IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

A majority of stakeholders who attended Myanmar’s second digital rights forum believed that the freedom of expression in the country has worsened in 2017 while online privacy has also deteriorated.

Over 150 participants took part in the second digital rights forum in Yangon on January 18 hosted and jointly organised by Phandeeyar together with MIDO, Engage-Media, Free Expression Myanmar and the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), with support from the Swedish government.

The Department of Consumer Affairs of Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce and the Myanmar Rice Federation jointly launched the Myanmar Rice Online (MyRO) website to transform the country's rice industry.

A ceremony to launch the digital platform MyRO was held in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday and was attended by over 200 people, including government officials, businesspersons and media.

Much talk in the telecoms market has been dedicated to the digital leapfrog: the almighty hop from legacy technology to a mobile-first future. Myanmar’s operators – state-owned incumbent Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), Ooredoo and Telenor – have seen subscriber figures jump by millions over the past few years; and though coverage rates have climbed higher than ever before, they’re not stopping now.

All three recently talked to The Myanmar Times about the country’s technology transformation, and what challenges may lie in store.

Myanmar Satellite-2, which was launched into space in French Guiana Wednesday, will provide better connectivity across Myanmar, even in remote areas, an official of Transports and Communications Ministry told Xinhua on Thursday.

The Myanmar Sat-2 will provide faster connectivity and high-speed rates not only for mobile internet but also other communication networks across the country, said U Win Aung, chief engineer of Information Technology and Cyber Security Department under the ministry.

Myanmar will launch an online land database soon, said Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Thaung Tun.

The online land database will be introduced to provide transparency regarding land ownership, said the minister during a webinar on a ‘New Way of Working with Government’ organised by Myanmar’s British Chamber of Commerce.

Fujitsu, in collaboration with Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications, is conducting training for government employees to beef up the information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities of the country.

The training began on Monday (16 January 2017) and will run until tomorrow (20 January 2017). A total of 38 government employees from 22 departments will take part in the training.

Myanmar has launched an online visa application that promises an end to painful waits for permits to visit the once-secretive nation as it tries to lure five million tourists a year from next year.

The e-visa is open to tourists from 41 countries, including Malaysia, the United States, Britain, China, Japan and even North Korea, according to Immigration and Population Minister Khin Yi. The e-visa will take five days to process, he added.

Myanmar's Lower House will soon debate a motion that urges the administration to provide public services through electronic means, said Speaker Win Myint.

The e-government motion was submitted by National League for Democracy MP Nay Phu Ba Swe. The lawmaker said that more electronic services would ensure people have easy access to government services and information via websites and mobile applications.

Fujitsu yesterday announced that it is conducting training for employees from across all 22 departments of Myanmar's government in order to contribute to stronger information and communication technology capabilities in the country.

Taking place in Myanmar, the training began on January 16, and is being provided in two rounds over a total of 10 days. The training will instruct 38 government employees, selected from across all departments. Topics covered will include formulating information strategy for e-government, basic ICT training in such areas as networks and cybersecurity, as well as the cloud systems that support them, and practical methods for developing systems. In addition, in the practice sessions that will be conducted during the training period, the participating employees will learn the processes necessary to resolve ICT issues discovered in each workplace, and set action plans for their own organizations.

Myanmar’s last royal capital, Mandalay, was recently ranked by CIO Asia as number fifth among the top 10 cities in Southeast Asia in the process of becoming “smart cities,” a ranking which is based on information from The ASEAN Post, The Economist Intelligence Unit,a the network’s own project profiles and Govlnsider.

Mandalay City Development Committee (MDCD) has drawn up a 30-year urban development plan with a vision to improve the water supply system, wastewater treatment and solid waste management using smart technology. Sensors have been installed on the streets of Mandalay to monitor and control traffic in real time and to monitor the condition of pipelines and water meters as well as a new electronic toll-payment system. The efforts show Mandalay has strong potential to achieve its goal of becoming a “smart city” along with more than 20 other contending ASEAN cities.

A newly published draft telecommunications master plan has been met with praise from civil society organisations – but also calls for beefed-up human rights considerations and further clarity on issues such as privacy and policy execution.

Just one year ago, telecoms in Myanmar looked very different. The market’s first foreign entrant, Ooredoo, had just launched services and customers were getting used to the idea of SIM cards costing K1500 – not the hundreds of dollars for which they had been sold for in the past.

With a rapidly growing telecommunications infrastructure and improved connectivity, Myanmar is in the midst of large-scale digitalisation.

The government has launched an e-government program, banks are jumping from pen and paper bookkeeping to the use of fin-tech services. SMEs and large enterprises are setting up internal networks to streamline processes and improve productivity. It is hard to comprehend the sheer scale of this process. While the new-found connectivity and digitalisation brings many benefits and opportunities, it also opens the doors to an entirely new threat – cybercrime, a phenomenon the entire world is grappling with.

Mandalay launched last week its e-Mandalay Web Portal, which covers public services for 74 departments, said the chair of the e-Government implementation committee.

The project will include 199 topics of 74 departments under five Regional ministries and nine related branches, Security and Border Affairs Ministry, Development Ministry, Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Ministry, Electricity, Energy and Construction Ministry and Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Ministry, said e-Government task force chair U Sai Kyaw Zaw.

The new government is planning to implement an E-government or digital government service during their tenure. This will make their public services faster and it will save time and money.

Entrepreneurs in the ICT sector said they would get economic benefits when the government implements the system. But it is questionable whether the government has a master plan or specific budget for it.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is set to construct an e-government Integrated Data Centre in cooperation with the Economic Development Cooperation Fund from the Republic of Korea to boost government e-services.

Daw Nwe Ni Soe Yin, director of e-Government Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, told The Myanmar Times that the South Korean government has sent a draft agreement on the funding of the project.

The Mandalay regional government has launched a data centre as part of its efforts to implement an e-government system.

“With this system, people will be able to observe the government’s performance and access government services more easily and quickly,” said Mandalay Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung during the launch of the centre last Thursday.

Myanmar Computer Federation (MCF) President U Khun Oo spoke exclusively with The Myanmar Times last week on ways and means to effectively implement the current electronic-Government systems.

Q: How would you define an e-Government?

There are several definitions based on different interpretations by various countries. Essentially, an electronic-Government (or e-Government) refers to utilization of Information Technology (IT), Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and other web-based telecommunication technologies to improve on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery between governments, and between the government and the private or public sector.

The Mandalay government will use modern technology to ensure the safety of the public and to improve law enforcement, a senior regional official said.

U Zarni Aung, regional minister for Electrical Power and Construction, said a combined team of the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC), the police and other agencies has been formed to start the process.

The government will use a US$93.8 million (K147.3 billion) loan from South Korea to construct a data centre to support e-government processes.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications gave a presentation to seek approval for the loan at the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (bicameral legislature) on Monday.