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.