E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation so far and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

Implementation and strategies

The implementation of Electronic Government (e-government) started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysia Government. It was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. The migration from paper-based services to electronic version has opened wide the potential of e-government application. It has improved both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. Simultaneously, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The myGovernment Portal (www.gov.my) acts as the one-stop source of Malaysian government information and services for the citizens.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows:
1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
Online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs. For example, from project application to approval to implementation, mid-term review and completion.

Objectives:
• To support and monitor entire lifecycle of Malaysia’s 5-Year development program.
• To have a quality projects
• To provide a platform for exchanging ideas and demonstrating best practices models in project implementation.
• To have an effective decision making based on analysis/forecasting of project information and auto-alert on problem projects (e.g. Budget overrun)

2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
HRMIS is an integrated, technology enabled Human Resource Management
Information System for the Malaysian Public Service, incorporating Global Best Practices in HR that would enable the Public Service to successfully deal with the Challenges of the K-Economy.

Objectives:
• Effective staffing and right-sizing of civil service
• Up-to-date consolidated HR data for effective information planning.
• Automate human resource managerial and operational processes
• Improve paperless HRM capabilities
• Open and flexible system
• Better communication, horizontal integration, streamlined processes and single window access.

3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
Powerful document and office management solution that enables users to manage their office environment effectively and efficiently. It is fully web-based and has been customized based on local developed package.

Objectives:
• Efficient preparation and storage of documents
• Fast search and retrieval of documents
• Effective and productive collaboration and sharing of information
• Secure and traceable access to documents

4. E-procurement
An electronic procurement system, which enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through the Internet. Suppliers “open shop” on the World Wide Web, advertise their goods, present their pricing, process orders and deliveries.

Objectives:
• Enables accountability and transparency
• Creates more skilled and knowledgeable workforce.
• Equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost.

5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
E-Services is one of the pilot projects under the Electronic Government Flagship within the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative. With E-Services, one can now conduct transactions with Government agencies, such as the Road Transport Department (RTD) and private utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) through various convenient channels such as the eServices kiosks and internet. No more queuing, traffic jams or bureaucratic hassles and one can now conduct transaction at one’s own convenience.

6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
ELX is one stop-centre for labor market information, as supervised by the Ministry of Human Resource
(MOHR), to enable employers and job seekers to communicate on the same platform.

Objectives:
• An effective and integrated job matching process
• Provide an effective center of labor market information and references
• To improve mobilization of the nation’s human resources and to ensure that manpower utilization is
optimized.

7. e-Syariah
e-Syariah is the seventh project under the Electronic Government flagship application of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). A case management system that integrates the processes related to management of cases for the Syariah Courts.

Objectives:
• To improve the quality of services of the Syariah Courts
• To improve the effectiveness of JKSM in coordinating and supervising related agencies under its jurisdiction
• To improve the productivity and efficiency of the management of the Syariah courts throughout the country
• To uphold the splendors of Islam through the use of ICT

Trends

The first trend is that, after a period of rapid expansion, the pace of e-government advances is slowing and hit a plateau of e-government maturity. This is showing that the e-government implementation is just making a great impact during the early stage of the implementation.

The second trend is that most of the government leaders are making tangible savings by being able to deliver enhanced government services while making operations more cost effective. Rather than realizing the public benefits on e-government services, the government leaders are more concerned on getting popular by their achievement in implementing e-government services.

The third trend is that promoting e-government is becoming a main priority in order to increase the citizen usage of e-government applications. Citizens rarely take advantage of the e-government services. Thus, promoting the services has become a priority.

The fourth trend is that the countries face new challenges in integrating the e-government services as they are growing. While government seek to integrate services across their own agencies and departments, leaders in e-government are tackling the more complex challenges of integrating local, state, federal and even international services.

The last trend in e-government is the growing interest in offering personalized services to the individual citizen. By identifying and segmenting their citizen or user base, government are able to provide citizens with relevant services and information, quicker and more cost effectively.

Citizen’s adoption

According to Wasade University World e-government ranking released, the best ranking of Malaysia is placed on 9th of the world in year 2005. However, Malaysians are concerned about the security of doing transaction over the internet and this resulted in low usage of e-government services. In accordance with that, the younger Malaysian who are under 34, are the primary users of e-government services. Household with high incomes and higher levels of education use e-government services more actively.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the main challenge in e-government in Malaysia is the technological challenge, which includes issues like standards, data integration, legacy maintenance, privacy and security. The key priority is to improve the core government application and integrating more services across agencies, At the same time, market the e-government services to the public and business.

In order to make the right decisions and avoiding falling behind, governments must identify and resolve the different issues that have arisen from the transition period during which traditional and e-government co-exist. Rather than just focusing on introduction of ICTs, government should decide on, guide and control the transformation of government into e-government.