Hjh Mariah Hj Mohd Taha, who is also a Senior Special Duties Officer at the Prime Minister's Office, shared with The Brunei Times that the feedback of more than 400 respondents has been collected during the survey's roadshow, which has already reached the Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Temburong Districts and will see Belait District's participation on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the remaining respondents conducted the survey through the survey's website, www.egovcitizensurvey2009gov.bn, with some filling out the questionnaire from abroad.
"We were surprised to find that out," she said.
With just about a week since the survey was launched on December 4, the survey has already achieved about a third of its target of 2,000 people to be included in the survey.
"The response is showing that society is more informed. They want to participate in such exercises," she said.
Hjh Mariah added that exceeding the target would also be helpful, although noting that the government was adamant in getting "valid responses" in this survey.
"The government is conducting the survey to get a better understanding of what the citizens need from e-Government and hence, identify which government services should be made online, and understand how citizens will be using these services," she said.
"The result of the survey will help us to identify e-services that have strong demand from the citizens. Most importantly, the survey will help to prioritise our e-government initiative to deliver the most value to the citizens," she added.
The EGNC acting director reminded that the government implemented most e-Government initiatives in the past based on what the government thought the citizens and businesses wanted.
"This time, we would like the citizens to participate and tell us what is it they want," she said.
However, she defended that what was done in the past in their approach in implementing e-Government initiatives was not a mistake since e-Government was an "iterative process" with "valuable lessons learned along the way".
"Like some other countries, Brunei has implemented e-government and we have to perfect these steps to learn what is worth doing and what would deliver value," she said.
With the focus of the Sultanate's e-Government initiative on being and remaining citizen-centric, Hjh Mariah explained that the first step was to understand consumer demands, especially through the survey.
"So the data from the survey, which is studying the current and future demands of the citizens, will help us in making e-Government decisions," she said.
Jointly conducted by the Prime Minister's Office and Inform Federation Brunei in collaboration with EGNC and BAG Networks Sdn Bhd, the survey is hoped to cover the various types of demographics in Brunei by selecting a smaller representative population.
At the end of this month, the results of the survey will be examined and analysed by the Prime Minister's Office and Inform Federation Brunei .
Following this assessment, it will be decided whether it would be necessary to extend the survey into January and to carry out focus groups.
"It all depends on the results that we are going to get this December," she said. "If necessary, we will re-strategise the next steps for the next month."
The outcome of the survey will be shared with the public after a thorough analysis of the data, she added.
The public will have the opportunity to participate in the survey on Saturday at The Mall.
The e-Government Citizen Survey will then focus on e-government services of the Labour Department and the Immigration and National Registration Department.
The following day (Sunday), the survey is scheduled to be carried out at Supasave, Soon Lee and Pasar Tudung Saji in the Belait District.
The survey is also scheduled to be carried out in the district again on December 15 at Shell Coffee Bean, Seria.
The final session of the survey is scheduled to take place on December 20 in Banger Town, Temburong District.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Ubaidillah Masli
Quelle/Source: Brunei Direct, 10.12.2009
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