why e-government?

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University of Leicester

MA New Media & Society

Dissertation topic: Why E-Government? A lookat socio-political rationale behind e-governmentstrategy in ASEAN

Muhammad R Malik


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Table of ContentsIntroduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Information Society .......................................................................................................................... 4

e-Business ...................................................................................................................................... 6

e-Citizen ......................................................................................................................................... 6

e-Government ............................................................................................................................... 7

Defining e-government ................................................................................................................... 8

Perspectives of e-government ........................................................................................................ 9

ASEAN ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Literature Review ............................................................................................................................... 14

Debate on Information Society ..................................................................................................... 14

Theoretical Frameworks for E-Government .............................................................................. 17

Studies on e-government in ASEAN ........................................................................................... 18

Cambodia .................................................................................................................................... 18

Brunei ........................................................................................................................................... 19

Malaysia....................................................................................................................................... 23

Singapore ..................................................................................................................................... 30

E-Government in ASEAN ............................................................................................................. 33

Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 35

Advantages of the E-mail Interview ........................................................................................ 35

Disadvantages of the E-Mail Interview .................................................................................. 36

Design .............................................................................................................................................. 39


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Sample Selection ............................................................................................................................. 41

Administration ............................................................................................................................... 42

Discussion and Analysis ................................................................................................................... 44

Why e-government? ...................................................................................................................... 45

Perceptions Do Matter ................................................................................................................... 46

Delivering services ......................................................................................................................... 47

Privacy and Security ...................................................................................................................... 49

Impact of political and regulatory factors .................................................................................. 52

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 53

Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 56


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Introduction

ASEAN is made up of 10 member countries which have diverse historical, cultural, and

ideological backgrounds from the semi-authoritarian to the democracies, to the absolute

monarchies. As such, the level of readiness, rationale, and implementation of e-government

in these member countries is just as diverse.

To date, there have been very few studies done on e-government in ASEAN, of particular

note being Ian Hollidays work Building e-government in East and Southeast Asia:

Regional rhetoric and national (in)action and Rivera et al, E-government in the ASEAN

Context: A Conceptual Framework. Because of this, there has been a call for more studies

on e-government specifically in the ASEAN context.

I am approaching this topic from a socio-political perspective, looking at the motivation for

ASEAN nation states to adopt and implement e-government initiatives. Also looking at

whether e-government can help to strengthen the authoritarian state and augment central

authority. There is also this notion of e-government helping to eliminate corruption and

other questionable practices by increasing transparency and bolstering accountability. Why

do some e-government initiatives focus on service provision, while others emphasize

participation? To what degree do the various national e-government policies in ASEAN

converge in terms of formulation of aims, and implementation?

Most of these questions will be answered within the framework of the Information Society

with particular reference to technological determinism in Castells works and that of other s

such as Daniel Bell, Alvin Toeffler, and Frank Webster.

Information Society

The concept of Information Society is one which academics have used to describe changes

that took place in the late 20th century where knowledge-based activities became the


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increasingly predominant contributor to the GDP of industrialized countries where

previously manufacturing held the lead. Knowledge-based industries consist mainly of the

service sector which now accounts for more than 70% of employment in these countries. The

study of this phenomenon led to the development of such inter-related concepts as the

"post-industrial society", the "service economy" and the "information society" and

"Knowledge based economy" (de Miranda, 2004)

There are three components which make up the digital economy, namely hardware,

software, and the infrastructure. The hardware component is made up of all the machines

and equipment that are used in the creation of digital products and services. The software

component includes the human resources, skills, and knowledge which are leveraged upon

to design and create new and innovative products. The infrastructure is then the conduit

upon which these goods and services are delivered, i.e. broadband internet.

My understanding of the information society can be explained by the Venn diagram below.

The digital economy sits at the centre of the diagram where the three elements of e-

government, e-business, and e-citizen converge. In other words, it is a convergence of

economic activity which has a transformational impact on every single aspect of society.

Figure 1 Information Society lies at the convergence of e-Government, e-Business and e-Citizen

eGovernment

eBusinesseCitizen


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e-Business

As mentioned previously, e-business is one of the main components of the information

society where more and more business, from communications to product design all the way

to product delivery, is being transacted over the internet. In other words, e-business covers

all business processes spanning the entire value chain from purchasing and logistics

management to customer service and corporate partnerships - all of them making use of

electronic communications. According to the Office for National Statistics, In 2008, Internet

sales represented 9.8 per cent of the value of all sales of UK non-financial sector businesses.

This was up from 7.7 per cent in 2007. The value of these sales rose to 222.9bn in 2008, an

increase of 36.6 per cent from the 2007 figure of 163.2bn. Sales consisted of 104.7bn website

sales and 118.2bn EDI (electronic data interchange) sales over the Internet. (Office for

National Statistics, 2009)

e-Citizen

In the information society, more and more civic engagement is conducted over the internet.

Half of those who are involved in a political or community group communicate with other

group members using digital tools such as email or group websites. According to the Pew

Internet and American Life Project, Just over one-third of Americans (36%) are involved in

a civic or political group, and more than half of these (56%) use digital tools to communicate

with other group members. At the forefront is emailfully 57% of wired civic group

members use email to communicate with fellow group members. (Smith, Schlozman, &

Verba, 2009)

In addition to this, e-Citizen also includes leveraging ICTs to help the specific sections of

society which share a particular problem. An example of this is support groups like the

American Cancer Society which offers support to individuals and families who have been

affected by cancer either directly or indirectly. These support groups help alleviate the


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suffering by offering information and a channel for communication with others in the same

situation.

e-Government

Many countries around the world are now well aware of the importance of e-government

and many governments have shown leadership in developing online services. The benefits

of e-government applications can include cutting costs and improving processes and

information flow; but one of its primary aims is to improve customer service for citizens.

Attention is now being focused on new initiatives such as integrating social media tools or

adopting cloud computing services.

According to the Pew Internet Life project, e-government in the US context is:

Data driven Efforts by government agencies to post their data online are resonatingwith citizens. Fully 40% of online adults went online in the preceding year to access

data and information about government (for instance, by looking up stimulus

spending, political campaign contributions or the text of legislation).

Organized around new online platforms Citizen interactions with government aremoving beyond the website. Nearly one third (31%) of online adults use online

platforms such as blogs, social networking sites, email, online video or text

messaging to get government information.

Participatory Americans are not simply going online for data and information; theywant to share their personal views on the business of government. Nearly one

quarter (23%) of internet users participate in the online debate around government

policies or issues, with much of this discussion occurring outside of official

government channels. (Smith, 2010)


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Defining e-government

A number of definitions for e-government have been offered in existing literature. mly

dfnd, -Gvrnmnt th u f T n gnrl nd th utltn f ntrnt n

rtulr tl to hv bttr gvrnmnt (D, 2003). Better gvrnmnt mn

dlvrng ubl rv nd rng ntrnl wrk n th gvrnmnt n muh mr

nvnnt, utmr-rntd, ndt-fftv wy. (Song, 2010)

Generally, e-government employs technology, particularly the Internet, to enhance the

access to and delivery of government information and services to citizens, businesses,

government employees, and other agencies. From a technical standpoint, e-government

initiatives usually involve several types of electronic and information systems, including

database, networking, discussion support, multimedia, automation, tracking and tracing,

and personal identification technologies. Depending on the nation, e-government can span

local governments, state or provincial governments, and the national government, with the

levels having separate or interconnected e-government sites. At the supra-national level, the

European Union is even working to create a consistent level of e-government service in its

member nations. (Jaeger, 2003)

A study done by Hu et al in 2008 on what is the widely accepted definition of e-government

based on a content analysis of hundreds of articles on e-government, came up with six

distinct elements which made up the common definition of e-government. According to this

study, the field of e-government deals with:

1. the major initiatives of management and delivery of information and public services;2. taken by all levels of governments (including agencies, sectors);3. on behalf of citizens, business;


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4. involving using multi-ways of internet, web site, system integration, andinteroperability;

5. to enhance the services (information, communication, policy making), quality andsecurity; and

6. as a new key (main, important) strategy or approach.

The study is unique in that it discusses the definition of e-government by an exploratory

approach. The universal shared definition extracted helps in the framing of future works

including this one in terms of a definition of e-government (Hu, Pan, Lu, & Wang, 2009).

Until the advent of the Internet, ICT was seen in the government context as an automation

tool and of peripheral concern. Today however, its role in the core function of government

and management is acknowledged and given much attention.

According to Yildiz, there appears a lack of in-depth analysis of e-government development

processes from a political perspective, and a deeper recognition of complex political and

institutional environments. He goes on further to say that, e-government research up to

date for the most part limited itself to the study of the outcomes and outputs of the e-

government projects. Thus, understanding the political processes behind e-government

development is vital for overcoming both definitional and analytical limitations. Such an

effort requires a historical understanding of the relationship between technology and

administration. (Yildiz, 2007)

Perspectives of e-government

E-government can be seen as operating within five inter-related contexts: political, public

service, economic, technological and social. These contexts are shaped by both past and

present policies, culture, structures and processes. Those driving their national e-

government initiatives should take these contexts into account and consider issues like


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population size and how to manage multi-level governments e.g. national, provincial and

local governments.

Different perspectives of e-government have been expressed by various academics and

consultants. These perspectives can be broadly represented by three components (formal

politics, administration and civil society), or two environments i.e. policy environment

(security/privacy, innovation, digital divide and technology standards) and societal

environment (political, economic, social and technological) (Yong, 2003).

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967

in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by

the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and

Thailand.

e-government

Political

Social Public Service

Technological Economic

e.g. Human CapitalDevelopment, Digital

Divide, e-Culture,Information Culture

e.g. Information andCommunication

Infrastructure andIndustry

e.g. Structure ofbureaucracy, IT

experience, Changeculture

e.g. Vision, Politicalclimate

e.g. Economic andTrade Policies,

Legislation

Figure 2 e-Government Context

Social


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Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and

Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten

Member States of ASEAN.

As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are:

1. To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the regionthrough joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the

foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations;

2. To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of lawin the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United

Nations Charter;

3. To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in theeconomic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields;

4. To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in theeducational, professional, technical and administrative spheres;

5. To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their agriculture and industries,the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity

trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising

of the living standards of their peoples;

6. To promote Southeast Asian studies; and7. To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional

organizations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer

cooperation among themselves. (ASEAN, 1967)


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In 2000, all ASEAN member states Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,

Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam endorsed the e-

ASEAN Framework Agreement to promote co-operation to develop, strengthen and

enhance the competitiveness of the ICT sector in ASEAN, reduce the digital divide within

individual ASEAN economies and amongst member states, as well as between the public

and private sectors to realize the e-ASEAN vision, and to liberalize trade and investment in

ICT to support the e-ASEAN initiative (ASEAN, 2000).

The agreement rest on six pillars:

(1) Establishment of ASEAN information infrastructure.(2) Facilitation of growth of electronic commerce.(3) Liberalization of trade and investments in ICT products and ICT services.(4) Facilitation of trade in ICT products and ICT services.(5) Capacity building and e-society, and(6) e-Government. (ASEAN, 2000)

Among the efforts being made to establish the ASEAN Information Infrastructure is the

creation of a database of National Information Infrastructure profiles to encourage

competition, rapid deployment of new technology and ICT investment in the region. At the

same time, Ministers of Telecommunications and IT decided that all ASEAN Member

Countries develop and operationalise national Computer Emergency Response Teams

(CERTs) by 2005 in line with mutually agreed minimum performance criteria. A virtual

forum for ASEAN cybersecurity is being formed to develop a common framework to

coordinate exchange of information, establishment of standards and cooperation among

enforcement agencies.


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ASEAN is building a network of ICT skills competency centers/agencies to promote

collaboration amongst these centers and agencies, including training of ASEAN SMEs to

harness the benefits of ICT applications. ASEAN has developed a Digital Divide Database to

promote understanding of the dimensions of the ASEAN digital divide, exchange

information on Universal Service Obligation (USO) schemes and develop joint studies and

projects (ASEAN, 2003).

ASEAN submitted a joint statement to the World Summit on the Information Society, held in

Geneva on 10 December 2003, which advocated the following: (a) the global strategy to

realize the Information Society must be based on concrete milestones rather than broad

visions; (b) the Plan of Action should be adapted to each regions unique and diverse needs;

and (c) existing regional initiatives such as e-ASEAN should be leveraged upon when

implementing ICT programmes. (ASEAN Secretariat, 2003a)

During the 9th ASEAN Telecommunications & Information Technology Ministers (TELMIN)

Meeting which was held in Vietnam in 2009, Ministers agreed that there is a need to develop

an ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2015 as a strategic document to bring the ASEAN ICT sector to a

higher level and to reinforce the role of ICT for ASEAN integration. The Ministers agreed

that the vision of the ASEAN ICT Master Plan will be Towards an Empowering and

Transformational ICT: Creating an Inclusive, Vibrant and Integrated ASEAN, and tasked

the senior officials to further develop the details of the Master Plan for consideration at the

next TELMIN Meeting. (ASEAN Secretariat, 2003b)


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Literature Review

Debate on Information Society

Concepts such as knowledge society, information society, network society, informational

capitalism, postindustrial society, transnational network capitalism, postmodern society, etc.

show that there is a vivid discussion in contemporary sociology on the character of

contemporary society and the role that technologies, information, communication, and co-

operation play in it. Information society theory discusses the role of information and

information technology in society, the question which key concepts shall be used for

characterizing contemporary society, and how to define such concepts. It has become a

specific branch of contemporary sociology (Beniger & Beniger, 1986).

Issues of technologies and their role in contemporary society have been discussed in the

scientific literature using a range of labels and concepts. Ideas of a knowledge or

information economy, post-industrial society, postmodern society, network society, the

information revolution, informational capitalism, network capitalism, and the like, have

been debated over the last several decades.

Following on the rapid expansion of the Information Society, the United Nations called for a

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) organized under the auspices of the

International Telecommunication Union. The two-phase summit, begun in Geneva in 2003,

and concluded in November 2005 with WSIS Phase II in Tunisia. The goal of this meeting

was to assess progress and prompt further global action to capture the promise of ICT for

all. The result of this meeting was a Special Report "Information Society: The Next Steps"

which looks at how the ICT landscape is changing in the developing world and what lies

ahead. Experts from governments, donors, NGOs and the private sector speak out about

effective policies, promising applications and innovative business models (WSIS, 2001).


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In the 60s Fritz Machlup introduced the concept of the knowledge industry, dividing it into

five sectors, i.e. education, research and development, mass media, information

technologies, information services. Machlup was the first to measure knowledge as a broad

concept, while other measurements were concerned with the production of scientific

knowledge, namely research and development (R&D), not its distribution. (Godin, 2008)

As an economic concept, Porat and Rubin both distinguished a primary (information goods

and services that are directly used in the production, distribution or processing of

information) and a secondary sector (information services produced for internal

consumption by government and non-information firms) of the information economy. Porat

uses the total value added by the primary and secondary information sector to the GNP as

an indicator for the information economy. The OECD has employed Porat's definition for

calculating the share of the information economy in the total economy (OECD, 2002). Based

on such indicators the information society has been defined as a society where more than

half of the GNP is produced and more than half of the employees are active in the

information economy (Engelbrecht, 1997).

Homburg, who outlines ICT developments in technology, economy, work, space, and

culture, argues that these developments mark a shift from an industrial society to a post-

industrial society. Economic production no longer thrives upon physical labour and

products, but on manipulating information by white collar knowledge workers who create

value out of applying their skills and creativity to information. For Daniel Bell the number of

employees producing services and information is an indicator for the informational

character of a society. A post-industrial society is based on services. () What counts is not

raw muscle power, or energy, but information. () A post industrial society is one in which

the majority of those employed are not involved in the production of tangibl e goods (Bell,

1973). And what counts for workers is intellectual skills, unique talents, that they can apply


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to raw informational materials using ICT tools that enable them to work wherever they like

whenever they wish or are assigned to do so (Homburg, 2008).

According to Castells, the Information Society is a society in which activities and economic

production take place in a technological paradigm, constituted around information and

communication technologies. Castells argues that in the Information Society, the focus is not

so much on products and services, but rather on an informational mode of production. He

conceives of creating, manipulating and distributing information and knowledge as being

the core of our economy. According to Castells, the entrance of information and knowledge

production to the centre stage of our economy has the consequence that technological

developments result in new forms of social interaction, control, and developments (Castells,

2000).

Van Dijk defines the network society as a "social formation with an infrastructure of social

and media networks enabling its prime mode of organization at all levels (individual,

group/organizational and societal). Increasingly, these networks link all units or parts of

this formation (individuals, groups and organizations)" (Van Dijk, 2006). For Van Dijk

networks have become the nervous system of society, whereas Castells links the concept of

the network society to capitalist transformation, Van Dijk sees it as the logical result of the

increasing widening and thickening of networks in nature and society.

Critics of the Information Society argue that it is nothing radically new, and just a

progression of society with perhaps an increase in the amount of information. Webster is

particularly critical by saying, If there is just more information then it is hard to understand

why anyone should suggest that we have before us something radically new(Webster,

2002a). He further argues that these approaches stress discontinuity, as if contemporary

society had nothing in common with society as it was 100 or 150 years ago. Such


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assumptions would have ideological character because they would fit with the view that we

can do nothing about change and have to adopt to existing political realities (Webster,

2002b).

Theoretical Frameworks for E-Government

E-government is perceived differently in connection with its theoretical background.

According to Garson, there are four theoretical frameworks within which e-government is

conceptualized. The first framework involves the potential of IT in decentralization and

democratization. The second normative/dystopian framework underlines the limitations

and contradictions of technology. Third, the socio-technical systems approach emphasizes

the continuous and two-way interaction of the technology and the organizational

institutional environment. The fourth framework places e-government within theories of

global integration. (Garson, 1999)

What is also lacking in the treatment of the subject is a more in-depth analysis of the political

nature of the e-government development processes, and a deeper recognition of complex

political and institutional environments. However, e-government research up to date for the

most part limited itself to the study of the outcomes and outputs of the e-government

projects. Thus, understanding the political processes behind e-government development is

vital for overcoming both definitional and analytical limitations. Such an effort requires a

historical understanding of the relationship between technology and administration (Yildiz,

2007).

The relationship between ICTs and its surrounding social structures also needs to be

acknowledged and the current literature does address this to a certain extent with what has

been termed the ensemble view of technology. The ensemble view establishes that

information technologies are not only the physical artifacts, but also the social relations


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around those artifacts. The ensemble view sees technology as merely one component of a

more complex socio- technical system. Other components can include commitment, training,

and policies, among others (Kling & Schacchi, 1982). This complexity can partially explain

the low rate of success of e-government initiatives.

Studies on e-government in ASEAN

Whereas many studies have analyzed e-government efforts in Asia and other regions of the

world (mostly developed nations), there has only been one systematic analysis of e-

government in ASEAN. In 2002, Holliday evaluated the development of e-government

projects in East and Southeast Asia. He analyzed 10 ASEAN countries and their East Asian

counterparts by visiting central government sites and gathering data on Internet visibility,

utility, and connectivity and then comparing the results with other major regional

associations such the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), European Union (EU), the

Group of Eight (G8), and the OECD (Rivera, Chan, & Sriramesh, 2005).

Cambodia

In one of the few studies on e-government adoption in ASEAN and the first study on e-

government adoption in Cambodia, Sang et al examine the factors that influence e-

government adoption in Cambodia by using the technology acceptance model (TAM), the

extended TAM (TAM2), the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory, and trust to build a

parsimonious yet comprehensive model of user adoption of e-government. The authors

tested the model with an empirical study. Data was collected from a total of 112 public

officers in 12 ministries in Cambodia. The research model was then assessed with multiple

regression analyses.

The findings in this study showed that the determinants of the research model (perceived

usefulness, relative advantage, and trust) are support. At the same time, the important


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determinants of perceived usefulness include image and output quality. The study would go

on to help government policy decision makers design and implement policies and strategies

to increase the adoption of e-government services in Cambodia as well as in other countries,

particularly ASEAN member states that have a similar situation. (Sang, Lee, & Lee, 2009)

Brunei

Brunei Darussalams government is a form of constitutional monarchy, referred to as Malay

Islamic Monarchy in official documents. The country is ruled according to established

Islamic values and traditions. The same family has now ruled Brunei for over six centuries.

The present head of state, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, is the supreme executive authority

and serves as Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance.

ICT adoption in Brunei has generally been driven by the government, with computerization

programs beginning as early as the 1970s. In the 90s a national IT strategic planning

framework was formulated and the first National IT Strategic Plan took off starting in 2000.

The Vision and Mission of this e-Government Strategic Plan 2009-2014 addresses the needs

of its three major stakeholders namely the citizen, industry and the Government. It is

aligned with the national vision of Wawasan 2035 and harmonized with the agenda of the

proposed Ministry of Communication's E-Strategy of Brunei Darussalam as well as the Civil

Service 21st Century Vision.

The Wawasan 2035 goals to become the Top 10 nation in world ranking and be recognized

as a highly educated society will be realized faster through the effective use of ICT. The

successful delivery of the e-Government initiative will certainly support the e-Government

action points in the national E-Strategy agenda. It will definitely support the objectives and

strategies of the Civil Service 21st Century Vision towards national development and

improving public wellbeing.


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The Brunei Darussalam e-Government Implementation Review 2006 and the subsequent

direction provided by the Way Forward Strategic Framework Action Plan (May 2007)

outline the core thrusts to provide citizen-centric services and introduce civil service reform.

The strategies formulated in this e-Government Strategic Plan aligns with all these.

The E-Government Leadership Forum (EGLF) is the champion for the e-Government

initiative with the Ministries, E-Government National Centre (EGNC), E-Government

Technical Authority Body (EGTAB) and related agencies working in harmony to deliver the

programmes and projects. (Yong, 2003)

Being citizen-centric means that the fundamental focus is the business process. Though ICT

can improve the efficiency of a service, it is the business process improvement that has the

greatest impact. A review of the business process becomes a necessity before any significant

Improvement can be realized.

The most important factor in this e-Government Strategic Plan is the need to develop the

civil service capabilities and capacity in ICT and prepare them for the changes of reforms in

delivering better government services. The ICT capacity development will produce more

ICT experts within the civil service and breed future ICT leaders of the country.

The initial phase undertaken is to consolidate and centralize the ICT workforce in the civil

service under the E-Government National Centre (EGNC).

To optimize the impact to citizens, the Government will identify services that are of public

value through studies or surveys, amongst others. Some of these services will be available

online while others will utilise ICT in the background to enhance delivery.


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Where practical, online services will be made available 24 hours ill day and made accessible

via the internet and mobile. The services delivered must be easy to use, navigate and most

importantly, intuitive - be it information, interactive or transactional services.

Online submission of applications will be the norm which minimises the need for citizen s to

visit the relevant government agencies. Citizens will only need to remember one

government web site to access these online government services for their personal or

business requirements. Even services for non-residents are catered for, such as work

permits. Considerations will be taken to make some services accessible for citizens who are

physically challenged through special web pages, telephone assistance or special counter

support.

For added convenience, single sign-on technology is being seriously considered where each

citizen only needs to remember one username and password to access any online services

from any Government agencies.

Timely public awareness campaigns will be conducted to inform the public on the launching

of Government e-services whilst promoting the benefits or incentivizing the public to use the

service. On the other hand, Government employees are informed of any new developments

via the intra-Government website or through other relevant channels. The information

includes new policies, services or business process changes.

Successful delivery of services hinges on standardisation, sound policies, and relevant

legislation s and frameworks to facilitate adoption of ICT and roll-out of the services.

Standardization will ensure that systems are interoperable, manageable and cost-effective.

Use of emails and other collaborative tools in the civil service improves productivity at

work. Government will install computer networks to enable communication across


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Government agencies and the public. Resources will be used effectively by allowing

Government agencies with similar needs to share common systems.

Sharing of data across Government agencies are realized through the creation of information

warehouses or hubs. Sharing of frequently used data across agencies, such as national

identification numbers, Improves processing time.

The Government Ministries, departments and Data Centres are all linked via a high-speed

reliable fibre optic network. This "one Government Network" is connected to t he internet

thereby making Government websites available to the public round-the -clock. Our

connectivity to the world via submarine cables ensures that online services are accessible

globally.

At the same time, the Government will ensure that the public has access to reliable domestic

Internet service to their homes either via wired or wireless means.

The online Government services, network and other components are made secure so that

citizen can confidently use the online services; knowing that their privacy, confidentiality

and security are properly protected. Government sites undergo regular security audits as a

norm. A national Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides added security assurance to

Government employee and citizens.

The Government tracks the implementation of e-Government programmes centrally through

the E-Government Technical Authority Body (EGTAB).

Frequent citizen surveys, polls or other means will be conducted to determine the

effectiveness of the e-services. Through citizen feedbacks, the Government can learn and

further refine the services to ultimately satisfy the citizen's needs.


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One of the flagship programmes of the e -Government is the enabling of online payments for

Government services via internet or mobile devices, including the payment of utility bills.

Two other noteworthy high profile flagship are the Multipurpose Smartcard and E-Health.

These are noteworthy due to their relevance to the research topic, i.e. socio-political

applications of e-government.

Multipurpose Smartcard

The smartcard was first introduced in Brunei in 2000. Since then, more than 300,000 have

been issued in the form of identity cards which are compulsory for all Bruneians.

Theoretically the card can be used as a driving license, school registration document or for

other purposes. It has also been identified for use in other multipurpose function such as a

travel document or passport. It may be used for immigration clearance at border control

points or even for future e-government applications.

E-Health

The vision of the Ministry of Health is to enhance medical services through e-Health. E-

Health refers to healthcare services being available through the Internet. E-Health is about

the use of informatics and telemedicine in the way we use information, telecommunication

and technology in medical care, prevention, education and training.

Malaysia

Malaysia has put much effort into ICT and e-Government, with the creation of various

flagship projects under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative. There have been

some challenges along the way, but there has also been significant progress both within the

government as well as e-services to the public (especially in urban areas and also to bridge

the digital divide -or reap the digital dividends, as some Malaysian leaders like to say in

more rural areas). Projects such as e-KL, SSO, national High Speed Broadband initiatives, etc

all bear testimony to this.


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The government is faring very well with its e-government strategy despite many challenges.

The strategy is successfully delivered in phases and the government is continuing their

effort to bring the e-government potential to the next level. The e-Government initiative was

launched in Malaysia in the year 1997 as one of the flagships of the MSC Malaysia initiative.

MDeC has been working together with the government in providing assistance and thought

leadership to facilitate implementation of the e-government initiative. On the side of

government, the Malaysian Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit

(MAMPU) is currently championing the e-Government initiative. Since 1997, there has been

tremendous improvement in the government operational efficiency and management via e-

Government initiative amongst others, and Malaysia has many success stories to share.

Malaysias success has also attracted other countries to learn from us and emulate our plan.

This is where Malaysia has positioned itself as the thought leader among other countries.

As the central agency for modernization of the civil service and transformation of service

delivery, MAMPU performs the following four functions:

Prime mover and change agent for the administration and management of the civilservice, introducing and promoting new programs for improvements, and

measuring and assessing the responsiveness, efficiency and effectiveness of the civil

service as a whole.

Planning and spearheading the development and usage of ICT in the public sector.Planning and administering public sector ICT systems which improve the delivery of

services.

Consultant on the organizational management giving advice on the structures,systems, and work procedures towards the improvement of the civil service.


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Facilitator for modernization and transformational programs for the delivery ofgovernment services. As knowledge repository for the expertise from all sectors

towards empowerment of and modernization of the administration.

Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)

In Malaysia the shift towards a knowledge-based economy started to gain momentum from

the mid-1990s. Rising wages coupled with echoing productivity had somehow eroded

Malaysia's position as a low-cost production base. This concerned spurred on the nation's

leadership in their search for new drivers of growth, one being the move away from labour-

intensive towards knowledge intensive industries. furthermore, Malaysia recognized that

low wages did not necessarily translate to competitiveness. to achieve sustainable economic

growth, it was imperative for munitions to embrace the knowledge-based economy but the

nation needed to harness the innovative potential of its people by leveraging on an educated

and skilled workforce, and investing in the right infrastructure, particularly in the area of

ICT.

It was against this backdrop that the multimedia super corridor was launched in 1996.

Conceived as a key engine of growth and Malaysia's principal vehicle to leapfrog from the

industrial to the information age. While computerization programme is in both the public

and private sectors had been ongoing for several decades, it was with the MSC that Malaysia

caught the attention of the world with its unique initiative, to create an entire "cyber region"

and a base for lower class technology, multimedia and content industry.

The MSC, planned identified seven flagship applications for priority development. These

applications are divided into two categories, multimedia development and multimedia

environment.


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Electronic government

The objective is to transform the workings of government at improving the way it operates

internally, and how it provides services to the public. The lead is stimulation administrative

modernization and management planning unit.

Multipurpose card

Malaysia launched the world's first national smartcard to improve the ease of transacting

with government agencies and private sector companies. The multipurpose card or MPC

contains the owner's identity code and electronic signature in a plastic card with an

embedded microprocessor chip. It allows a multitude of transactions such as personal

identification, driving licence, passport information, health application, as well as cash

withdrawal and payment. The government MPC known as my card was launched in early

2002. The central bank of Malaysia is the lead is for the deployment of this flagship.

Smart schools

In order to nurture a technologically attract and thinking workforce that will be critical to

transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based economy, the smart schools flagship publication

was implemented to totally revamp teaching and learning practices and processes, while

addressing all aspects of school management. The lead the Ministry of education.

Telehealth

The goal of this flagship application is to promote major as a regional centre for

telemedicine. This will be achieved by providing greater access to, and increased knowledge

on, health care. The flagship also encourages individuals to manage their own personal

health, and integrates information to allow smooth flow of products and services

throughout the health-care system. Roll clinics will be linked with medical experts in the city

and renowned clinics worldwide, using new tele-instruments for remote diagnosis. The lead

agency is the Ministry of Health.


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R&D Cluster

It has long been recognized that research and development is critical to the support of

Malaysia's goal to be a developed nation. This flagship was developed to help ensure that

the MSC becomes an attractive location for companies seeking to develop next-generation

multimedia technologies and innovation is it tries to foster collaborative efforts among

leading research and development firms, local universities and public research institutions,

as well as supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises on SMEs. The lead

agency is the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment.

The next two flagships were individually introduced. But because of their complementary

nature, were later combined into what was called the "e-business cluster".

The worldwide manufacturing web

This flagship strives to position Malaysia as a preferred location for manufacturing firms to

locate your pumps to support and control their manufacturing operations in the region more

efficiently and cost effectively. The objective is to develop a conducive environment for high

value-added manufacturing and related services, i.e. R&D, design, engineering, logistics

support, manufacturing control, procurement and distribution. The lead agency is the

Ministry of International trade and industry.

Borderless marketing centre.

This flagship leverage is on technology to enable business to transcend traditional barriers of

time, space for two better serve their customers. It is an initiative to spearhead the growth of

multimedia-based service industries in the MSC, with emphasis telemarketing online

information services, electronic commerce and digital broadcasting. The lead agency is the

multimedia development Corporation.


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The Electronic Government Flagship

Electronic government or the government is one of the flagship applications of the MSC

project. Broadly, the goal is to improve both how the government operates internally, and

how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience,

accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; it aims to improve

information flows and processes within government to enhance the speed and quality of

policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The Malaysian vision of electronic government is "for government, businesses and citizens

to work together for the benefit of the country and all its citizens." It is envisaged that this

vision will be realized when, through the use of ICT and multimedia, government agencies

become more efficient and effective in the delivery of public services, and consequently

more responsive to the needs of the citizens.

The e-Government vision is directly applicable in three broad areas:

Public/business to government.

Service access (IT one-stop, single point of contact, multiple delivery channels,multilingual).

Service quality (high-quality, reliability, security/privacy, accountability) Service delivery (efficiency/quick turnaround time, cost effective/productive).

Intra-agency.

Improved process. Enhanced profile People development.

Inter-agency.


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Enhance the capability of government machinery in engineering, the success of the e-government initiatives.

Provide government agencies and the general public access to information on theprogress of the e-government initiatives.

Provide a model of best practices in interactive multimedia information, collectionand dissemination.

Utilise IT to enhance processes in the public sector.

The e-government initiative is spearheaded by MAMPU. It has envisioned its e-government

initiative is being to drive public services towards excellence., and its mission is to bring

changes in the public administration services to achieve high quality, efficient, effective and

strong management, in line with the national goals.

Five pilot projects were identified as the first wave of e-government, namely, the Generic

Office Environment (GOE), e-Procurement, Human Resource Management Information

System (HRMIS), Project Monitoring System (PMS) and e-Services. These projects were

selected both for the impact as well as to showcase different aspects of e-government.

Generic Office Environment (GOE)

The Generic Office Environment is essentially an online resource management system which

allows communications between civil servants, online collaboration, and document

management and sharing. It includes a few modules two of which are an internal instant

messaging (IM) System, a document management system, and an electronic meeting and

bulletin board.

Project Monitoring System (PMS)

The Project Monitoring System is designed to provide a mechanism for the planning,

controlling and monitoring of development projects in an integrated manner. It will provide


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accurate and timely capture of project information and also ensure that up-to-date

information is available in variety of formats to enable management at all levels to analyze,

forecast and prepare reports for development projects. PMS is an on-line end-to-end project

monitoring system creating a collaborative environment for better management of

development projects. It has been implemented nationwide across 24 ministries.

Electronic Labour Exchange

In 1999, a sixth pilot e-government project was added, the Electronic Labour Exchange

(ELX). In any country, the lifeblood of the economy is its workforce. Recognizing this, the

Malaysian government saw the potential of using ICT to enhance the management of its

workforce. This came in the form of an Electronic Labour Exchange or ELX. ELX aims at

improving the coordination and mobilization of the nation's human resources by acting as a

one-stop centre for labour market information that will be accessible to the public, both

locally and overseas, including Malaysian students abroad and potential foreign investors.

e-Syariah

This application was built for the Islamic Justice Department, the body responsible for

Islamic legal issues (as opposed to Civil) in Malaysia. It was rolled out in April 2002. In

essence it is a monitoring and reporting system which enables the Islamic Justice

Department to monitor its various agencies and ensure the efficient flow of information

between its Islamic courts.

Singapore

Singapore e-Government has always been very strong. In fact Singapores IT journey has

been a long one staring in the early 1980s when the government saw the increasing

importance of IT to economic development, and formed the National Computer Board

(NCB). There have been a series of multi-year plans to build and strengthen the IT

foundations of the country over the years. The current masterplan is one that began some


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five years ago, called iN2015 (or Intelligent Nation 2015). This is a multi-faceted plan that

involves government, private sector, academia and citizen groups, and cuts across many

industries, with the underlying goal of exploring how ICT will help each industry be more

innovative, productive and successful.

The latest phase in Singapores series of IT masterplans was launched in 2006 and it is called

Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015). The Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) is a 10-year

masterplan with the vision to build Singapore into An Intelligent Nation, A Global City,

Powered by Infocomm.

Figure 3 Singapore i-Gov Masterplan. Source: IDA

From IDA website: iGov2010 is the Singapore Government's five-year masterplan that leverages

infocomm to continue to delight our customers and citizens. To achieve this vision, four thrusts have

been identified: Increasing Reach and Richness of e-Services; Increasing Citizens Mindshare in e-

Engagement; Enhancing the Capacity and Synergy in Government; and Enhancing the National

Competitive Advantage.

The action plans for e-Government have evolved in tandem with each National IT plan to bring about

exciting changes to the way Singapore Government works, interacts and serves the public.

Championing ICT adoption in the government sector are the e-Government Policies & Programmes

Division (ePPD) and the Government Infrastructure & Technology Division (GITD). Together they


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architect and plan government infrastructures that meets the changing needs of the public service,

and manage cum operate these infrastructures efficiently and effectively.

Under the e-Government Action Plan II, infocomm technologies had enabled both local and overseas

citizens to stay connected and engaged with Singapore. Accessing public information, participating in

public policy consultations and providing feedback to Government can now all be done online with

ease. Our iGov2010 efforts will continue to complement existing non-electronic service delivery

initiatives and take the Government-citizen relationship to the next level, one where citizens are

actively engaged in the policy-making process.

To achieve these, online information need to be clear and useful and presented in a vibrant and

interesting manner. The Singapore Government Online Portal www.gov.sg the gateway to all

Government information and e-services - will have an improved look-and-feel, better content search

facilities and clearer presentation of information on Government policies and services. For example,

illustrations and bite-size video snippets could be used to bring across messages in a more vivid

manner. In addition, the effectiveness and appeal of online Government channels need to be enhanced

to attract citizens to participate in online exchanges and provide feedback to the Government.

Besides engaging citizens in policy-making and reviews, online channels will also be leveraged to

foster greater bonding within different communities such as youths. The Youth Portal, Youth.sg, set

up in 25th February 2006, is a first stop resource portal for community participation, and a virtual

space for young Singaporeans who want to make a difference to the people around them. Youth.sg

offers young Singaporeans easy access to information on how to start their own community activities,

as well as information on initiatives that fellow youth are engaged in.

To continually meet the challenge of doing more with less, we need to improve the capacity of public

agencies and public officers through greater sharing of processes, data, and systems across the

Government.


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The Singapore Government Enterprise Architecture (SGEA), a blueprint to identify potential

business areas for inter-agency collaboration, will lead the way to reap greater efficiencies. It will also

set data and application standards to facilitate sharing of information and systems across agencies.

An instantiation of SGEA would be the consolidation of common Finance and Human Resource

services to public agencies under VITAL.org - Centre for Shared Services to bring about greater

economies of scale for the public sector.

Infocomm will also be exploited to transform the way public officers work, and to create solutions that

address the common challenges they face. For example, we can leverage on mobile technologies to

allow officers to work from anywhere and deploy collaborative desktop tools to support work across

departments and agencies. By 2010, a service-wide Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE)

will also be implemented to derive significant cost savings while enhancing operating efficiency. This

will make it easier to maintain and roll out new applications to all desktops, and establish a stronger

corporate identity.

We will also foster an environment that encourages innovative use of Infocomm and continue to

invest in innovative application of new technologies to reap the full benefits that Infocomm has to

offer. (IDA, 2005)

E-Government in ASEAN

Case Study: Facilitating Trade with the ASEAN Single Window

One of the major regional projects within the ASEAN context involves the area of logistics

and transportation, specifically customs clearance. Currently, each member country has their

own system of customs clearance, be it paper based or electronic. Because of this, there are

bottlenecks which occur when goods cross borders and customs clearance procedures of

both the shipping and receiving country have to be completed before these goods reach their

destination.


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Customs law is of course the prerogative of each sovereign nation, but because of the need

to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region

through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the

foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations and as

part of the Ministers commitment to the six pillars of the e-ASEAN initiative, it was deemed

necessary to look at how ICT could be harnessed to speed up logistics between the member

countries.

According to its website, The ASEAN Single Window, when fully implemented in 2012,

will speed up the clearance of shipments and the release of goods by customs authorities in

the ASEAN region. Through synchronizing the interventions of the government agencies,

traders, shippers, forwarders, transport operators and other parties, customs authorities aim

to clear containerised shipments within 30 minutes, a target set in the Strategic Plan of

Customs Development. Currently, clearance can take up to five days.

Businesses will benefit from the cut in transaction costs and time, and greater predictability

in administrative customs procedures. Consumers will enjoy more secure and timely

delivery of goods at a lower cost.

Herein lies the need for political will. For this regional single window to work, all member

countries must implement their own national single windows first. A National Single

Window is a clearance system that enables a single submission of information and data,

single and simultaneous processing of the data, and a single point of decision-making

through close collaboration among the lines ministries and other parties involved in the

customs clearance process.

The ASEAN Single Window will be in operation when all the ten National Single Windows

are operating in an integrated manner. For instance, if a container of goods destined for


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Malaysia first enters ASEAN through Thailand, a trader only has to submit the required

data once to a centralized hub and the information would then be automatically shared and

processed among the relevant agencies.

Under the 2005 Agreement to Establish and Implement the ASEAN Single Window, and its 2006

Protocol, the ASEAN Single Window will be implemented in Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia,

Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by 2008, and in Cambodia, Lao PDR,

Myanmar and Viet Nam by 2012. (ASEAN Secretariat, 2007)

Methodology

The data-gathering methodology selected for this study is the email interview. This

methodology was selected due to various factors, the main ones being related to cost, time,

and range of participants.

Advantages of the E-mail Interview

There are numerous advantages of using an e-mail interview rather than a face-to-face

interview.

Cost. The email interview is perhaps the cheapest option among all qualitativemethods as there is hardly any travelling involved because most of the interview is

conducted online. In terms of materials and equipment, there is also less need as all

that is required is a PC and an internet connection, both ubiquitous items commonly

available at this time.

Range of participants. A researcher is likely to be able to interview a wider range ofparticipants from a greater range of geographic locations as opposed to face to face

interviews where the geographic locations may become unviable due to the cost of

travel and time taken to reach the participants locations.


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Time for reflection. Email interviews allow the respondent time to reflect on thequestion and formulate their answers accordingly. Even after formulating their

responses, the interviewee still has time to reflect upon those answers, review, and

edit them if necessary. In a face to face interview which happens in real-time, this is

not usually possible. The same applies to the researcher when he/she receives the

responses from the interviewee. He/she can also has more time to read the responses

and reflect on them and perhaps formulate new questions if need be.

Rapport. One of the main ingredients of a good interview is rapport between theparticipant and the interviewer. This rapport takes time to build and obviously

cannot be established within a brief one or two hour face-to-face interview. It is

therefore ideal here in terms of establishing rapport that the email interview can take

much longer as this rapport can be built up over that time.

Overcoming interviewer effects. Face-to-face interviews might be affected by thepersonal visual characteristics of the interviewer or the participant. Conducting an

interview via e-mail helps avoid any visual effects.

Disadvantages of the E-Mail Interview

Although there are clear benefits to the use of an e-mail interview, benefits that in some

circumstances out- weigh the disadvantages, these disadvantages do exist.

Problems with the sample. One of the biggest challenges in conducting emailinterviews is identifying a suitable sample, which in the case of this paper, consists of

e-government practitioners from ASEAN member countries, both from the public

and private sector. These are mid to high level individuals who are very busy with

their daily job and so one of the biggest uncertainties is the question of whether they

will have the time to participate in the interview or not. In terms of representation,

there also needs to be a balance in the sample, i.e. participants need to come from the


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three countries identified. In the case that responses are not received from

participants from a particular country, the sample will become biased. This needs to

be reflected in the paper at some point.

Another major problem with the sample is that researchers cannot be certain that

they are interviewing the person they think they are interviewing. In the case of this

paper for instance, the interview questions are targeted at policy-makers and

implementers of e-government programs but the intended participant may delegate

the task to his or her subordinates to complete the questionnaires and there is no way

of verifying who the answers came from.

The interview takes too long and loses focus. Because of the asynchronous nature ofthe medium, an email interview can often take quite a long time as the participants

may or may not check their email for several days at a time due to other priorities or

perhaps simply due to a lack of access. Worse still, the interviewer may also be trying

to conduct several interviews at once and thus take time to respond to the

participant, or he/she may not have access to email for extended periods and thus

responses to the participants may take some time. The risk here is that the participant

may lose interest in the interview and eventually drop-out. It is unfortunate that

under these circumstances the researcher is left with a partially completed interview,

about which a decision must be made regarding whether the information can be

used in subsequent analyses.

Ethical issues. Here one has to decide as to when would be the right time to followup with the participant on their responses to the interview questions. If it is too soon,

it may be construed as harassment. The types of questions needs to also be taken into

consideration as some participants may find certain lines of questioning sensitive, or

even offensive. This may lead to the participant withdrawing from the interview, in


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some cases, without the knowledge of the interviewer. This will cause problems,

particularly if the interviewer is under time constraints. In cases like these, the

interviewer needs to make a judgment call on whether or not to continue the

interview or to use the data collected thus far in the subsequent analysis.

Working with a set of interviews simultaneously. Another disadvantage of theemail interview arises due to the nature of email itself. Email allows us to conduct

several interviews at once since it is an asynchronous mode of communication. This

means that both parties need not be present at the same time during the interview.

Effectively, this allows one to conduct several interviews at the same time. This

multi-tasking may lead to an overload of information for the interviewer who may

eventually forget which piece of information came from where, particularly if the

interviewer is a disorganized person!

Missing nonverbal cues. Another problem with the email interview is the fact thatwe are unable to see each other (as opposed to an online interview over a video

conferencing program like Skype for instance). This means that we are unable to

catch nonverbal cues like mannerisms and facial expressions which can tell a lot

more than just what the interviewee is saying.

Impersonality. The email interview does not allow for a personal touch between theinterviewer and interviewee as it takes place online where both parties need not be

present at the same time. The question here is whether or not this allows people to be

more open and willing to communicate, or does the fact that it occurs online make

the interviewee more closed and unwilling to disclose as much as he/she would if

the interview were face-to-face, or on the other hand, does it allow them to disclose

other types of information in addition to that provided during the face-to-face

interview.


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Design

The design issues that apply to any interview study apply here. The research question

should drive the design of the interview protocol and the selection of participants. There are,

however, some differences that must be accounted for. The interview protocol might not be

the same as for face-to-face interview, and the questions might be presented in a different

manner. Although there is a need for further research to establish the efficacy of the different

approaches, interviewers can present a number of questions to the participant

simultaneously. That is not to say that the whole protocol should be presented. After all, in

many studies the interviewer wants to provide participants with the freedom to answer as

they wish rather than be constrained by a predetermined set of questions. It might be

beneficial to present three or four questions simultaneously to encourage broader and more

detailed answers, and to show the participant what it is that the interviewer is trying to

understand. In a face-to-face interview, these issues can be explained through allowing a

discussion between interviewer and participant both before and during the interview. This

is not possible in an email interview (Hunt & McHale, 2007).

Based on the above design guidelines, questions were derived from the research questions

which were:

What are the socio-political motives for ASEAN nation states to adopt andimplement e-government initiatives?

Does e-government help to strengthen the authoritarian state and augment centralauthority?

Does e-government help to eliminate corruption and other questionable practices byincreasing transparency and bolstering accountability?

Why do some e-government initiatives focus on service provision, while othersemphasize participation?


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To what degree do the various national e-government policies in ASEAN convergein terms of formulation of aims, and implementation?

In the ASEAN context, has September 11th caused a major shift in the perception ofe-government from a tool for increasing the convenience of government service

provision, facilitating administrative reform and furthering democratic participation

to a tool of defense against terrorist threats?

Some of the above questions, if asked directly, may be deemed sensitive, particularly in the

target countries which have authoritarian/semi-authoritarian governments. Taking this into

account, it was necessary to structure the questionnaire in a rather less direct manner. It was

decided that general questions about e-government policy and strategy in the country be

asked first in order to get the participant comfortable with the subject matter. At the outset,

it needed to be made clear that this interview was not about the official rankings and

reviews of the interviewees national e-government strategy and programs.

The questions derived were as follows:

1. Putting aside all the official global and regional rankings, how do you think your governmentis faring so far with its e-government strategy?

2. What do you think has changed in terms of government service delivery since theimplementation of the various e-government projects?

3. How has the take-up been for these e-services?4. Which e-services have been particularly successful in terms of implementation and take-up?

Why do you think they have been so successful?

5. What is your governments approach in terms of formulating its national e-governmentstrategy?

6. Are there any particular national objectives that are critical in this process, for instancemaintaining national security, sovereignty etc?


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7. When formulating e-government strategy and subsequent programs and projects, are thereany political considerations which are taken into account?

8. What has been the impact of these political and regulatory factors on e-government initiativesin your country?

9. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 caused a major shift in the perception of e-government from a tool for increasing the convenience of government service provision,

facilitating administrative reform and furthering democratic participation to a tool of defense

against terrorist threats. Do you think this is the case with your government as well?

10.What are some of the best practices that can be discerned from the experiences of your

government in terms of e-government policy formulation and implementation?

The order of the questions was carefully thought out as mentioned so as not to come across

as too direct. Questions directly related to the research were interspersed with questions of a

general nature. For example, questions 1 to 4 are of a more general nature which are

designed to open-up the participant to writing about the subject matter. Question 5 to 9

are more directly related to the research, and the final question again gives the participant

an opportunity to highlight the success stories in his/her experience with e-government

projects in his/her country. The words were also carefully selected for the same reason. The

number of questions was also limited to 10 in order to maintain the participants focus on

the task.

Sample Selection

With regards to sample selection, several criteria were taken into account to make sure that

the sample respondents would give a broad enough range of responses to show some

patterns which point towards the hypothesis or otherwise. One of the critical factors that

had to be considered was whether these participants would be able to respond in a timely


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manner as among the potential participant were busy e-government practitioners including

high level civil servants, CEOs of government owned ICT companies, and academics.

Among the criteria considered for selection of participants were their level of involvement in

the formulation of e-government strategy (as opposed to specific projects), their level within

their organizations (for the purposes of this study, a macro birds eye view was sought

rather than a micro detailed account of government policy), their seniority (as most of these

policies would have been implemented with medium to long term objectives in mind so a

certain degree of institutional memory was being sought as well), and their level of

involvement in the organizations day-to-day activities (as this would affect their ability to

respond to the questionnaire).

Administration

The email questionnaires were sent out to the participants together with a short email

explaining the purpose of the questionnaire and in cases where referrals were sought,

mentioning the referrer as well. A sample email is shown below:

I was referred to you by one of our mutual friends, James Yong from Cisco who highly

recommended you as someone who could assist me.

My name is Reeda and I am currently at the tail end of a one year sabbatical doing my MA in

New Media and Society. I am currently writing my dissertation which focuses primarily on

the socio-political rationale behind national e-government strategies and their subsequent

programs and projects.

As part of my data collection, I am doing a series of email interviews with e-government

practitioners from 3 ASEAN countries, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.


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I would be grateful if you could spare some time to participate in my research by answering

the questions attached. I may follow this interview up with further questions if necessary.

Thanking you in advance for your participation and I look forward to receiving your

invaluable insights into e-government in Malaysia.

The email interview proved to be quite a challenge in terms of getting timely responses and

in hindsight, should be used only when time is not an issue. A total of 12 emails were sent

out to four respondents from each of the target countries, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Out of these, 5 responses were received. 3 from Brunei, and 1 each from Singapore and

Malaysia. The average time taken for responses were between 1 to 6 weeks. This was

expected as the respondents were busy individuals who had little time to spare and so it was

fortunate that some of the respondents were actually able to respond within that 6 week

time frame.

Some of the respondents actually replied to the email questionnaire requesting that the

interview be conducted face to face instead. Although some of the interviews were then

subsequently conducted face to face, it was decided that there were marked differences in

the responses due to the factors outlined under the methodology chapter above.

Furthermore, the data was recorded in audio form. As such, the data collected was not used

in this discussion and analysis.

One of the biggest challenges in identifying potential respondents was whether or not they

were likely to respond to the email. In order to increase the chances of getting a response,

referrals were sought from an existing network of contacts both within the governments of

these countries and also those within the ICT industries surrounding these governments. It

was hoped that with these referrals, the respondents would feel more at ease with the

questionnaire and be more likely to respond.


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To a certain extent, this strategy did work as responses were forthcoming from respondents

who were referred than those approached directly. Referrals also worked as due to mail

filters implemented by some of the emails to respondents, the email questionnaires would

have ended up in their junk email folders had it not been for the referrers email address

which was on the recipient list.

Discussion and Analysis

Most governments have realized over the years that a command and control or central

government knows best model doesnt work very well. The strategy development and

policy formulation process needs to involve more stakeholders. In developing the iN2015

masterplan, the Singapore government leveraged on a series of committees which

comprised leaders from government, private sector, academia and NGOs. E-Government,

indeed all national ICT initiatives, need to be deployed in alignment with national goals. ICT

is the means to an end, not the end in itself.

Most countries objectives fall into three or four categories: economic development, social

development, infrastructural (sometimes called national) development and public safety &

security. Thus the ICT plans need to be formulated to support the key metrics or sub-

objectives under each of these categories.

One of the interesting findings from this study was the different aspects of politics which

respondents perceived which were not necessarily within the purview of the research

question but nevertheless were deemed as important. For example, one respondent

perceived politics from within the government machinery instead of the public at large.

He said, Some ICT and e-Government programmes cross the electoral terms of political

leaders. There is a danger that when a new political party comes into power, the ICT

strategies and directions of the previous administration might be changed or funding


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reduced/discontinued. This may be disruptive. Agencies undertaking the strategic planning

for ICT and e-Government often need to be shrewd in their planning and consider their

deployment under different political scenarios.

Another aspect of politics is the differing strength or influence of different ministries. The

more influential ministries (typically Finance, Defence or Prime Ministers Office) usually

have inordinate degrees of influence over the ICT directions, which may or may not be for

the overall good of the country. Appointing an objective ICT Czar (or individual with

powers equal to a senior minister) is sometimes helpful to ensure that all relevant ICT

programmes receive requisite attention.

Why e-government?

According to one of the respondents, Haslina Taib, CEO of BAG Networks, there seems to

be an emphasis on the what and the how but not the why as indicated by her

response to how she thought her government was faring with its e-government strategy,

Depth of strategic directions : The strategy still focuses on the "what" and not the "how".

Discussions need to go to the third and fourth layer operationally down in order to break

down the strategy further. How do we synchronize people, technology and process for

mobilization of e government strategy for the benefit of non duplication, smart

procurement. Need leaders to instruct functional departments to go through the how's to

these three areas (people process and relevant technology) with experienced third parties.

There is also an emphasis on e-government being crucial for the economic development of

the country. As stated by another respondent, Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer,

Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), The government has been taking a

comprehensive approach to formulate an optimistic and realistic national e-Government

strategy that sets out specific goals and objectives for long term development and


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contribution to the national agenda. The objective for e-government is to transform

administrative process and service delivery through the use of Information Communication

Technology (ICT) and multimedia. Multiple inputs and factors have been considered in the

formulation of the strategy and the implementation has been segmented into achievable

phases. The overall aim is also tied with the countrys vision to be a fully developed,

matured, balanced society and knowledge-rich Malaysia by the year 2020.

Perceptions Do Matter

When asked about their perception of e-government success in their countries, one

respondent interestingly replied, However, perception and general statements may not be

sufficient to gauge government achievement. Official global ranking is one of the good

measures to see where Malaysia stands in relative to other countries. Worth to mention as an

example, Malaysia ranks 11th out of 198 countries in the Brown University/Brooking e-

government ranking 2008.

In other words, the respondent is saying that on top of economic development, social

development, infrastructural (sometimes called national) development and public safety &

security, the pe

why e-government?

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