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Sunday, 6.07.2025
Transforming Government since 2001
The 10th Asean Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting (Telmin) yesterday adopted and launched the Asean ICT Masterplan 2015 (AIM 2015).

A symbolic launching ceremony was held at the Royal Chulan Hotel here where all the 10 Asean ministers or their representatives, were invited to place their right palms on a panel dubbed “the circle of solidarity” which have each country’s flag, witnessed by about 500 guests.

The ministers later received the AIM 2015, titled “We’re Stronger When We’re Connected” from Malaysian Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

Read more: Telmin adopts Asean ICT Masterplan 2015

Of the top 100 cities with the world’s fastest internet speeds, 73 are in Asia, a report from Akamai has revealed. What are the implications of high-speed connectivity for government services?

Korea and Japan racing ahead

Of the top 100 cities by average internet connection speed measured by Akamai, which serves around 20 per cent of the world’s web traffic, 61 cities are Japanese and 12 are Korean. Hong Kong also makes the list.

By contrast, only 12 US cities and 12 European cities feature in the table, published in Akamai’s Q1 2010 State of the Internet report.

Read more: What web speed means for Asia's public sector

More of the huge reserves of information locked away in the basements of government buildings should be made available to the public. So say government modernisers in Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia following the news that the Mayor of London has sparked an “information revolution” in the British capital by putting data online for public consumption for the first time, free of charge.

The ‘London Datastore’ web site, which is the same in principle to the Apps for Democracy initiative launched in Washington DC in 2008, gives London’s software developers the opportunity to unlock the commercial value of data and create applications that are useful for citizens, government and society as a whole.

Read more: Asian governments eye gains from setting data free

In remote areas such as Qinghai Province in China or the northern reaches of Thailand, videoconferencing is proving to be the most effective way yet of connecting disparate communities in far flung places.

Qinghai is the largest province in China, stretching across the northeastern Tibetan Plateau over an area of 721,000 km2 - 7.5 per cent of the country. But Qinghai has one of the country’s smallest populations; 5.2 million people are scattered in pockets of the vast expanse of mountains, deserts and grasslands.

Read more: Asia: Ending the tyranny of distance

ICT lies at the heart of modernising Asia’s education systems. However, technology alone will not be enough to bridge the digital divide, says Anita Dighe, Director, Directorate of Distance Learning, India. She went on to stress areas which governments need to focus on in order to deliver positive outcomes.

Research has shown that projects to promote life-long learning through technology within illiterate communities can strengthen inequalities rather than reduce them. The people who benefit from computers and internet access are generally younger people, instead of the intended people who are older, disabled or unemployed.

Read more: Asia: How to make ICT-enabled education succeed

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