E-Government is the short-term for electronic government. It is also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or transformational government. Malaysia’s huge e-government began in 1997 with the launch of Multimedia Super Corridor E-Government Flagship Application.
E-Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It will improve the way government operates internally, as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It also seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and qualities of interactions with citizens and businesses. In the meantime, it also improves information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia Vision
According to the survey which done by Brown University on Rhode Island, United State, on international e-government ranking list, Malaysia is in the ranking of 25. Malaysia government has successfully implemented the e-government. One of the most successful applications is e-filling.
E-filling is a method of filing of all income documents of tax payer in Malaysia, which uses an electronic format rather than a traditional paper format, from office or home through Internet. To use these services, taxpayers need to make a tax registration. Malaysia's Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will send the PIN for online tax registration through mail to the taxpayers.
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 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows:
1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II) – is an online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs. It also support and monitor entire lifecycle of Malaysia’s five year development program, to have a quality projects, provide a platform for exchanging ideas and demonstrate best practices models in project implementation.
2. Human Resource Management Information System (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.
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE) – the objectives of GOE were to have an efficient preparation and storage of documents, fast search and retrieval of documents, effective and productive collaboration and sharing of information and secure and traceable access to documents.
4. Electronic Procurement (EP) – an electronic procurement system which enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through the Internet. It creates more skills and knowledgeable workforce and equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost.
5. Electronic 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), Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) through various convenient channels such as the E-Services kiosks and Internet. There is no need to queue, traffic jam or bureaucratic hassles and conduct transaction at one’s own convenience.
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX) – one stop-centre for labour market information, as supervised by the Ministry of Human Resource (MOHR), to enable employers and job seekers to communicate on the same platform. It is an effective and integrated job matching process, provide effective centre of labour market information and references and to improve mobilisation of the nation’s human resources and ensure that manpower utilisation is optimized.
7. E-Syariah – a case management system that integrates the processes related to management of cases for the Syariah Courts.
Common problems encounter by consumers
There are some problems faced in e-government implementation:
a. Language Barrier ~ most of the government websites used Bahasa Malaysia
b. Technological Barrier ~ lack of technical infrastructure
c. Online Behaviour ~ Malaysians remain sceptical on being distrust on electronic transaction especially online banking, buying things from an Internet store
d. Lack of Public Awareness ~ public are not aware of the services offered
e. Perceived Privacy Concern ~ the vulnerability and threat to consumer privacy is growing tremendously.
Activities conducted online and transactions can generate detailed electronic footprints that might expose individuals’ preferences, interests, and behaviours even if the user has never submitted specific personal identifiable information. In a way, Internet has the capacity to observe users and information about users can be gathered both for government and private sector purposes. So it will be a major problem which facing by the users.
Ways to encourage more citizens to use the e-government applications:
Citizen’s adoption strategies
1. Customer Satisfaction
E-Government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Government adoption. It is because the citizens are comfortable of the protected privacy and confidentiality of their information.
2. Service Quality
Online service quality for e-Government could be measured in terms of quality of content provided on the website, the speed of the response to the citizens concerns with problem solving approach, and the availability of names. Other important measurement factors are telephone and fax numbers of personnel with whom citizens might need to get in touch, and the integration of an offline channel with online channel so that citizens could interact with government departments through other means if necessary. Higher quality of service will lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and thus can increase the use of e-government services.
3. Website Design and Advertising
Personalization of websites, customization of product offerings, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also to enhance their experience. Government should design a friendly usage website to the citizen will increase the Internet adoption rate such as by displaying different languages and other functions to lead to easy used. These features give citizens a sense of control and participation and could potentially enhance their adoption.
4. The Importance of trust and Perceived Risk
Perceived risk, perceived control, internet experience and trust can have a direct impact on internet adoption. The experience citizen had will influence their trust towards e-Government. Users with prior experience, especially if satisfied, would be more likely to return to use e-Government services. Perceived risk leads to security and privacy issues that could discourage the use of online services. It is important to ensure that citizens can transact online securely and their personal information will be kept confidential to increase the level of trust and the e-government adoption rate.
The government should be able to propose an effective strategy to encourage citizen’s adoption of e-government by focusing on these four areas. However, the upmost important factor that the government should consider is the security issues of citizens’ personal information when they are using the E-Government applications.
