Prime Minister and self-proclaimed “e-premier” Hun Sen shamed technological troglodytes throughout the government yesterday for their laggardly embrace of new communication tools, which he maintained would quicken the government’s work if properly applied. Declaring a technologically fostered “e-government”, the premier chided digitally illiterate civil servants, urging them to at least master basic smartphone functions like SMS, email and Viber, noting that he himself had bestowed his blessing on the recent agreement on the Kingdom’s new election law by firing off a quick chat via messaging system WhatsApp.
According to a report in Bernama.com, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior recently announced that as many as 2.2 million Cambodians have already received the new ID cards in the first phase of issuance, and another 5.5 million will get the new IDs soon.
As of yet, its unclear which company is assisting the country in the rollout of this program.
The use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will prove a “catalyst” for the Kingdom’s development, the secretary general of the National Information Communications Technology Department Authority (NiDA) said Monday.
Speaking on the eve of the UN’s Asian and Pacific Training Centre for ICT’s (UN-APICT) four-day training programme for government officials, Leewood Phu told the Post: “ICT is a major factor in helping the development of Cambodia. It’s the catalyst for the sector.”
Weiterlesen: Cambodia: UN course to boost use of ICT to improve governance
About 32 kilometres outside Phnom Penh stands a public secondary school that is one of the small, but growing, group of government-run schools in the Kingdom connected to the internet. Thet Visith, a grade 9 student at Samraong Leu high school in Kandal province, said he is only able to use the internet for two hours a week, but he is still grateful for the free use of online resources. “It is good to have an internet connection at my school because I can look for interesting news and gain new knowledge easily,” he said.
High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March.