Amidst the flags and fly pasts, and other very visible signs of four decades of Singaporean nation building, a profound civic achievement deserves the attention of anyone interested in Asian IT-enabled governance. Put simply, Singapore has succeeded in leveraging the web to create one of Asia’s most engaged citizenries. It's a typically Singaporean phenomenon that has seen the use of technology to enable greater government transparency, accountability and accessibility: earlier this year the government announced that 2004 would see government IT spending climb to US$415 million (S$710 million).
According to market information group Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), its annual Government Online Study found that Singapore was the regional e-government leader with more than half of the population using e-government services.
Measured purely in terms of participation, the Republic's e-government efforts have dramatically increased the avenues for Singaporeans and residents to interact with public agencies. There are now more than 1600 citizen services available online, placing Singapore second only to Canada in the world when it comes to the level of ‘e-government maturity’, according to Accenture.
Tax returns in Singapore are one of the global poster pin-ups of government modernisation, and citizens have voted with their computer keyboards: 969,285 tax forms were filed online by the close of this year's 'e-filing' period (18 April). This represents an all-time high of 68 per cent of all tax returns. As recently as 1998 the proportion of online tax returns was only 7 per cent of the total.
Taking much of the pain out of what is generally one of the most fractious interactions between government and governed has helped provide the momentum to spread e-government transformation throughout much of the rest of government.
The Singaporean government's strong reputation for clean government and information integrity have clearly encouraged users to trust the new online communication channels. Of the countries in Asia Pacific, Singapore achieved the highest level of confidence amongst e-government users - 44 per cent. This contrasts strongly with other e-government regional leaders, Australia (35 per cent) and New Zealand (35 per cent).
Another key driver of the Republic's high participation rates is the urban character of Singapore. With the highest internet and broadband penetration rates of any country in the region, the infrastructure is in place to support networked governance.
Lessons for the region
So what e-government lessons does Singapore hold for the region's administrations?
Infrastructure is fundamental. E-services are only convenient if you have online access. More than mere access, high internet penetration and IT usage rates are necessary to expose the public to the generic benefits of the web. An internet-savvy population makes the task of educating new citizen-users much easier (and much less expensive).
Certainly the importance of central planning and inter-departmental working groups in the development of citizen services: traditional departmental jurisdictions that make no sense to the citizen-user can be de-emphasised in the online environment.
Finally, there is the issue of civic trust. Citizens need to be able to trust that their personal information is managed securely. This means not only that the transmission of information has to be secure, but that the public agency receiving the information can be relied upon to handle the information responsibly.
Happily it seems that in the case of Singapore, e-government success will breed success - both in terms of planned expansion of citizen services in the Republic, and as a template for other administrations in the region.
As Singapore celebrates its 39th birthday, the country's integration of technology, civil administration and popular participation has truly come of age.
Autor: James Smith
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management Magazine, 09.08.2004
