This means that by 2015, Malaysians will be able to carry out 90% of their transactions with government departments and agencies via the myGovernment.
Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ali Hamsa recently set the target stating that the Government is creating an environment in which extensive application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is expected to encourage communities to interact in real time.
The dream of implementing an e-government is not new. It dates back more than a decade when the Malaysian Electronic Government (or EG) was introduced as one of the initial flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in August 1996.
The main objective of the EG was to make the government administrative machinery effective and efficient, utilising state-of-the-art ICT – both for the internal administration and its services for the people.
For this purpose, the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) has been tasked with setting guidelines and monitoring the implementation of EG.
Back in 1996 when the EG initiative was first launched, the country’s target was not only to reinvent the Government using ICT, but also to become a pioneer EG that would be the benchmark for a global government.
It is now 2012. Sixteen years after the EG initiative was launched, Ali announced that currently, 35% of government services are available through the portal.
This 35% of EG services include allowing pensioners and senior citizens to access their various benefits online, licence and permit renewals, passport renewals and local council summons payments.
It is rather disappointing to know that after the fireworks involved in the establishment of the MSC and announcement that Malaysia targets to be a global EG, only a measly 35% of its services are available to the people via ICT.
To achieve 90% by 2015 actually shows that we have not come very far in achieving the target of having an e-government. Does it really take 19 years to have 90% of government services available online?
What have the government departments and agencies that provide public counter services been doing for the past 16 years?
There is however, a different scenario in the Sarawak state government. I checked out its portal www.sarawak.gov.my and found to my delight that the state civil service has come very close to achieving the target of being an e-government.
I would say that the state government has already achieved 90% of having its services online, as compared to the Federal Government.
According to the portal, the e-government initiatives in Sarawak started in 1995, a year before the Federal Government’s initiative in 1996.
Browsing through the portal, I found that the state government has been quite successful in implementing various online services.
One is able to pay one’s monthly utility and cable television bills via its e-portal – the most essential service that the government can offer.
The public and business community are even able to search for businesses registered with the Sarawak government and view state government tender notices via its e-tender link.
Young Sarawakians are also able to apply for state scholarships via e-scholarship through the portal.
One feature I found highlighted in the state government’s portal was Talikhidmat (which I believe is also advertised on private radio stations in the state).
Talikhidmat is a channel for ordinary persons to give feedback and lodge complaints about all government and non-governmental organisations in the state.
One is also able to be on the lookout for government jobs, access libraries, download government forms, and book government facilities via the portal.
Another plus point for the state government is that it has created the online service for local businesses to register as government contractors or consultants via its e-UPK service.
The portal also links users to the individual state ministries, departments, agencies, statutory bodies, Resident’s offices, district offices and local councils that have made their services and information available online.
There are also links to panoramic images and maps of roads in the state.
Websites of government departments and agencies have been recently updated.
I also noticed uniformity and simplicity of the websites of the state ministries, departments, agencies, statutory bodies, Resident’s offices, district offices and local councils. They do not take too long to load and do not contain too many bells and whistles, which to me are a complete waste of time and bandwidth.
This is another point the Federal departments could learn from the Sarawak government. Some Federal ministries and departments tend to go overboard with flash, blings and scrolling marquees embedded on their websites.
A civil servant in his email to me said the state civil service was serious about having the respective websites and e-services online and up-to-date.
All offices within the state civil service are always sent reminders to update their websites, and they are given ratings based on their websites via both the state ICT Unit and Mampu.
The state government’s efforts to go electronic have certainly paid off. The Sarawak Electric Government Portal was awarded five-star rating in the Malaysian government Portal and Websites Assessment for last year.
I can only conclude that Federal departments can learn quite a bit from Sarawak.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): M. Rjaha
Quelle/Source: The Star , 07.07.2012
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