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Singapore Excels In E-Government
by William New
Singapore, an English-speaking Southeast Asian nation of about 4 million people, has become an e-government showcase as it moves closer to implementing an ambitious plan by next year.
Officials from other countries are lining up to study Singapore's e-government programs, and this week, the nation won the Explorer Award at the E-Gov 2002 conference in Washington for excellence and innovation in its e-government infrastructure. The award was to be presented by Mark Forman, the U.S. e-government czar and an official at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Singapore's $825 million, three-year e-government program is distinct because it goes beyond simply providing information about agencies to focus on the governance impact -- rules, regulations and policy -- according to Tan Swee Hua, director of the electronic-services division of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). E-government is "not just transforming technology," Tan said. The government realized it also should "take a step back." The e-government budget comprises 5 percent of the total budget.
Through a series of programs, government offers interactive Web sites where citizens may peruse their financial, health and other records, complete and submit forms, or receive assistance. The eCitizen portal makes 560 public services available, allowing citizens to file income taxes, renew vehicle licenses or apply for business licenses. Tan oversees the portal.
While in Washington this week, Tan met in an information-sharing session with officials from OMB and from FirstGov.gov, the U.S. government portal. FirstGov officials were interested in expanding their service beyond essentially a search engine for agencies.
Tan also oversees other government-wide initiatives, such as Government Electronic Business (GeBIZ), an integrated, Web-based system to facilitate procurement between the private and public sectors. About 85 percent, or 142, of government agencies are in GeBIZ, Tan said.
A third area of oversight is the Public Service Infrastructure (PSI), the platform agencies use for developing and providing e-services. PSI, for which Singapore won the award this week, was created through a consortium of companies, including National Computer Systems and Ecquaria. Through PSI, agencies share common ground for services such as payment gateways, electronic data exchange, authentication and other security services.
The E-Government Future
Tan said some regulatory changes, such as setting a policy direction for new e-services, are needed to implement the e-government program. Other issues under scrutiny in the United States, such as data privacy, do not appear to be under the microscope in Singapore, where existing laws limit access to confidential business information held by the government.
Tan noted that in the United States, it is customary to ask the public to give consent before their information may be shared, but Singapore considers consent implicit when citizens submit license applications.
IDA, which is under the Government Chief Technology Office at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, is the manager of e-government programs, she said. But the Ministry of Finance sets the central policies.
Singapore has a high literacy rate, is rated among the top countries for math and science, and has established a solid IT workforce, according to government officials. More than 50 percent of citizens have Internet access, and 60 percent own personal computers. An effort is underway to equip schoolchildren with computers at a rate of 2:1. It is currently about 5:1, Tan said.
The government has more than 70 percent of services online now and expects to be at 96 percent by March 2003, the end of the Singaporean fiscal year. The number of users has risen since Singapore's telecommunications deregulation in September 2000.
Like the United States, Singapore has developed strategies to retain its government information technology workers in the face of pull from the private sector. An example is wage flexibility, allowing Singapore to offer competitive salaries to highly skilled workers. The strategy attracts tech experts from India, China, the Philippines and Malaysia, Tan said.
Singapore also has developed a five-level system of IT training and retraining programs to expand the supply of workers, as well as Internet users.
Ng Tong Seng, general manager of government, health care and education at NCS, said the tech industry in Singapore is seeing opportunities in business-process engineering and IT security. And Singapore already is a headquarters for many U.S. companies doing business in Asia.
Australian Senate Scrutinizes Telecom Firm
The Australian telecom network Telstra, which is partially owned by the government, faces an inquiry by the Australian Senate to determine the capacity of the network to deliver adequate services to all parts of the nation. The probe will include a look at access to high-speed Internet, Australian IT reported.
Proponents of the investigation said it is necessary to the debate on telecom reform, which includes a government proposal to sell the rest of Telstra. But Communications Minister Richard Alston called the investigation a "political stunt."
Separately, the Senate also decided to investigate the role of libraries in providing public Internet access.
Also in Australia, civil libertarians have raised concerns that the government's proposed anti-terrorism bill would extend the use of surveillance methods and give it powers to intercept personal e-mail. Electronic Frontiers Australia has challenged the bill, arguing that e-mail should get the same privacy protection as telephone calls, which require a warrant for eavesdropping.
The Australian attorney general's office countered that the bill would not give such unchecked authority, and that any surveillance would be subject to the nation's privacy act.
The Federation of Community Legal Centers argued that the measure could lead to racial profiling and unjustified harassment of certain communities, according to Australian IT.
In other news, several high-tech multinational firms this week announced that they would give 20 percent of their charitable funds, equaling millions of dollars, for developing countries' information and communication technology initiatives. The announcement came during a U.N. conference on integrating such countries into globalization.
Microsoft is expected to give $43 million and Hewlett Packard about $10 million, Australian IT reported. Vivendi International also committed to the initiatives.
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