E- Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies

E-Government is the use of e-commerce and IT with which to access government information and delivery of public services to business partners and citizens. The implementation of E- Government launched the country to the information age and it was started with the initiation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian government. In Malaysia, the status of E – Government has been accelerated in order to transform Malaysia to a knowledge society by year 2020. The Malaysian E-Government has seven flagship applications: They are E– Syariah, Electronic Services (E – Services), Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX), Generic Office Environment (GOE), Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS), Project Monitoring System (SPP II), and Electronic Procurement (EP). Click here: Malaysia Information and Commication Technology

Until now, the implementation of E- Government has always focused on effectively and efficiently delivering public services to the citizens. In a related survey, Malaysia’s ranking is 25th out of 32 countries in terms of E– Government usage growth, in year 2007. However, implementing a successful e-government project is not without any barriers.

The four main barriers affecting Malaysia’s E- Government implementation is Budgetary Framework, Legislative and Regulatory Barriers, Lagging Behind Technological Changes, and the Digital Divide which impedes the benefits of E- Government.

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Citizen's adoption strategies
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The great speed of technology advancement has always forced the government to be particularly thoughtful and mindful about time, in particular to shorten the transaction periods, which have traditionally delayed the implementation of projects and official procedures in a transaction.

Besides that, the government should manage and focus on the conversion of government procedures and transactions into e-government, rather than emphasising on the introduction of ICT. At the same time, through the ICT the government can gather the participation of businesses and citizens in a public decision.

Apart from that, one of the citizens’ considerations to accept E-Government is the capability of the application. Thus, the government should carry out strategies to make sure that the citizens are adopting or accepting the implementation of E-Government. The strategies that raise the citizens’ confidence towards the capability of E-Government is through providing more convenience for citizens when they use government services; providing a single shared platform just for the delivery of government news and information; and providing a single entry point to search for the information and online services.

On the other hand, in a transaction involving government online services , the government should  facilitate  the easy downloading of forms and information on their usage, for the public’s convenience.

In this way, government agencies and the public can easily communicate via community based services through a single shared platform, and the citizens are educated on the process and procedures when using the various services issued by government agencies.

Reference(s):

Malaysia Information and commication Technology. Retrieved  Feb 22,2011 from http://www.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm#E-Government

E- Government. (n.d.). Retrieved Feb 22, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government

E- Government in Malaysia. (May, 2008). Retrieved Feb 22, 2011, from http://www.mait.com/admin/enews_images/MAIT%20Country%20Intelligence%20eNews96_37.pdf

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