About 15% of Malaysians have used the Internet to access online government services over the last 12 months, compared to 12% cent in 2002. This represented 44% of those who used the Internet within the last month, TNS Malaysia said in a statement. Looking for information remained the main reason for visiting government sites.
In its survey, Malaysia ranked 25 out of 32 countries in terms of growth; but was rated amongst top 10 of 30 countries worldwide in terms of safety perception.
The number of people accessing government websites within Asia Pacific has increased significantly last year compared to 2002, according to TNS.
"The majority of (Malaysian) users were mainly young people," said TNS Malaysia managing director Siti Norbaya Manaf.
Those under 25-years made up 25%; 19% came from those in the 25-34 age bracket; and only 13% came from the 35-44 age bracket, she said.
As in the 2002 findings, usage was higher among households with high incomes (23%) and higher levels of education (38%), but the increases are more significant in 2003 amongst the medium income (16% in 2003 compared to 10% in 2002).
"Security over the Internet still remains a concern," said Norbaya.
Only 32% of Malaysians interviewed considered it is safe to use the Internet to provide the Government with personal information, as compared to 35% the previous year.
"On the same note, those who considered it unsafe have risen to 47% compared to 42% in 2002.
"This clearly indicates that safety remains the main concern of most Internet users. It is a barrier that we will need to overcome, especially if we want to see more Malaysians becoming IT-savvy," she added.
Other Asian countries like Singapore and India have posted much higher e-government usage of 53% and 40%, respectively, she noted.
Conducted across 32 markets, the annual TNS Government Online Study found that within Asian countries, Singapore maintained its lead with more than half of the population using e-government services.
Taking the lead regionally however in terms of the highest increase in numbers of users was Hong Kong (from 37% to 43%). This increase was possibly the result of increased public access to Internet terminals as well as its introduction of new "smart" identity cards.&
Also seeing notable rises in the numbers of users of government services online were New Zealand (from 40% to 45%), Taiwan (30% to 35%) and South Korea (up four points to 27%).
Despite having the lowest levels of usage in Asia Pacific at just half the global average (15%), Japan and Malaysia still saw increases in use of 2% and 3% respectively; in the case of Japan, this represented a reversal in the downward trend observed in 2002.
Almost one-quarter of e-government users worldwide (24%) use the service to "seek information." with less than one in 10 adults using e-government to "provide personal information" (9%) or to "make online payments" (8%).
Not surprisingly, people felt safest using online government services in those countries with some of the largest proportion of e-government users, namely Singapore (44%), Hong Kong (40%), New Zealand (35%) and Australia (35%).
Other key findings include:
- GROWTH in the use of e-government has slowed in many markets, particular in the United States (from 43% of adults in 2002 to 44% in 2003) and Germany (from 24% to 26%);
- THE biggest increases in use were in the Netherlands (from 41% in 2002 to 52% in 2003), Denmark (from 53% to 63%), Finland (from 49% to 58%) and France (from 25% to 5%);
- USE of e-government was high amongst Internet users globally at 64% on average (63% average in Asia Pacific, with the highest levels in Singapore at 75%, followed by Australia and Hong Kong at 70% each);
- GLOBALLY, e-government usage was higher amongst men than women, corresponding with the finding that males use the Internet more than females, a pattern which was found in both the 2001 and 2002 TNS Government Online studies.
"Improved Internet access, enhanced connection speeds, marketing and communications and website functionality are likely to be instrumental in achieving this, but one of the main challenges still facing governments is convincing existing and potential users that it is safe to provide personal details online.
"At a time when members of the public are increasingly turning to the Internet as an information resource, there is also growing concern about access to personal information by hackers and spam mailers.
"Governments around the world need to allay public fears by communicating the security measures which are in place to prevent access to personal details so that confidence grows," she added.
The Government Online (GO) Study was undertaken by the Social, Government and Polling division of TNS, via telephone and face-to-face interviews with 31,823 people across 32 countries or territories between July and October 2003.
Those countries or territories covered by the study were: Australia, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States.
Quelle: The Star, 31.12.2003
