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

The Electronic Government initiative in Malaysia was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. 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.

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.



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.

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

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 anagerial and operational processes
• Improve paperless HRM capabilities
• Open and flexible system
• Better communication, horizontal integration, streamlined processes and
single window access.

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

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

Most governments are only in the initial phases of adopting e-government and reaping its benefits. ICT can improve financial management and reporting, streamline the delivery of government services, and enhance communication with the citizenry by providing additional ways for citizens to interact with government.

Barriers do exist that slow the adoption of ICT by the public, and more work is needed to better understand these and other factors and how to address them. In the meantime WITSA recommends the following steps be aggressively pursued:

• Ensure citizens’ privacy and security by building strong capabilities into the systems before privacy and security become a problem.

• Provide incentives for citizens and businesses to use new e-government services.

• Promote new online services and make citizens and other government agencies aware of new capabilities, services and enhancements.

• Adopt new and innovative funding methods and develop new partnership models with the private sector, outsourcing non-core competencies to reduce costs and leverage expertise.

• Adopt open and transparent procurement practices