| Hakim Hayat |
BRUNEI Darussalam’s ranking in e-Government initiatives penetration showed a slight improvement during a 2016 survey carried out by the United Nations (UN). The Sultanate is ranked 83rd out of 193 countries globally, up three notches from 86 in the last survey conducted in 2014.
Initiated by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management to support member states’ efforts in e-Government and information communications technologies (ICT) for socio-economic development, the biennial comprehensive survey includes 193 UN member states.
The ranking is based on three dimensions, namely provision of Online Services Index (OSI) – for example, number of services, availability of national portal ability to process transactional services; Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) – such as percentage of individuals using the Internet and mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants; and also Human Capacity Index (HCI) – such as adult literacy and mean years of schooling. The Brunei Government uses the survey as a benchmark on e-Government progress and initiatives.
At a press conference chaired by Muhammad Norshafiee bin Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Jalil, Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT, e-Government and Industry) at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to announce the survey results, he also noted several improvements in the dimensions compared to the previous survey.
Brunei has significantly improved its capability in providing online services to citizens which showed a positive growth in the OSI from 0.3622 to 0.5072, when compared to the 2014 survey.
Muhammad Norshafiee bin Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Jalil, Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT, e-Government and Industry) at the Prime Minister’s Office (3L) during the press conference with other officials. – HAKIM HAYAT
Meanwhile, in the telecommunication dimension, the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) slightly decreased from 0.36898 to 0.3512, whereas for the human capacity dimension, the HCI also slightly decreased from 0.7815 to 0.7310. Muhammad Norshafiee said this can be attributed to several “relative” factors that they would gauge and assess once the full survey statistics are available.
Also assessed in the survey is an e-Participation Index, which gauges a country’s ability to engage citizens through the use of ICT in policy and decision-making to encourage a more participatory, inclusive, and collaborative public.
Brunei has showed a significant improvement in this e-Participation Index, jumping 65 places from 179 in 2014, to 114 in 2016.
Pengiran Adrian bin Pengiran Haji Salleh Ab Rahaman, Head of Strategy, Planning and Governance at e-Government National Centre (eGNC) mentioned that since the launch of the Digital Government Strategy 2015, a lot of initiatives have been put into place to enhance their engagement and in increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, quality and accessibility of information and services.
He said in the last year, the government has taken a Whole-of-Government approach to providing online services that enhanced and engaged public through various platforms such as the revamp of the e-Darussalam One Stop Portal, Launch of the data.gov.bn to enable easier access to publicly available data and the launch of Talian Darussalam (TD123) that provides a single number for queries and complaints for non-emergency government services.
In addition, the government has also recently introduced new online service platforms such as the Judiciary Case Management System (JCMS) that enables the submission of court documents electronically, Land Application and Registration Information System (LARIS) which enables land owners to apply for land applications online, Public Service Commission Recruitment System (PSC Recruitment) that enables the public to search for and apply for government jobs online.
Furthermore, they have also taken key steps to enhance support for businesses and Brunei’s ease-of-doing-business ranking through Job-Centre Brunei that allows business to advertise jobs via a single portal, Registry of Companies and Business Names (ROCBN) which simplifies the registration of businesses, business.gov.bn that consolidates relevant business information into a single portal and also the improvement to the OneBiz platform that now enables online payment of business licences and applications.
Muhammad Norshafiee noted that most of the new initiatives were done after the survey period, and hopes that they will provide a bigger contribution to the next survey. He said they are aiming to improve the ranking by least 20-30 places in the next survey.
The Digital Government Strategy 2015 aims to lead digital transformation and make government services simpler, faster and more accessible to support greater efficiency and collaboration, and to improve all stakeholders’ experience, government processes and services that require transformation and continuous improvement.
Also present during the press conference yesterday was Mazriyani binti Haji Abdul Ghani, Director of e-Government National Centre.
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