) lead, with East Asia

(0.6344), South Asia (0.3464), and Africa (0.2762) following behind. The reasons for the gap in e-

governance development between the developed and developing countries are manifold.

As each society’s needs and priorities vary, the model of how e-governance is executed in the

developed countries cannot be applied to the developing countries. The readiness of each society

and its government for embracing e-governance is contingent on its needs and priorities, as well as

the human, financial and physical resources available. Unlike the comprehensive planning, political

and technical support that e-governance projects in developed countries have, many of the e-

governance projects implemented in developing countries do not have such an advantage.

Furthermore, they depend to a large extent on existing budgets and external funding.

It would be impractical to expect that one standard solution for e-governance execution can be

suitably transferred from developed to developing countries. While the concept of e-governance

originated in the public administration systems of industrialized countries, how it functions outside of

that domain, such as in a developing country in Asia or Africa, is influenced in part by the different

administrative environment and process of that country. Beyond the level of technological

infrastructure available, it is important to consider the cultural, political, economic and administrative

contexts in developing countries (Riggs, 1970; Adamolekun, 1976).

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A low-quality and inefficient public administration system with limited resources is typical of

developing countries in Asia i.e. Indonesia, India, Burma, and North Korea, and Africa i.e. Nigeria,

Congo, Sudan. These countries are usually characterized by poor and/or rigid leadership, high levels

of corruption, and unmotivated and ill-qualified civil servants (Wescott, 1999). With all of these factors

combined, it is difficult to imagine the possibilities for e-governance to take root in the global south.

Moving away from these assertions, the objective of this paper is to identify and analyze the role of

the mobile phone in engaging Indonesia’s citizenry. The paper is structured as follows: first, several

definitions of e-government will be discussed with key elements highlighted, particularly in regard to

developing country contexts. This will be followed by a discussion about the conditions for successful

e-government implementation. Next, the paper will evaluate the current state of e-governance in

Indonesia i.e. the primary issues, opportunities and challenges that e-government initiatives face.

Finally, the paper aims to shed light on the significance and role of the mobile phone in e-governance.

Research purpose:

1. Examine the conditions for successful e-governance implementation in developing countries.

2. Evaluate the role of the mobile phone in the development of e-governance in developing

countries such as Indonesia.

Literature Review

1. Evaluating the definition of e-governance

Several definitions of e-governance exist in the scholarly literature. One simple definition of e-

governance or ‘electronic governance’ is the application of information and communications

technology to government functions and processes so as to bring about ‘simple, moral, accountable,

responsive and transparent’ (SMART) governance (Budhiraja, 2003; Heeks, 2001; Harris, 2004).

Another term for e-governance is “digital government,” adopted by the National Science Foundation

(1999) which focuses on the use of information and technology to support and improve public policies

and government processes as well as to engage citizens and provide timely and comprehensive

services. This is consistent with the World Bank’s definition of e-governance, which also highlights the

elements of i) public administration i.e. delivery of government services and policymaking, and ii)

politics, i.e., how decisions are made at the local, national, regional and global levels (Held, 1995;

World Bank, 2005).

According to Keohane and Nye (2000), “Governance implies the processes and institutions, both

formal and informal, that guide and restrain the collective activities of a group. Government is the

subset that acts with authority and creates formal obligations. Governance need not necessarily be

conducted exclusively by governments. Private firms, associations of firms, nongovernmental

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organizations (NGOs), and associations of NGOs all engage in it, often in association with

governmental bodies, to create governance; sometimes without governmental authority.” This

definition implies that the domain of e-governance does not have to be limited to the public sector.

The private sector has a role to play as well in terms of managing and administering policies and

measures. Therefore, it is important to note that the success of e-governance is not solely dependent

on the public sector. However, for the purposes of this paper and its focus on the element of e-

government within the larger concept of governance, we will discuss the role of the public sector in e-

governance. The terms e-government and e-governance will be used interchangeably.

An important aspect to consider about e-governance is that it is about choice. On the one hand, it is

about providing citizens with the ability to choose the way in which they want to interact with their

governments. On the other, it is also about the choices governments make about how ICTs will be

deployed to support the choices of its citizens (Drucker, 2001). This paper takes into account various

definitions of e-governance and argues for a shift in focus from e-governance as a one-way, top-down

approach of government operations to one that involves constant negotiation and engagement with

the citizenry.

There are two objectives of e-government strategies: one is targeted toward internally-oriented

processes and the other toward externally-oriented services. The external objective of e-government

is to meet public requirements and expectations through the use of various online interfaces and

services. Its internal objective is to develop an efficient, accountable and transparent process for the

execution of government operations. It is thus important for e-governance to be first implemented

internally across the various ministries, organizations and departments before it can be effectively

used as a tool to provide online services for the public or to engage the citizenry.

According to Gartner (2000), the maturity of e-governance goes through four stages (see diagram 1).

These phases have been developed based on e-commerce and e-governance experiences in Europe

and other Western regions. They are: Web presence – the initial stage where government websites

are set up to provide basic information to citizens; Interaction – government websites offer various

tools that enable interaction i.e. emails, search engines, document downloads; Transaction – citizens

can make online transactions; and Transformation – the final phase, where all government operations

are integrated and customized (see diagram 2). In all of these phases, websites are the main focus

and the primary barometer for the measurement of e-governance success.

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Diagram 1: E-Governance Maturity Model (Gartner, 2000)

Information Presence

Interaction Intake process

Transaction Complete transaction

Transformation Integration and organisational changes

Diagram 2: E-Governance Maturity Model (Gartner, 2000)

It is important to note, however, that the experience in developing countries would be vastly different

as the e-government communications and information infrastructure is still at a very nascent stage.

With the rising adoption of mobile phone technologies especially among the developing countries in

Asia, more attention needs to be paid to the changing ways in which people access, share and apply

information. Furthermore, the proliferation of social media has enabled citizen interaction with the

ruling party, thus altering traditional power structures and rules on connecting with formal institutions.

An analysis of existing models of e-government development generally shows a similar pattern; the

movement from an embryonic (one-way communication) to a mature (two-way democratic) stage.

One of the advantages of analyzing the development of e-governance in stages is that it enables

governments to measure the development process and also to maintain continued progress.

However, the model fails to indicate the cyclical and iterative nature of e-governance development.

For instance, the processes in the interaction, transaction and transformation phases may feedback

into and shape the development of prior stages. Moreover, the model does not indicate the influence

of exogenous factors i.e. social and political changes, on the maturity track of e-governance.

According to the E-ASEAN task forceii model developed by IBM (see diagram 3), sufficient tele-

density and computer penetration are considered to be important requirements for e-government

projects to work in developing countries. Telecommunication density, tele-density for short, is an

indicator that refers to the number of subscribers (in hundreds) who are served by one telephone

connection unit. In 2009, the tele-density of fixed telephony in Indonesia was 3.82 per cent, meaning

about four telephony connection units served 100 people. This is a low tele-density compared with

Phase

Information

Increasing value to

Citizen / Business

Increasing complexity

Phase

Interaction

Phase

Transaction

Phase

Transformation

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other developed countries. However, looking at the use of all telephony services including mobile

wireless telephony and fixed wireless telephony, Indonesia’s tele-density reached 76.48 per cent in

2009, a high tele-density number. In fact, from 2004 to March 2009, the number of mobile telephony

subscribers increased by as much as 371.5 per cent with an average increment of 37.9 per cent per

year. Hence, the model fails to include other important indicators such as the reach of mobile wireless

telephony. Furthermore, while it takes into account the level of computer penetration, it overlooks the

internet penetration rate.

Diagram 3: E-ASEAN task force model

• Emerging (<5% teledensity and <1% PC penetration)

• Evolving (5-10% teledensity and 2-5% PC penetration)

• Embedding (20-40% teledensity and 5-10% PC penetration)

• Extending (>40% teledensity and >20% PC penetration)

2. Conditions for e-governance to thrive in developing countries

2.1 Access to infrastructure and information

Former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, spoke about the main challenge of implementing e-

government and this also applies to other developing countries such as Indonesia:

“e-Governance, has to be citizen-friendly. Delivery of services to citizens is considered a

primary function of the government. In a democratic nation of over one billion people like India,

e-Governance should enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information

across the state and central government in the federal set up. No country has so far

implemented an e-Governance system for one billion people. It is a big challenge before

us.”

The population of Indonesia is less than a quarter of India’s and already it is a challenge to implement

e-governance. Indonesia is a large archipelagic country with 17,508 islands and 75,666 villages in 33

provinces; 24 per cent of the villages are located in Java Island. About 60 per cent of Indonesian

people live in the rural areas, characterized by low productivity, high poverty, and low standards of

living. With the development of rural areas, the telecommunication industry and infrastructure

becomes increasingly developed as well but the distribution of infrastructure and services remain

unequal. Thus, many rural areas still do not have telecommunication services. For instance, 31,824

villages did not have access to telecommunication services in 2009.

According to Heeks (2002; 2003a; 2003b), a key reason for the failure of e-governance in developing

countries is that there is often a mismatch between the present situation and the plans for future e-

government systems. More specifically, where there is a gap between the current political situation

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and that which is required for successful e-government roll-out, the development of e-governance will

naturally be stifled (Ciborra, 2005).

Particularly among developing countries, while resource allocation factors such as the availability of

technological infrastructure, financial resources and skilled personnel are important, organizational

changes may be more important as the lack of these resources are largely attributed to the lack of

coordination among stakeholders (Gichoya, 2005). Therefore, the conditions for the successful

implementation of e-governance may vary among developing countries with different socioeconomic

and political contexts.

Developing countries often have poor IT infrastructure, which constitutes a further obstacle for the

implementation of e-governance (Tapscott, 1996). Without consistent and reliable electricity supply,

telecommunications service and internet access, it is difficult for e-governance to succeed in the

developing context. Even with the right infrastructure in place, many people in developing countries

still do not have access to ICTs due to the digital divide. Thus, the gap persists between the urban

educated segments of the population and the low-educated poor who are unable to afford technology

(Basu, 2004). Therefore, it may be more appropriate to consider low-tech solutions that fit the existing

infrastructure (Cecchini & Raina, 2004) in these situations.

Although Indonesia has the lowest overall internet penetration rate in Southeast Asia (21 per cent –

see diagram 4), mobile internet use is high, making the Indonesian market a viable one. According to

Nielsen’s 2011 Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Report, 48 per cent of regular internet users in

Indonesia access the internet on their mobile phones (see diagram 5). Hence, there is clear potential

for the development of e-governance platforms on mobile phones as more Indonesians access the

internet via their mobile phones.

In contrast to developing countries, most developed countries have better platforms and frameworks

for the development and implementation of e-governance. For instance, the characteristics that define

countries with more frequent and regular usage of online government services tend to be the

following: high income per capita, better access to the internet, greater expenditure on ICT

infrastructure, development and services, and tools.

One study found that access to IT infrastructure accounted for a significant increase (81 per cent) in

the use of e-government services, indicating that public access to the internet is the most crucial

factor influencing the use of e-government services (Prattipati, 2003). However, the same study

indicated that only a small percentage of those who use the internet use it to access government

information and services. For instance, only 23 per cent of Hungarian citizens and 27 per cent of

Polish citizens who use the internet used it for government services. Therefore, it appears that access

alone will not determine the extent of e-government usage.

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As Heeks (2000) explains, in order for information (made available to the public domain through ICTs)

to have a real impact on people’s lives, it is necessary to have the social and economic resources to

guide people in accessing, assessing and applying the information. Thus one of the primary

objectives of e-governance is ensuring universal access to data and information for citizens (Coleman

& Gøtze, 2001).

Diagram 4: Internet penetration in Southeast Asia

Diagram 5: Mobile internet use

2.2 Good governance

With the effects of globalization and the information revolution, citizen-state relations are changing as

well as the roles and relations of various orders of government with institutions and agencies beyond

government, thus bringing about a greater focus on local governance (Shah & Shah, 2006). However,

there has been no evidence to suggest that the incorporation of ICTs in public administration has led

to improved governance procedures and practices. To be effective, e-government needs to be

integrated within a holistic approach that includes a supportive and qualified leadership, good

communication infrastructure, as well as reliable and affordable internet connectivity. Thus, this paper

brings forth the notion that for e-governance to be effective, good governance is an important pre-

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requisite. A stronger political desire, as well as more research and investment in skills training are

needed in the implementation of e-governance solutions in developing countries.

E-governance needs to be viewed within a systems theory perspective, i.e., it is an input is influenced

by the context that is made up of a number of moderating variables that interact to produce the

desired output, viz, good governance. Only with the right conditions will e-governance translate into

good governance, e-government is not a necessary precondition for the outcome of good

governance, but good governance does help to facilitate the success of e-governance.

The Asian Development Bank defines good governance in four elements: accountability, participation,

predictability and transparency (Coffey, 2007). Access to information and communication plays a

significant role in promoting good governance (ibid). Therefore, information delivery to the public is a

key responsibility of the government in keeping citizens informed of what is happening around them.

Good governance is not simply about efficiently delivering an array of public services but also about

allowing the freedom and space for democratic engagement and civic dialogue. Public awareness of

societal issues is thus an important prerequisite for meaningful citizen participation on the internet. It

is understood to be a solution to the lack of citizen involvement in liberal democracies (Becker &

Slaton, 2000). In this circumstance, the access to and use of information becomes an important factor

that determines the extent of citizen participation and engagement online. Therefore, we need to

acknowledge the relationship between access to information and political involvement.

In some developing countries where government transparency and accountability is low, it is

important to recognize that governance is not just about effective delivery of public services but also

about “who gets what, when and how” (March and Olsen, 1995). Specifically in Indonesia, known to

be one of the most corrupt countries in the world (ranking 100 out of 182 nations in Transparency

International’s 2011 corruption index), e-governance policy should be developed as it has the

potential to alter the way in which the public sector operates, both internally and with its customers

(Timonen, O’Donnell, and Humphreys, 2003).

Although there is little literature on e-governance implementation in Indonesia, there is increasing

research that tries to identify the reasons or causes for the success or failure of various e-government

projects in developing countries around the world. According to Gartner (2004), over 60 per cent of all

e-governance initiatives either fail or do not meet expected outcomes. Reflecting a similar finding,

Heeks (2003a) has studied more than 40 e-government-for-development projects in

developing/transitional countries and estimates that 35 per cent of these completely failed and 50 per

cent partially failed, while only 15 per cent succeeded.

Some of the reasons that contribute to the failure of e-governance projects in Indonesia are the lack

human capital, infrastructural constraints, low computer and internet penetration, the poor regulatory

environment, lack of organizational culture and design, insufficient e-leadership (Harijadi, 2004) as

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well as the mismanagement of public funds. Furthermore, developing countries often do not have a

well-planned e-government strategy. An e-government strategy is a ‘plan for e-government systems

and their supporting infrastructure which maximizes the ability of management to achieve

organizational objectives’ (Heeks, 2006).

Without an effective e-government strategy in place, public awareness of e-governance will continue

to remain low. In a study of the Bangladesh government e-Citizens Service Application

(www.forms.gov.bd) portal where most of the government forms are downloadable, it was found that

an overall lack of awareness among the citizenry was a contributing factor toward its low level of use.

This was attributed to the lack of political will, insufficient technological infrastructure and the lack of a

general strategy for e-government implementation (Hossan, Habib, and Kushchu, 2006). Similarly, a

set of case studies conducted on e-government projects in Kerala, India, revealed that several factors

that influence access to e-government services in developing countries are often not taken into

consideration. These factors are dependent on the resources, competencies, beliefs, values, and

motivations of those who are part of the e-government project (Madon, 2004).

The Indonesian government established the Ministry of Communication and Information (2001) and

gave it the responsibility to coordinate, formulate, and disseminate national strategies for ICT

development, so as to increase the adoption and use of ICTs among the people, as well as to

supervise the implementation of the National ICTs policy and development in Indonesia. However, as

Indonesia is a large country with 497 local governments, inconsistencies and conflict sometimes arise

between regional autonomy and central authority thus making the uniform implementation of e-

governance difficult.

Out of the 497 districts in Indonesia, only 214 local governments have websites. Of these 214 sites,

186 were found to be accessible, and the remaining 28 were either under construction or not found

(Donny, 2004). Moreover, the lack of authority held by the State Ministry of Communication and

Information – the institution responsible for the implementation of e-government in Indonesia further

compounds the problems of e-government implementation.

While it has been argued that those of developing countries are relatively less experienced in

democratic systems and processes and thus less actively participate in governmental policy-making

decisions (Yining, Chen, Russell and Wayne, 2007), recent events surrounding the use of ICTs in the

mobilization of citizens in developing countries suggest otherwise e.g. frequent updates on the flood

situation in Thailand between July and December 2011 were posted on social media sites like

Facebook and Twitter; mobile communications and social media applications such as YouTube and

Twitter were used to highlight the public demonstrations of the 2010/2011 revolutions in Tunisia and

Egypt.

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It has been found that citizens develop a greater interest in using the various e-democracy tools when

governments are ready to provide more services online and in a transparent and efficient manner that

can easily engage the citizenry (Clift, 2002). This process of e-engagement works more effectively

when the government is open to citizen feedback about the information that is disseminated and in

the public domain. However, in a society where the political leadership is dictatorial, inefficient or very

corrupt, it would be difficult for such a system to flourish. In these instances, it would not serve the

interest of the ruling party for citizens to have access to government information.

Access to information can boost people's capability to benefit from the information society (Mann,

2003). It is also a precondition for people to participate in 'digital democracies' (Catinat & Vedel,

2001), and is necessary for the protection of people's right to communicate (Hamelink, 2003). This

development of new approaches toward governance moves toward more lateral and interactive

relationships between governments and its citizens. Hence, ICT introduces communicative tools for

the rearrangement of the party and administration dominated civic participation (Macintosh et al.,

2002).

Research Method

An online web analytics tool, Alexa (www.alexa.com) was used to analyze the web traffic of the top

three government websites in Indonesia. The following web metrics were used to analyze the

websites: i) top pages visited - to determine what information was most sought after by the public, ii)

sources of upstream sites - to find out what sources of information online led them to the main

government webpages, and iii) audience profile – to identify the target group(s) that existing e-

government efforts are reaching. In addition, secondary data were retrieved from both government

and personal sources to understand e-government and ICT trends in Indonesia.

Findings and Discussion

The introduction of ICTs alone will not lead to development unless other entitlements are provided

(Alampay, 2006). An integrated approach is needed in order for ICTs to facilitate development

(Alampay, et. al., 2003; Mann, 2003); one that not only looks at the existing ICT infrastructure, but

also the capabilities of people and the value creation in ICT applications.

Since the year 2006, there have been significant improvements with regards to internet access in

Indonesia. The number of government websites has increased significantly and the national budget

allocation toward improving ICT infrastructure has also increased (Anggono 2012, pers. comm., 18

April). At the same time, there has been a significant improvement in public access to internet

services. Research conducted by MarkPlus Insight, an Indonesian research company, revealed that

the penetration of internet users in Indonesia’s urban areas has increased from 30 - 35 per cent in

2010 to 40 - 45 per cent in 2011 (see diagram 6), which means that there are approximately 55 million

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people who use the internet in Indonesia. From this number, most of the internet users are

concentrated in Java island (70.05 per cent), followed by Sumatra (16.77 per cent), while other

islands only contribute a small percentage of internet users (see diagram 7).

Diagram 6 – The Penetration of Internet Users in Indonesian Urban Areas

Source: MarkPlus Insight 2011

Diagram 7 – The Penetration of Internet Users in Indonesia divided by Island

Source: The Ministry of Communication and Information White Paper 2010

With greater and more affordable access to the internet in Indonesia, this presents an opportunity for

the government to use ICTs to implement initiatives in improving its services to the public. However,

the Indonesian government has been slow in adapting ICTs to their practice. There are many reasons

for this reluctance such as the lack of innovation from the government departments, regulations that

do not support the initiatives, lack of skilled human resources, and so on. In addition, as Indonesia is

known as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ICTs can also introduce and further

complicate bureaucratic procedures thus providing government officials with an opportunity to abuse

the system for their own benefit (Rahardjo, 2001).

Nonetheless, there have been some increments in e-government applications initiated by the

ministries and other government institutions. However, the lack of e-government policy,

institutionalization, and planning has prevented the citizens from reaping the full advantage of this

infrastructure implementation. As shown in diagram 8 (see Appendix p. 17, for the full list), the top

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three government websites reflect the main interests of the Indonesian people, thus these are some

of the websites that e-governance initiatives have to focus on in order to reach out to the citizens.

Diagram 8: Top government websites in Indonesia

1. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources: www.esdm.go.id

2. Ministry of Agriculture: www.deptan.go.id

3. Ministry of Education and Culture: www.kemdiknas.go.id

Despite the fact that many ministries and goverment institutions have attempted to incorporate e-

government applications into their websites, the traffic toward these applications are still considered

small (Anggono 2012, pers. comm., 18 April). There are many reasons behind this slow adaptation of

e-government applications in Indonesia such as the low education of Indonesian citizens that make

them unaware or unconfident of their capability in influencing goverment policies or practice, the

relatively high cost of internet connection (although many cell phone providers provide mobile internet

connection, the connection is usually slow or only provides access to the most popular sites, mainly

social media sites), the low level of trust towards the government, and the lack of socialization of

these applications among the public.

Nevertheless, e-goverment initiatives are promoted as first priority by the Soesilo Bambang

Yudhoyono Goverment. This is demonstrated through the formation of Dewan TIK Nasional (The

National Committee of ICT) that involves elements of all ministries and is led by the President himself.

The Committee was founded by The Presidential Decree No. 20, year 2006, with the objective to

speed up ICT development in Indonesia and implement ICT policies nationally that synchronize all

ICT programs across all the ministries or goverment institutions (The Ministry of Communication and

Information White Paper, 2010).

While e-government initiatives continue to be promoted and developed in Indonesia, the potential to

develop online government services and interactive functions on mobile platforms remains to be

explored. Mobile government or m-government can be simply defined as public service delivery that

involves transactions on mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, and personal digital

assistants. Kushchu and Kuscu (2004:3) define it as “the strategy and its implementation involving the

utilization of all kinds of wireless and mobile technology, services, applications and devices for

improving benefits to the parties involved in e-government including citizens, businesses and all

government units.”

The popularity of mobile phones has increased significantly, especially since 2006. The Ministry of

Communication and Information White Paper 2010 states that the the penetration of mobile phones in

Indonesia increased from 24.6 per cent in 2006 to 52.6 per cent in 2008 (see diagram 9). There are

many reasons contributing to this increase, i.e. the cost of mobile phones has been significantly

reduced, particularly since the arrival of Chinese and local products; the cost of mobile phone

providers has also decreased quite significantly; the various applications that can be easily accessed

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through mobile phones; and the changing lifestyle of Indonesian citizens that see mobile phones as a

trend and providing a form of entertainment.

Diagram 9 – The Distribution of Cellular Phones in Indonesian Households (2006-2008)

Source: National Census Results 2006 -2008

Role of the mobile phone in e-governance

The relative affordability, portability and ease of use of a mobile phone compared with the PC means

that it holds the potential of bridging the digital divide, especially in developing countries where

computer infrastructure is still underdeveloped. In a 2006 study conducted by LIRNEasia with 8,660

respondents from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Thailand, Rohan Samarajiva,

executive director of LIRNEasia referred to the mobile phone as an emerging "primary transactional

device" of people in developing countries (Olivia, 2007).

The mobile phone also shapes and influences the way we interact with our social networks, even

changing traditional norms about whom we can interact with. Furthermore, with the ability to access

the web via smartphones, governments in developing countries need to take into account the

increasing importance of the mobile phone in providing information and services as well as garnering

feedback online. However, issues of access to mobile telephony services still remain because there

will not be enough investment from telecommunications companies in areas that will not make a

profit. Therefore, mobile phones are not the only option for improving e-government communication in

developing countries (Hellström, 2009).The capability of mobile phones must be integrated with

existing e-government infrastructure to enable efficient use of ICTs for governance purposes.

Mobile phone applications exploit the potential of mobile technology to make government agencies

“even more accessible and citizen-centric by extending the benefits of remote delivery of government

services and information to those who are unable or unwilling to access public services through the

Internet or who simply prefer to use mobile devices” (World Bank, 2007). Thus, mobile phones enable

a bottom up style of participation through citizen empowerment. A proposed framework for developing

countries to start implementing mGovernment applications is divided into three different stages:

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simple applications stage, interactive applications stage, and high interactive applications stage

(Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004).

Increasing engagement with social media

With the rise of the Indonesian middle class as per capita incomes increase, internet usage has

surged by 1500 per cent since 2000 (Internet World Stats, 2010). Indonesia is estimated to have 37

million Facebook users, second only to the United States, according to web statisticians Socialbakers.

The availability of low-cost handsets on the market has helped propel the adoption of smartphones

and it is expected that the smartphone uptake will rise by 68 per cent in 2012 (International Data

Corporation, 2011).

While internet penetration through computers is low; below 10 per cent, mobile internet penetration

has reached 57 per cent, according to Nielson’s Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Report. Hence, the

trend of Indonesians’ frequent engagement with social network sites demonstrates that this is an area

that should be given due consideration in e-governance policy formulation and implementation.

Diagram 10 shows the percentage increase from 2009 to 2010 in the number of Facebook users

among the top five countries on Facebook.

Diagram 10: Facebook Growth from 2009 – 2010 (top five countries)

Using Alexa, it was found that Facebook was a popular upstream site that online users visited prior to

their visit to the government website. Over 70 per cent of Facebook users in Indonesia access the

social media site through their mobile phones (Facebook, 2011). Thus, these social media sites

constitute an important channel through which updates and announcements can be made by the

government. In fact, Facebook was the third most popular site that online users visited preceding their

visit to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture portals, the two

most visited government websites. The two upstream websites that were ranked before Facebook

were search engines google.co.id and google.com. For the website of the Ministry of Education and

16

Culture, Facebook was the second most popular upstream site after the localized google search

engine, google.co.id.

It is important to note that the adoption of new technologies may not necessarily bridge the divide that

exists within many societies, i.e. the differences in the level of access between males and females

(Richardson, Ramirez & Haq, 2000), rich and poor (Gomez & Hunt, 1999; Richardson, 2000;

O'Farrell, 2001), urban and rural areas (Campbell, 2001), and among people with different education

levels (O'Farrell, 2001; Madhusudan, 2002) as well as people of different ages and social

backgrounds. For instance, in Indonesia, it was found that males who have children visited

government websites most frequently. This could be due to the fact that males in Indonesia generally

have better and more regular access to ICTs compared with females, because of the possession of

higher incomes or the enrolment into specific employment sectors. Another possibility is that with the

increasing migration of women for work, males who remain in the country with their children have a

greater vested interest in national issues affecting their families such as i) oil and gas markets/prices

(fuel subsidies), ii) methods to improve farming productivity, climate information, agricultural

commodity prices, and iii) educational resources and employment opportunities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has demonstrated that existing e-governance models that are based mostly

on developed country experiences should not be transposed to developing country contexts as each

country situation is unique and thus would respond to e-governance implementation differently. Good

governance and access to infrastructure and information remain important considerations in rolling

out e- and/or m-government initiatives. Moreover, if governments strive to make e-government

services available via the mobile phone, this will encourage greater public participation.

Education is another key factor in promoting the use of e-governance initiatives to achieve better

accountability, increased transparency and improved governance. Thus, it would be useful to

introduce ICTs into the school curriculum. In addition, the government of Indonesia needs to socialize

its e-governance initiatives into various mass media channels so as to encourage greater e-

engagement with citizens. Furthermore, as the availability of mobile internet connection becomes

more widespread in the country, the government will need to consider various strategies toward using

mobile phone applications to accelerate the development of e-governance initiatives. Finally, with the

increasing popularity of social networking sites among Indonesian citizens, further research would

benefit from understanding how social media are used among people of developing countries in

transactions and interactions with governments and fellow citizens online.

17

Appendix

Ranking of Internet Traffic towards Ministries and Government Institution Sites

18

1. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources

esdm.go.id - Homepage of the Ministry of Energy

and Mineral Resources

bgl.esdm.go.id: Geology Agency

prokum.esdm.go.id - Index page of the Ministry sites

migas.esdm.go.id - Directorate General of Oil and

Gas

eproc.esdm.go.id - e-procurement site for the

Ministry

19

2. Ministry of Agriculture

Litbang.deptan.go.id - Indonesian Agency for

Agricultural Research and Development

Deptan.go.id - Homepage of the Ministry of

Agriculture

Epetani.deptan.go.id - e-farming site (where farmers

can find information on how to improve their farming

productivity)

Ditjenbun.deptan.go.id - Directorate General of

Plantation (enforces regulations on plantation in

Indonesia)

Cybex.deptan.go.id - Agricultural Human Resources

Counselling and Development Commission

3. Ministry of Education and Culture

20

jardiknas.kemdiknas.go.id - Indonesian Education ICT

Network (where teachers and students can share and

get teaching and learning materials)

bahasa.kemdiknas.go.id - Indonesian Language

Development and Supervision Agency (this agency

does regular research on the Indonesian language,

makes Indonesian dictionaries, and determines rules

for formal Bahasa Indonesia)

pusatbahasa.kemdiknas.go.id - as above (this address

brings you to the same site as above)

sergur.kemdiknas.go.id - teacher certification site

(provides information on how to become a certified

teacher in Indonesia)

kemdiknas.go.id - homepage of the Ministry of National

Education

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