Central Government,
Local Government
Moving from planning to impact
By Robin Hicks | 7 January 2010
The FutureGov Summit 2009 threw together the region’s most influential government modernisers for three days of conversations and ideas sharing. So what were the key themes to emerge? Robin Hicks cherry picks the big ones.
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Government is back, and it is not going away anytime soon. Following a tumultuous 12 months in which governments throughout the region had dramatically increased their role within national economies, the 132 delegates to the FutureGov Summit, Asia’s annual gathering of senior government officials, took time out of the busy schedules to share what had worked well, and lay out their plans for the future of public administration.
The three day event, which was broken up into a series of plenary sessions and themed workshops, focused on the challenge of meeting the heightened expectations of citizens in the wake of increased government intervention: “The toughest part will not be the financial year which has just ended, when we had stimulus money,” noted Steve Fletcher, CIO of the State of Utah, in the United States. “It will be between now and this time next year.”
Tough times drive innovation, and the Summit prompted government officials to share their ideas. Many centreed on ways to develop the local economy. Meng Xianghao, IT Director of China’s Ningbo Municipal Bureau, explained how his agency built a ‘matchmaking’ platform for local businesses that generated seven times more profits for the 700 companies involved than before the platform was launched.
The Summit also revealed how similar problems have inspired diverse solutions at a central government level. On how to drive e-service uptake, Malaysia, India and Saudi Arabia each take a different tack.
Avinash K. Srivastava, Joint Secretary for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in India, said that the launch of the MCA21 programme, which saw business registration automated in one of India’s biggest e-governance projects yet, would not have been so successful if electronic filing had not been compulsory.
By contrast, Dr Nor Aliah, Deputy Director General of the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), said that low internet penetration in Malaysia has meant that obliging citizens or businesses to interact with government online would exclude too many. This is why MAMPU’s e-Card system, which enables government services to be paid for over the internet, is optional.
Saudi Arabia’s Director General of the kingdom’s e-Government Program, Ali Al-Soma, took a similar view, and stressed the need for e-services to be of obvious value to citizens and businesses. “An e-service must sell itself,” he said. The government of Saudi Arabia has issued citizens with free laptops, held ICT training seminars, and promoted services using funds from online transaction fees to encourage the uptake of e-services, he noted.
Summing up the changing role of government as the economic gloom lifts, Yuan Xu, Deputy Secretary General of Chengdu Municipal Government in western China, spoke for many at the Summit when he said: “People thought we were here simply to rule,” he said. “Now everyone in government is thinking how to deliver better, more citizen-centric services.”
“A state CIO today faces the challenge of helping executives understand the criticality of ‘unseen’ technologies,” stressed Steve Fletcher, CIO of the US state of Utah.
“Which government agency do you call if the street lamp is not working? Or when a tree has fallen? Or when the streets are flooded?” Wang Jianmin, Vice Director, IT Bureau, Jiangmen Municipal Government, China explained the origin of its city’s ‘12345’ government hotline.
Dr Lilik Gani, Director Centre ICT, Ministry of Education, Indonesia asserted that ICT will be instrumental in better managing information. This will ultimately help improve accessibility and quality of education.
Azhar Abu Bakar, Director of Security Assurance at the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats, warned delegates that a new era of cyber terrorism could soon be upon us.
Liu Yong, Director, Chengdu Municipal Information Office shares his views on cloud computing over lunch. “Those who think that cloud computing is insecure may not understand the technology well enough,” he said.
Lucenito Tagle, Commissioner of the Philippines Commission on Elections, shared his plans to get 47 million Filipinos to vote using electronic voting machines for the first time next year. “Empowerment through citizen journalism has been the most effective tool so far,” he said.
It was clear from the quality of the presentation from Kwon Young-Il, as well as the Government Technology Award Ministry of Environment, collected the following evening, that South Korea is a regional frontrunner in green IT.
Channa Jayasinha, Chief Technology Officer, Ministry of Economic Development, New Zealand, explained how the worst economic conditions for 80 years have led to pressure to create a “smart, better public service for less.”
Avinash Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs for the Government of India, was never far away from debate. He was adamant that the uptake of e-services requires a stick and not a carrot in India.
Patricia Lau, Deputy Head of Hong Kong’s Efficiency Unit revealed how the web site youth.gov.hk has provided a “window” to 180 government departments for young Hong Kongers.
“Driving for process integrity can compromise customer service,” said Gerrit Bahlman, Director of Information Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “The challenge today is to resolve this tension.”
“NextGen Citizens want to use many different kinds of devices that will be delivered by cloud-based services in formats, because they all have different needs and interests.” Mike Mudd, Director of Public Policy, Asia Pacific, CompTIA, Hong Kong predicts the future of cloud computing in government.
“Information on the supply and demand of agricultural products are sent to farmers via IPTV,” Fang Dongcai, Vice Director, Wenzhou Municipal Bureau of IT, China spoke on engaging the rural sector. “They can also ask and read about agro-technique.”
Governments need to get on to young peoples’ repertoire of web sites if they are to truly engage with them, said Quinn Stainfield-Bruce, Founder of youth marketing specialist Youth Conspiracy. “But don’t try and talk their language,” he recommends. “Chances are you’ll only make fools of yourselves.”
Web 2.0 can lay the foundations for a trusted information society, said Professor Cheol Oh of the School of Public Administration, Soongsil Univerity in South Korea.
Ali Al Soma, Director General of Saudi Arabia’s e-Government Program, said that for e-services to take off they need to “sell themselves.”
Climate change, religious conflicts, natural disasters, pandemics. nuclear proliferation and an ageing population are just a few of the threats that will keep governments busy next year, said Laurence Millar, FutureGov’s Editor-at-Large and former GCIO of New Zealand.
Gerrit Bahlman, Director of Information Technology, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University posed a question on the challenges of governance and spend management to the panel.
Puji Siregar from the Jakarta Planning Board shared her agency’s award-winning project on how mobile devices helped connect government officials and agencies.
Jaswant Singh, wowed delegates with how his agency coped with a 90 per cent increase in visitor demand by introducing an Integrated Visitor Management Programme that reduced immigration time for travellers to 30 minutes.
Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, Commissioner of the Commission on Information Technology and Communications, enthuses about his agency’s Virtual Contact Centre, a web-based whole-of-government helpdesk.
Dr Nor Aliah, Deputy Director General (ICT) of MAMPU, said that the economic downturn - which saw Malaysia’s government IT budget squeezed - gave her department the opportunity to review processes to boost efficiency and effectiveness.
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