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The New SarawakNet and e-Government
"This is the Information Age. It is about e-government, e-commerce, e-business, e-trade, etc. In fact, it is going to be
e-everything. The State agencies need to get themselves prepared for this new phenomenon."
Datuk Haji Abdul Aziz Husain
SarawakNet has gone a long way since its commissioning in 1996 to what it is today. The Sarawak Government Network or SarawakNet is a Wide Area Network linking all the PCs and Local Area Networks in the State Ministries and Departments. It was designed, built, operated and maintained solely by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn. Bhd. (SAINS). Currently, it is a closed network with tight security and is accessible only by the State civil servants. With its architecture, it can be extended to provide Internet access.
e-Government
There is already evidence of e-Government implementation on the SarawakNet to date. With the addition of these new services, SarawakNet will be the catalyst in seeing the full implementation of e-Government in the State Public Sector. The State Public Sector has been using IT very extensively as a means to increase the efficiency of its administration as well as to enhance the services of Government agencies. In this regard, it has fully endorsed the Electronic Government, or e-Government concept, which is also being implemented throughout the Nation.
E-Government, according to the Federal government "...will redefine the relationships of government to citizens, to businesses and to itself. Within government, e-Government concept will improve information flows and superior communication between the components of government. There will be dramatic improvements in the coordination of government resources, better analytical tools to solve the increasingly complex problems faced by modern government, and decision support tools to enhance the effectiveness and the efficiency of public policy. The impact of specific policies will be more measurable and transparent."
To citizens, e-Government will mean dramatic improvements in services. Existing services will be improved and a whole new class of services will be offered. Citizens will have greater access to more convenient, more responsive, higher quality and potentially less expensive government services. Overall, e-Government will see top-down approach to managing government, as more and more empowered knowledge-workers make informed and independent decisions.
Improved efficiencies will lead to a leaner and smaller government which will free up scarce resources to work in the new, rapidly growing service and IT sectors of our economy. Accountability, transparency and productivity within government will increase dramatically. The e-Government concept will allow the interactions between the people and government becoming more driven by the people themselves. Government will no longer work alone to provide services, it will work in collaboration with businesses and citizens.
The future today
Today, information is often jealously guarded and many people are involved solely in moving information around and within a ministry or agency. In the future, information will be much more directly accessible to decision makers. Information will flow smoothly across ministries and agencies through a modern database and compatible systems interlinked by a secure, high-speed network. As a result, the speed and quality of decision-making will be improved dramatically.
As this network is linked with citizens and businesses via the Internet and possibly also through the information kiosk, it will be possible to directly deliver government services. Information can be "paperlessly" exchanged with government and transactions can occur on-line. Interactions with government will become much easier and convenient.
A Government Directory which is a version of "White Pages" where key officers within each agency can be easily contacted is currently available on SarawakNet. Individually agency will be given access to their own pages to do the necessary updating at source to ensure data currency.
New e-Mail Platform
The State Ministries and Departments are switching to a new eMail platform. This new eMail platform is not only rich in features but most importantly, it is very tightly integrated with the Intranet/Internet architecture of SarawakNet, with the much needed security features. This will further facilitate the use of eMail in official correspondence within and among agencies.
Website Designing Competition for State Agencies
To promote the services of agencies as well as to prepare agencies in extending their services beyond the State Public Sector, it is essential that agencies possess minimal level of web development skills. A Website Designing Competition for the State Public Sector was organised by Chief Minister's Department (Quality and Human Resource Audit Division) for this purpose. All agencies in the State (excluding Federal agencies) were strongly urged to participate in the competition. The objective here is not just to win the competition but to build and maintain a website that, besides reflecting agency's image, also acts as an interface between the agency and the public.
e-Commerce for State Agencies: Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment
The arrival of e-Commerce on SarawakNet is yet another milestone in IT development in the State Public Sector. Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment, or EBPP as it is more commonly called, is aimed at providing civil servants with the comfort of settling their monthly bills from desktop PCs in the office or anywhere anytime. This service is free and has been available beginning April 2000.
The State Public Sector is going to increasingly use SarawakNet as the platform for conducting its daily official business. Information such as Circulars, news and important announcements will also be channelled through SarawakNet to reach agencies besides the conventional method of sending it by mail. Information resources that are shareable among agencies will be made available on SarawakNet for common access. E-mail will increasingly be used in official correspondences among agencies. Transactions will also be conducted over SarawakNet using web-based applications.
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