Good governance the foundation for effective e-government

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Jun 23, 2009

"It is tempting to think that to successfully implement e-government, the 'e' in e-government comes first. Too often, the marketing allure of new technologies blindside us into thinking that all we need is to roll out new hardware and software. But more than technology and the application of IT, our experience in Singapore shows that good governance is the foundation for successful e-government which in turn enables us to improve the effectiveness of Government," he emphasized.

By Victor Ng (SearchSecurityAsia.com)

Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong shared his 45 years' experience in government at the opening of the iGov Global Exchange today, when he welcomed delegates to the event.

"When I started work as a young civil servant some 45 years ago, computerization of government services was in its infancy. Our Ministry of Finance owned one bulky IBM computer secured in a special air-conditioned room with a raised floor. I remember being shown what a punched card was and being told that the thousands of punched cards together contained programmes instructing the computer what to do."

To do a simple operation that we now take for granted on a spreadsheet or calculator, a thick stack of punched cards would have to be produced. "I also remember attending computer courses and being introduced to rather arcane computer languages like FORTRAN and COBOL," said SM Goh.

But today, information technology has permeated every sphere of life, radically transforming the way we work and live – how we receive our news, education, healthcare and entertainment.

"Citizens and businesses can now access government services online, from the comfort of their homes or offices, in fact from anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The electronic services range from simple information publication, to personalization portals, to interactive, integrated transactional services that provide one-stop total service." Compared to what's available in the past, these services are much more user-friendly and responsive.

"As I know more about good governance than e-government, let me share with you what I think are three features of good governance that are critical to successful e-Government," he said.

1. Transparency, accountability and incorruptibility
Successful e-Government requires a culture of transparency, accountability and incorruptibility. Mr Goh said it is the inefficiency and lack of transparency in the issue of government licences and permits that enable many in the bureaucracy to reap personal gains. "E-government literally threatens their livelihood based on contrived inefficiencies and bottlenecks. Without the buy-in of these civil servants who will be implementing e-government, the right hardware and software alone cannot boost efficiency much."

In Singapore, coupled with its stringent and fair evaluation, many suppliers and vendors regard winning a project in an open competitive bid in Singapore as a valuable endorsement of their products. "By keeping government clean, we remove a major impediment to the successful implementation of e-government," the Senior Minister said.

2. Continuous regulatory review
"The second requirement of successful e-government is continuous regulatory review. Many of our policies, regulations and processes have been built up over the years, each appropriate in its own time. Too often, what started out as well-intended policies have become obsolete over time. Indeed, globalization, advancement in technology and an increasingly well-informed and educated citizenry require us to constantly relook at our rules and regulations, update them and reengineer the delivery processes."

The key guiding principle of Singapore's regulatory review is the adoption of a risk management approach to regulation. For example, the island-state recently did away with factory registration for some 14,000 lower-risk factories, saving the industry close to S$3.5 million in annual fees. Instead, they need only to make an online declaration that they have proper risk controls in their factories before commencing work, and remain under the safety oversight of existing inspection regimes.

"Such a mindset shift from a 'regulator or controller' to that of a 'facilitator' simplifies administration and reduces the cost burden of our companies while minimizing the overall risks." If not for continuous regulatory reviews, e-government would not be able live up to its promise of increasing productivity, ''as we would simply import inefficiencies into an electronic system."

3. Working together as one government
the third ingredient of good governance is deliberate and sustained effort to break down silos in the public service and work together as a single integrated government. "The basic premise is a simple one, and that is our customers – citizens, taxpayers, entrepreneurs, and businesses – do not want to deal with many different public agencies, each with their own requirements and forms to fill out."

Various initiatives have been introduced to inculcate a "Whole-of-Government" mindset among our public agencies. For example, the civil service has a “No Wrong Door” policy. "Civic-minded people may stop reporting what is wrong on the ground if they are given the run-around. Also, a silo mentality creates problems for investors and businessmen. Who do they go to for permits? Do they even need a permit? So a critical task is first to get civil servants in different ministries used to the idea of working together as a team and seeing things from the customers’ perspective."

SM Goh added that, just as good governance has laid the foundation for e-government, e-government in turn strengthens governance.

"Let me illustrate with an example. In many countries, their social welfare systems are built around subsidies, whether of staple food, water, electricity, fuel, or healthcare. The problem with a subsidy, as we all know, is that not only does it encourage over-consumption, waste and give rise to economic distortion, but it also benefits the rich more. In many countries, petrol is very heavily subsidized across the board. In these countries, it is the rich with their big houses and big cars that consume more electricity and fuel than the poor.

"Singapore also redistributes wealth to help the lower income. But we do not subsidize consumption goods like food, utilities, fuel or transport. Instead we give out cash, with more going to the needy, the elderly and those without children to support them. We can do so only because of e-government. With e-government, we are able to identify the intended recipients accurately by integrating different databases of various government departments, for example, Central Provident Fund records and housing data. In addition, by linking government databases with systems in the banks, the money went directly into bank account of eligible individuals in a clear and accountable way, very promptly and cost-effectively."

Looking ahead, Mr Goh finds that we have yet to fully grasp the scale of the opportunities that the information revolution presents. Continued economic growth post the current global recession will be driven by higher productivity and more effective use of infocomm technologies, all requiring knowledge-intensive workers. Technological progress is continuing to drive rapid changes in a massively connected world, presenting new challenges and opportunities for public service delivery.

"In this next phase, the role of government must evolve from being the sole provider of public services, to providing an open IT platform to nurture an ecosystem of IT services. In this new ecosystem, new participants, whether private sector or individual knowledge workers, could freely innovate and create value-added services on top of or even superseding existing public services."