UN E-Government Survey 2016: At a Glance

The United Nations, through one of its body, the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies (UN-PACS), recently published the newly updated UN E-Government Survey 2016 (report is accessible below). The survey has been running since 2003, and is updated every 2-year. The survey is conducted in every UN country, with data collected from various sources, including field data collection from UN researchers dispatched in countries. Interestingly, the survey result this year is correlated with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), accentuating the paramount significance of e-government for greater good, including all development aspects of humanity.

The Survey

The survey digs deep the maturity of E-government development and implementation in the surveyed countries, with two main indexes they come up with; the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and E-Participation Index (EPI). The EGDI brings together data assessed from three main indicators; the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), the Human Capital Index (HCI), and the Online Service Index (OSI). These three indicators assess the main elements in e-government development; the ‘hard-wares’, the ‘brain-wares’ and the ‘soft-wares’. On the other hand, the E-Participation Index delves in to the interaction forged between government and society using e-government platform. Three main indicators use in assessing EPI are; E-Information (the use of online services to facilitate provision of information by governments to citizens), e-consultation (the use of online service to facilitate consultation between bureaucrats and citizens on public policies and decision making process), and E-decision making (the use of online platform to involve citizens in decision making process).

The Result

Based on the data collected, the top 10 countries on e-government development (EDGI Index) are as illustrated below.

We can see from the list above that most countries sitting comfortably on the list are developed countries, a rather not surprising result we are seeing here. A similar fashion is also seen from the EPI ranking, where most countries appearing on the list above also make a comfortable stay on this list, as illustrated below.

One important thing that can be implied from the list above is that not all countries with good e-government development and implementation are inherently good at evoking participation from their citizen. This is indeed picturing a general understanding that some countries need to put emphasize more on involving citizens in the whole government system in order to accomplish an actual e-government; beside, – of course – thriving on building the necessary platforms for e-government.

Indonesia: At a glance

Indonesia, on the other hand, places at 116^th in the EDGI survey, and paces at 114^th in the EPI survey. According to EDGI survey, Indonesia is inside the Medium category on the e-government and e-participation index. If we look at other countries in this category, most of them are lower middle income countries, including Indonesia. It is apparent that financial constraints might be a primary hurdle for these country to pursue e-government, including Indonesia. On the bright side, countries in this category are also forecasted to delve deeper on e-government in the future.

If we look at Indonesia’s performance throughout the years, there has been quite a struggle that we can see, as Indonesia’s performance is fluctuating, as seen from the graph below:

There obviously are several factors leading to this performance, particularly political and economic turmoil occurring during the past decade globally, including in the country. However, what reflected from this is that, especially in the last 4 years, there has been quite a decline on e-government development. Imminent evaluation is certainly needed in order for our country to reorient our direction towards development in general, especially (and crucially) e-government development.

When compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, a rather disappointing yet apparent result on Indonesia’s performance is once again pictured.

As we can see from the two illustrations above, even compared to several countries in the region, Indonesia is left behind, grouped with other three lowest-ranked country in economy in the world. If we couple that out with how stellar economic performance of the country has been over the course of this past 5-year, it is indeed ironic to see how the country performs in this area. Especially when we examine a promising and obvious economic gains we can sow from development and implementation of e-government. From effective public service delivery to eradicated administrative hurdles for business activities, there should really be imminent, and rather adamant, evaluation and changes in this field by the country. Understanding on the importance of e-government might also be re-emphasized to the government, as awareness and willingness to improve are among the core factors leading to e-government programs developed by government.

Another important point to be taken and underlined from the graph and table presented above, which shall strengthen the notion of imminent change needed, is the fact that Indonesia is constantly at the bottom, in all of the indicators assessed; the only country with sluggish performance. Take Vietnam as an example. Despite its rather average performance on infrastructure development and online service, the country is able to score high on e-participation. It is a very commendable performance shown by Vietnam, where it is able to engage with its citizen relatively better compared to other countries in this region. Or Brunei Darussalam, for instance. Despite mediocre achievement in infrastructure and online service, the petro-country is able to achieve high on human capital index. This may imply that certain countries is steadily restructuring their e-government related fields. Thailand and Philippines, in one hand, also capture captivating feat, as they are able to jump significantly in the rank, having each ranked 102^nd and 95^th in 2014, and 71^st and 77^th in 2016, respectively.

If we would like to extend the discussion to competitiveness in the region, particularly under the framework of ASEAN Community, Indonesia is utterly in danger. E-government, as mentioned in the report as well, supports a more effective and competitive economic ecosystem in countries. Countries that are able to encapsulate maximum benefits from the utilization of e-governance will undoubtedly be able to create a more competitive economy, and in this regionally integrated era, they are ready for competitions from in and out of the country. More economic actors are exposed to economic advantages brought from effective run of e-governance, particularly with the heavy involvement of citizens in public affairs and decision making process. Bruneians, for example, with better human capital quality and telecommunication infrastructure provided for them, may have a better chance of exploring opportunities in Indonesia, where the human capital has significantly lower quality. Not only that, better participations of citizens in the government may result to better management of issues and challenges that may occur in the future, as government becomes a lot more aware and responsive towards citizens’ needs.

Possible prescriptions

The notion is clear; Indonesia has to resolve all the lacks and deprived fields in e-government development. We can identify some important steps that are needed to be taken from the indicators of EGDI and EPI provided by this report. Two important points which may have or have not encompassed all the indicators can be addressed as followed.

1. Infrastructure acceleration

One tormenting challenge the country is facing is the fact that uneven infrastructure development has persistently been occurring in the country, especially with an archipelagic characteristics naturally attached to our identity. Bridging gaps in rural areas might bring significant foundations for further (or initial) e-government development in the country. This certainly is not an easy task, and apparently is a consistently prescribed solution offered to our nation. However, the fact that certain rural areas are still not accessible to telecommunication infrastructures for decades, this negligence obviously needs to stop. Moreover, an infrastructure development that is focused on e-government development is going to make the whole process more oriented, focused and organized, under the same consent that e-government development is in line with development in general.

2. Human capital imminent resurgence

Indonesia once was like a basin full of scholars. Nowadays, that simply is not the story anymore. Important increase in schooling and literacy rates, need to be combined with education on contemporary digital society aimed at general citizens and more importantly at government bureaucrats. Basic understanding on the undeniable trend of digital revolution as well as necessary up rise in e-government is compulsory in order for the bureaucrats to understand and be aware of such imminent issues. Strong understanding leads to strong commitments. Which will eventually lead to extensive and dedicated development. Future engagement of citizens is also guaranteed with well-educated composition of society. Another robust and impending task of our government which has always been put in to their to-do lists.

picture credit: unsplash