Few legislators are Internet literate<\/p>\n
PC Naommy, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Internet experts expressed concern on Monday over the lack of
\nunderstanding among bureaucrats and legislators of the benefits
\nof cyber-technology.<\/p>\n
\"It's sad and surprising to know that only a few legislators
\nhave e-mail accounts and are aware of the benefits of the
\nInternet,\" said Judith MS, the chairwoman of the Indonesian
\nInternet Kiosk Association (AWARI), on Monday.<\/p>\n
Citing as an example, Judith said that only nine of 84 Central
\nJava legislators had e-mail accounts.<\/p>\n
Judith lamented the lack of awareness among officials of how
\ninformation technology could lighten their workload and promote
\ngood governance in the country.<\/p>\n
\"Good implementation of e-government would minimize or even
\neradicate corruption and collusion at all levels of government,\"
\nsaid Johar Alam, of Internet Data Centra Indonesia (IDC).<\/p>\n
Johar gave examples of the processing of notarial documents in
\nthe Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. With e-government,
\napplications could be processed through the ministry's website,
\neliminating the opportunity for collusion and corruption, because
\nthe computer would automatically process the application and a
\nrecord would be immediately available.<\/p>\n
Johar, however, said that the idea of e-government had drawn
\nprotests from \"people who usually take advantage of the practice
\nof collusion and corruption\".<\/p>\n
\"People who feel threatened by the implementation of the
\nonline processing have even made threatening phone calls to
\nsoftware makers because the system has taken away their
\n'additional' income,\" said Johar.<\/p>\n
Despite all this, Internet experts still think that the
\nIndonesian people should become more Internet literate. To pursue
\nthat end, IT societies in Indonesia, including the Indonesian
\nInternet Service Providers' Association (APJII), AWARI, and
\nTelkom, have set up many programs for school-based Internet
\neducation.<\/p>\n
A team from the National Internet Conference and Education
\n(NICE) plans to provide Internet connections to 250,000 schools,
\nfrom elementary schools to colleges throughout the country within
\nthe next two years.<\/p>\n
This means that 50 million students will be linked to the
\nInternet, which would outstrip the number of Internet users in
\nother countries such as in Singapore with approximately five
\nmillion users.<\/p>\n
Telkom has also started a program called Internet Goes to
\nSchool a month ago at its regional branch offices in West Java.
\nThrough this program, students and teachers can get free Internet
\neducation for three weeks at all branch offices of Telkom.<\/p>\n
The three-week program has attracted about 900,000
\nparticipants throughout West Java province. \"We are currently
\nfocussing on training students and teachers how to operate the
\ninternet and all the basic stuff related to the technology,\" said
\nSuryatim Setiawan, the director of business and trade at Telkom.<\/p>\n
Suryatim said that Telkom is currently doing a feasibility
\nstudy on their plan to provide schools nationwide with Internet
\naccess.<\/p>\n
\"We are still negotiating with several parties, such as
\nproducers of personal computers and the state electricity company
\nto create a sustainable model that would work for every school,\"
\nsaid Suryatim.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/few-legislators-are-internet-literate-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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