"Apart from the present (government) website, we need to use whatever tools are available to reach out to the general public. Tools such as Facebook are something we can explore," said the Acting e-Government National Centre (EGNC) Director.
However, depicting the government on such open and often considered "informal" social networking sites does have its challenges, an issue which The Brunei Times highlighted to the acting director.
"That's why we have to take it slow and easy, but we feel that there are much more positive points, such as the constructive feedback we can get from the public," Saiful Rhymin CA Mohamed explained.
The acting EGNC director noted that some government agencies such as the Ministry of Development already have a Facebook account. However, when asked previously, the operators of the site said that it was an "unofficial" page for the ministry to update its followers on its day-to-day activities.
"It's meaningful to us that we stay relevant in whatever we do," Saiful Rhymin said.
The acting director had been speaking at the sidelines of a ceremony at The Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday, which saw Brunei ink a deal with the government of the Republic of Korea to open cooperation in e-government, particularly in capacity building.
The Prime Minister's Office's Chief Information Officer, Hjh Mariah Hj Mohd Taha remarked that through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Brunei would be able to learn the best practices of utilising e-participation tools from Korea, whose e-government is currently ranked number one in the world by the United Nations (UN).
The use of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites by the Brunei government was previously suggested by a UN e-government expert, who was in the Sultanate for an e-government training workshop held earlier in July.
"The government needs to get on blogs, on Facebook ... This way, you are telling the younger generation, `We recognise this is the area you are playing in and we want to join you'," said Richard Kerby, the interregional adviser on e-Government and Knowledge Management for the e-Government branch of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Ubaidillah Masli
Quelle/Source: Bru Direct, 08.08.2010
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