What is meant by e-government?

What is meant by e-government?

To create a more efficient public service, some local
administrations have been experimenting with e-government and the
results are encouraging, while more regions have shown strong
interest in the hightech system. The Jakarta Post's computer
columnist Zatni Arbi looks at the hurdles and prospects.

JAKARTA (JP): When Arif, a copywriter, was handed a project
for writing the annual report of a public company, the first
thing he needed to find out was all the requirements of Bapepam,
the Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Agency. The agency
specifies all the points and items that every annual report
should contain. Thanks to e-government, Arif did not have to
leave his small and comfortable office in the Lebak Bulus area,
South Jakarta, to find out what the specific requirements were.

All he needed to do was go to the website of Bapepam
(www.bapepam.go.id), click on 'Regulations' and there he found
all the information that he needed. There he learned that, in
addition to all the information and data about the company's
business performance throughout the year, the annual report must
also contain additional information such as participation in
community development, efforts in the preservation of the
environment and programs for human resources development.

"Thanks to e-government, I was able to save so much time and
hassle," said Arif. "In this digital era, information such as
this should be truly available at your fingertips," he added.

Now, just imagine how much more time and money would be saved
if Arif happened to live in another city such as Surabaya. That
is the power of e-government, which is supposed to make the life
of the common people easier, more productive and less costly.

Just what is it that we mean by e-government? "In its first
stage, an e-government initiative is aimed at improving public
services through the web," explained Setyo Budi Agung, Project
Manager, e-Government Projects at RisTI, the IT research arm of
PT Telkom.

At the more advanced stages, e-government will go far beyond
providing public services and information. It should allow two-
way communications between the administration and the people,
knowledge management, support for e-commerce and even the so-
called "clicked democracy". Even electronic general elections for
appointing government officials should not be excluded as a
future possibility.

At the moment, most of our central government's agencies are
still in the very early stages when it comes to online public
services. What they provide on their websites, as in the case of
Bapepam, is still basic information. In many of our government
websites, you can get some statistical figures, press releases,
rules and regulations, transcripts of speeches, and, in some
cases, the forms that you will have to print out, fill in offline
but, unfortunately, submit in person.

Limited information

Even the information that is provided is still very limited
when we compare it with what is available in other countries,
since one of the greatest problems faced by our institutions is
the human resources that create the contents. We may have a lot
of people who can design and program attractive and efficient web
pages, but we lack people who can write the information clearly
and succinctly -- the way information should always be presented
on the web.

The problem is even larger when the information needs to be
provided in English as well for foreigners -- including
prospective investors -- to read. Translating the contents into
English is a process that takes a lot of time, and most of the
time it requires more than just a few overworked in-house
translators to complete.

That is why, for example, you can find the Indonesian version
of Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 3/5/PBI/2001 dated March 22,
2001, on BI's Web site (www.bi.go.id), while the latest
regulation in their English section is Bank Indonesia Regulation
No. 3/3/PBI/2001, dated Jan. 12, 2001.

As this article was written, the Indonesian section of BI's
website already contained its year 2,000 Annual Report, but the
same document was not yet available in English. Ideally, of
course, every piece of content should become available in both
languages at more or less the same time.

Another example of the step toward e-government in Indonesia,
albeit still limited to providing information on the Internet, is
the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
(www.dprin.go.id). In addition to statistics on our inflation
figures for February 2001, visitors to this site can also read
regulations, circulars, procedures for requesting a certificate
of standard compliance, and others.

Likewise, no real online service are available. You still have
to physically go to the office to obtain a license, for example,
and that is still a far cry from the promise of e-government.

Still, we should not feel so desperate and hopeless and think
that e-government in Indonesia will remain a distant dream.

In fact, the first Indonesian e-government project in the
region started in the Regency of Takalar, South Sulawesi. The
website, www.takalar.go.id, has been up and running since April
last year. It still does not provide the real services that will
change the way people deal with regulations, but it is already a
good beginning.

The second e-government project was launched in the Regency of
Kutai Timur, East Kalimantan. You can read information on the
regency, its main tourist attractions and local investment
policies at www.kutaitimur.go.id, which has been available since
August last year.

The Bandung-based RisTI has been the driving force behind
these pilot projects. According to Setyo, a number of other
regencies and mayoralties including Sukabumi, Bekasi Ciamis and
Majalengka -- all in West Java, are going to start similar
projects this year.

Others, such as Lamongan, Malang, Temanggung, Medan, Aceh,
Riau and Padang, have shown serious interest.

Local initiatives

What was interesting in the case of the two pioneering
regencies was that the initiative came from the local government.

"All the expenses were also paid for by the local
administrations," explained Setyanto Hantoro, Project Manager of
the Virtual Laboratory, RisTI, Bandung.

Setyanto was also involved in the setting up of the e-
government projects in these two locations. "In the case of the
first project, PT Microsoft Indonesia and PT Compaq Indonesia
also made their contribution by providing the needed software and
hardware at special prices," Setyanto added.

Our question then was whether the infrastructure was ready or
not.

"The services were made accessible to the local government's
integrated service units, and therefore did not rely very heavily
upon the telephone networks. However, even when the telephone
lines were used, we found that the services -- in this case,
provision of information -- were still accessible through what
they had locally," Setyanto said.

As we move towards satellite-based internet infrastructure, we
should be able to free ourselves from the limitations of our
existing public telephone network.

Beyond providing more transparent regulations and information
on local potential, how can the real e-government services
facilitate us in dealing with the government?

"In the future, people could extend their Kartu Tanda Penduduk
(ID Card) just by using their computer at home. No longer would
they have to request a letter of recommendation from their
neighborhood chief, which currently also requires the signatures
of two other officials before they can go to the office of the
District Chief.

Similarly, those who need to apply for or extend their driving
license should eventually be able to do it online. "Members of
the public should also be able to pay for their utility bills
through the payment facilities that will become available at the
e-government sites," said Setyo. They should also be able to pay
their taxes -- vehicle taxes, property taxes, etc. -- through the
e-government facilities.

What about strengthening linkages at a community level?

"Certainly. Announcements about local festivals, music
concerts, community activities, etc. can be spread easily through
the web," Setyo added.

More importantly, perhaps, is the facility that is provided
for people who want to submit their suggestions or even file
complaints to the local authority.

"If the street light in your neighborhood does not light up at
night, you should be able to 'visit' the appropriate local e-
government site and report it to the appropriate official so that
it gets fixed," explained Setyo further.

And, what about the general reception from the local
community? "At first people had a lot of doubt about the use of
IT for public services in small regencies such as the Takalar and
Kutai Timur Regencies. This hesitancy was immediately eliminated
by the successful operation of the facilities in both regencies.
We were very excited to see the leadership of both Regents and
their determination in fighting for the budget approvals from the
councils as well as in changing their work culture from the
manual and traditional way to the new IT-based culture," Setyo
said.

According to Setyanto, from the day the facility in the
Takalar Regency was first operated to the end of 2000 no less
than 6,668 transactions were completed, while during the first
two months of this year the system handled 1,388 transactions.
Most of these transactions were applications for new ID cards,
marriage and birth certificates.

In the Kutai Timur Regency, up to February 2001 as many as
1,199 transactions were handled, which even included requests for
licenses for outdoor advertisements.

"This implementation was just a small part of a much larger
trend toward e-government that is aimed at ensuring good
governance in the government sector," said Setyanto.

"One of the most important factors that determines the success
of the implementation of e-government is leadership," he added.
And, as the examples in the two regencies showed, the leaders
were indeed the key success factor.