LOCAL E-GOVERNMENT IN MALAYSIA: A CRITICAL SURVEY

HAZMAN SHAH ABDULLAH
MANIAM KALIANNAN
ABDUL JALIL MOHD ALI
AHMAD NAQIYUDDIN BAKAR
Faculty of Administrative Science & Policy Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA

INTRODUCTION 

Within the national governance systems, the federal government is the centre for most discussion, followed by the 13 state governments and the 144 local authorities that make the local government. Fifty percent of the Gross Domestic Product is generated from areas under the charge of local authorities. Some 14.57 million (62% of total population) millions people lived urban areas in 2005 and this figure is forecasted to reach16.85 million (63.8% of total population) in 2010 (Ninth Malaysian Plan (NMP), 2006:360). Most, if not all, urban citizens live in local authority administered areas. As the population becomes urbanized, local government grows in direct importance to the welfare and the quality of life experienced by a majority of the citizens of this country. Local land use planning and control, hawking and business premise licensing, basic disposal services, environmental control, and social and recreational facilities are within the purview of local authorities. The local government has been since independence plagued by a multitude of problems arising from its financial, personnel and administrative shortcomings. The advent of ICT especially the ubiquitous Internet has opened up new possibilities to expand and improve services at all levels of government. Much of the e-government attention has been focused on the federal and to some extent the state government. The local e-government has been relatively quiet despite some remarkable developments in some urban local authorities. This paper is aimed at visiting the state of e-local government to bring the local e-government development or lack thereof into the national stage. This will provide a balanced picture of e-government development in Malaysia. 

e-Government in Malaysia 

E-government is variously defined but the common focus is on the application of ICT to improve the internal management of the government, to offer more flexible and convenient services to the public and to a limited extent, to enhance public participation and democracy (Seifert & Relyea, 2004; Wyld, 2004). The interface between the government and various sections of the public is used to describe e-government development more specifically. Figure 1 shows the different interfaces where ICT can and is deployed to enhance the quality of the government-public interaction with special reference to local government.

 Figure1: E-Local Governance

The Malaysian government has envisioned a technologically advanced society and implicitly, a technologically enabled government through Vision 2020 launched in 1992. Alongside with the launching of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996, the government has lined up several flagship E-government projects namely, Project Management System, Human Resource Management Information System, E-Procurement and General Office Environment intended to transform the government from a paper-based, unintegrated islands of agencies and departments to an integrated and networked government. The move towards a digital or electronic government is progressing slowly along the government to government route (G2G) and also along the government to citizen path (G2C). The public sector ICT vision aims to provide more efficient and better quality services by leveraging on the multimedia capabilities of the ICT to facilitate resource sharing between government agencies and to become a citizen centric entity in its service delivery (Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Manpower Planning Unit (MAMPU), 2003: 6). The 8^th Malaysian Plan (2001-2005), Knowledge-Based Economy Masterplan (2002-2010), Public Sector ICT Masterplan, 2003 and the 9^th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) recognized and strategised for the transformation of the government particularly the public service. Although many of the projects are mainly aimed at developing inter and intra-governmental transaction capabilities, the agency-public interface is still an important goal.  Under the NMP, RM5.734 billion is allocated for the computerization within the government compared to 2.275 billion in the earlier plan period. Specifically for e-government projects RM572 million is allocated as compared to RM537.7 million during the EMP.

Within this electronic government plan, the government agencies are expected to and have launched websites as online service portals. In keeping with the standard development elsewhere, MAMPU has sought to organize some 844 websites into a convenient public service portal (www.e-mygovernment.com.my) offering 2554 downloadable forms and 356 online services (NMP, 2006:499). Several agencies have significantly improved their services to the public by allowing inquiries and searches to be made online. Companies Commission of Malaysia, Road Transport Department, The Royal Malaysian Police, the Subang Jaya Municipality and the Election Commission, Perak Local Authority Integrated Accounting System and Penang State Government Financial & Accounting System are examples of such agencies. But the vast majority of the public organisations have not used the Internet for transaction and interaction but merely as a static broadcasting medium (Taylor Nelson-Sofres, 2002; UNPAN, 2001, 2004, 2005; Hazman et al., 2006).  Some limited but convenient services are available via mobile phone Short Messaging Service like police summons check. 

LOCAL E-GOVERNMENT IN MALAYSIA 

Local governments worldwide have made remarkable progress in getting on the technological bandwagon just as other levels of government (ICMA, 2002: Gupta, 2006). The North American, European, Scandinavian, South American and South Asian governments have made great progress in tapping the Internet for greater service efficiency and public participation. Many local services are available 24/7/365 through highly automated, simplified and life event based portals. The ICT has also brought the local government closer to the people through Internet-based access. People access and receive services and monitor, participate, and inform their respective authorities on almost all things of public interest. This has reversed and revived the declining political and social and political capital in most societies. The opportunity for Greek style direct democracy has returned to many cities and counties. Elections and polls are increasingly carried out through the electronic medium to seek public input and to broaden participation.

How has Malaysian local government performed against the backdrop of growing local e-government worldwide? While there is federal government inspired ICT plan (including e-government plan), there is none for the local government in general. Despite many grand rhetoric of technological revolution of the state and local government, the progress has been slow, uncoordinated and fragmented at best (MAMPU, 2003). A recent Ministry of Local Government & Housing survey of IT applications and their use in Malaysian local authorities found rather disturbing picture of adhoc, uncoordinated, ill-informed, incompetent decisions and purchases of ICT for the local authority use. There is a significant lack of direction and purpose in the local e-government. Much of the development has concentrated in the urban authorities because of the financial standing, the demands of an educated and ICT savvy population and occasionally aggressive and visionary leadership. Grand plans sponsored by local authorities extending beyond local authority services to encompass the local community has faltered due mainly to factional infighting, inter-agency squabbles and lack of sustainable business models of operation of community based services.

The Ministry of Local Government & Housing is targeting all 144 local authorities to offer e-government services under the recently launched NMP (Sani, 2005). There is strong interest in developing a common platform and approach to local e-government with the view to harvest economies of scale and to reduce the financial burden of smaller local authorities. Several significant G2G projects have the potential to improve the quality of local authority management by enabling smaller and less financial able local authorities to leverage on the common system resources to manage their affairs. For example, the e-Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (e-PBT) provides help for local authority officers and users on a wide range of matters within the jurisdiction of the local authorities. Similarly, the Perak Local Authority Integrated Accounting System is now implemented in Kedah under the smart partnership plan. However, the role of the federal government in the affairs of the local authorities is indirect. The state authorities wield direct control over the local authorities in their respective states. Federal influence over their local authorities has always been carefully measured despite overt enthusiasm and support.

The 10 City Halls/Councils and 36 Municipalities have made some progress in local e-government services. E-Submission of forms, e-payments of taxes, fees and fines, e-permit applications and e-complaints are some of the services that are available to the people via the online medium especially the Internet (Sani, 2005; Maniam & Hazman, 2005). The uptake of these e-services has not been overwhelming because the fundamental problems of access, security and privacy continue to plague these services as well. People are reluctant to trust the online medium with credit card details with the fraudulent use of credit cards on the rise (Taylor Nelson-Flores, 2002; Accenture, 2004). This reluctance is compounded by the fact that most online payment for services is executed via third party companies. The extent of control over the integrity the systems of these companies are unknown to the public. The lack of legal protection for the private data provided by citizens to public agencies continues to have a chilling effect on e-government services. The Electronic-Government Activities Bill, Electronic Transaction Bill and Personal Data Protection Bill are still in the early stages of preparation (NMP, 2006:137). The generally low trust in government further compounds the feeling of insecurity (Carter & Belanger, 2005:9). The low dial-up connection (17%) and Internet usage (38%) in Malaysia suggests that a majority of Malaysian still do not have Internet access to tap into the e-government services (Multimedia and Communications Commission, 2005). Some local authorities have resorted to kiosks or telecentres which are strategically located in public places and also shopping complexes to enable access and to stimulate use. These changes have not been inexpensive and sizeable allocations are made to secure technical services from outside to maintain the systems to keep the e-services running. As observed elsewhere, few local e-government services can be fully operated online (Baum & DiMaio, 2000). Most urban local authorities allow for some aspects of their services to be accomplished online. In the choice of the services to be offered online, the local authorities just like all levels of government, have considered but have not consulted the citizens directly (ICMA, 2002). It is, therefore, not surprising to see the low rate of adoption of local e-government services by the public. The e-services are in most cases isolated and confined to the functional departments of the local authorities. There are serious problems in integrating the diverse databases into a single unit to achieve inter-operability and hence, seamless services to the public. Diverse systems, platforms and standards continue to frustrate efforts to integrate the services to advance local government to the interaction and transaction stage in e-government evolution.

But some urban and more aggressive local authorities allocated significant resources and have also benefited from grants and funds for ICT from federal and state governments to further their e-government development. For example, the Selangor state government used the Demonstrator Application Grant (DAG) grants to develop a statewide e-government initiative. Ipoh City Hall also tapped similar grants to develop an e-participation system and Subang Jaya Municipality also used such grants to develop an e-community system. Most, if not all, the local e-government projects were technology driven and hence, faced problems of sustainability. What appeared amenable to the deployment of technology did not always correlate with interest and demand from the citizens. An equal number of local e-government projects focused on its use in the internal management. The potential use of the ICT to develop greater public participation, greater transparency and accountability has not been greeted with enthusiasm (Hazman et al., 2006). It is seen as dilettantish and potentially eroding their powers vis-à-vis the local population. The e-Ipoh experimental DAGs funded public participation project has stalled as the City Council leadership does not seem as enthusiastic about its value. The value for now is mainly in the improvements in the quality of city services.

The uptake of e-services in general including that of the local government is low. The low adoption is a natural and logical consequence of the still low penetration of Internet and computer ownership in Malaysia. With 13.9% Internet penetration, the immediate prognosis for rapid adoption is not good (NMP, 2006:135). The Gemilang One House One PC project has failed to ignite the imagination of the people. In fact, the project has been quietly terminated. The availability and subscription of broadband network is crucial to complex multimedia online services. Despite the recent price reductions, the subscriptions to these value added services have not been encouraging standing at 1.9% penetration (Ibid:135). With the info-structure lagging, local e-government just as other levels of government cannot change rapidly. The conventional services must be maintained along side the online version. This dual mode of delivery places the system, finances and the staff under tremendous strain. The consequence has been the neglect of e-services by the authorities after the initial excitement and euphoria. 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

The Internet is changing the way business is transacted globally, and is now changing the way governments interacts with citizens and businesses although in ways much less spectacular than initially proclaimed (Cortada, 2002: 340; Drucker, 2002). West (2004) cautioned that the euphoric proclamations of virtual state and new governance were overstated. Although changes via e-government have improved public services, the socio-political factors continue to hinder large scale changes that transformations entail. Although governments were the first to adopt and use ICT, it was mainly deployed in the backroom operations of the government and government-to-government (G2G) sector The use of ICT in delivery of services is new to government (Shutter & de Graffenreid, 2000) and therefore the subject of ICT including Internet, has been examined from many perspectives namely, legal and constitutional (Kraemer, 1988), leadership and management (Vriens & Achterbergh, 2004), fiscal scarcity (Beckett-Camarata & Moon, 2004), citizen involvement (West, 2004), service delivery (Corrigan & Joyce, 2000) and external environment and change (Scavo & Shi, 2000). The popularity of Internet, the expansion of e-commerce and the use of Internet by governments to deliver services to the people have attracted quite a lot of attention. However, many basic and structural obstacles must be resolved before the full potential of the technology can be realized. Political, cultural, human and resources constraints are obstacles that allow incremental changes within the limits of the society and politics (West, 2004)

Mover (2001) surveyed the extent to which the British local authorities have utilized the Internet to reach and serve the people. He observed that the national plans and objectives set to deliver all service online by 2008 is a great push for the authorities to transform themselves. However, most authorities are in the early stages of the Internet use trajectory. He submitted that most authorities were at the ‘publish stage’ had along way to go before integrating their supply chain, transforming business and empowering the citizens. The last stage is admittedly most difficult as it involves substantial attitudinal change. He advised that more attention be given to the selection of technology, the general backroom capability, incentives for citizens to use the new channels and security of private data. Across the Atlantic, Norris, Fletcher & Holden (2001) surveyed e-government in city and county governments in USA.  The provision of e-government services required, they observed, some reengineering of the service processes to accommodate the new interface. The employees also felt greater burden as more staff resources were devoted to e-government development. The local authorities also experienced a significant increase in demand for the services as it had become more accessible and hence stimulated more demand.  An interesting finding of this survey was that not all employees had Internet access even though the authority maintained a homepage and provided information and services via the Net. This survey also indicated that few authorities had an e-government strategy or plan in place. More than half of the respondents were considering a plan in the near term. There is also a growing interest in outsourcing the web-related functions to obtain better technical support since the internal resources are limited. Ho’s (2002) study of municipal government supported the assertion that public agencies are moving away from a bureaucratic model to a user-centred paradigm. He also noted that this transition was hindered by staff and financial shortages, unequal digital access and the lack of broader vision of e-government.

Scavo & Shi (2000) looked at the general state of ICT use in American government. It is their contention that the hype and excitement of ICT is overstated. The reality is much less promising and full of problems. Much of the acquisition and use cost are not fully understood and provided for. They warned that ICT might not serve the twin goals of democracy and efficiency without conflicts. Many of the ICT utilization programmes are aimed at reducing cost than increasing comfort and to make the service available to all those who need them. Again, they raised security as a major concern as government data are among the most private and confidential. Shutter & Graffenreid’s (2000) nationwide survey of businesses and citizen on e-government produced several interesting and conflicting findings.  The citizens who had e-commerce experience expected their governments to go the same route. Having tasted the ease and convenience of online services in the new economy, they are expecting their governments to adopt the same e-business models. The citizens who have e-commerce experience appear to be more convinced of the benefits of e-government than those who have not. Businesses make extensive use of online services and expect more to be available. They do not see why the government cannot adopt the same technology as the businesses in serving their customers. However, one big concern is the trust in the government to preserve privacy and confidentiality of personal data. Both citizens and businesses have the same concern over security. To promote e-government, the government must adopt or evolve systems that will create greater confidence in government in the handling of private information.

Hale et al. (1999) surveyed websites of Californian municipalities to examine the impact of these sites on three issues namely, the provision of information about municipal services, the linking up with other local associations and groups to build cyber-communities and bringing the citizens closer to the government.  In 1996, 118 of the 460 cities had websites and the number increased rapidly to 290 in 1997. Sixty-one cities had two or more sites. Hale et al. (1999) found that there were wide variations in website quality. The smaller cities had nothing more than electronically presented typed documents. Most sites provided basic information about the municipality. Less than 50% of these sites maintained links with other associations. The horizontal communications impact of the websites was limited. Again in terms of vertical communications (G2C), close to 50% did not have such a facility. In short, Hale et al. (1999) found the results of their website review to be generally discouraging. Internet helped lower the ‘costs’ political participation but mere presentation of information, according to Hale et al. (1999) will not truly stir the democratic urge to participate in debating issues.

West (2000) analysed 1,813 websites of US federal and state agencies. He found that these websites have performed badly. Their email response was good but most websites fared badly when it came to interactivity, provision of online services, security and privacy and many other website attributes. Comparatively, the Federal agencies performed better than their state counterparts. He also found that the multimedia capability of the Internet has been poorly tapped for public service provision. OMB (2000) formulated a centric and performance biased definition of e-government to underscore the main objective of leveraging ICT for the business of government. The report identified 4 citizen groups that the e-government initiative must seek to serve; individual/ citizens – Government to Citizen (G2C); businesses: Government to Businesses (G2B); intergovernmental – Government to Government (G2G) and intra-governmental (G2A). This strategic articulation of the deploying of ICT or technology resources in government outlines the boundaries of potentialities. Though G2C has received much public attention and notice, the backroom of the government is also experiencing equally frenetic changes in communication of information between and among governments and agencies. OMB (2000) bemoaned that the huge investments in information technology has not produced the level of productivity gains that were expected and possible. The sub-optimal returns were attributed to the areas which have attracted the initial burst of ICT investments. The investments were targeted at agencies processes and needs rather than meeting citizen needs. The technology was used to automate existing processes rather than to create more efficient and effective solutions that were now possible because of commercial E-business lessons learnt. The technology investment has proceeded without much collaboration on the basic technological protocols. This consequently has created islands of ICT that has crated problems of interagency connectivity and interoperability. As a result, citizens and businesses have to interact with multiple agencies to get services because the information supplied cannot be shared. Finally, the budgetary processes and agency culture has divisions that do not find it easy to cooperate across units and divisions even though the gains are enormous.

A United Nations Division for Public Administration’s (UNPAN) study of 190 web sites placed Malaysia’s info-structure as above average but classified the local e-government as barely above ‘interactive level’ with “citizen-centric components … only minimally present” (Reported in Raslan, 2002). Taylor Nelson Sofres (2002) - a market information services provider, found that 23% of Malaysians surveyed were ready to release credit card and bank accounts numbers online to their government which compared favorably with the other countries (Denmark: 40%, Singapore: 39%, Norway and Sweden: 32%).  However, only 12% of those who trusted online services had actually used e-government services. Whether these subjects had provided the personal data over the net in course of obtaining the e-government services is not established. This paradox of high trust and low use points towards the difference between the potential and actual. Inexperience in e-government may explain the readiness to provide personal data over the net.

There is a sort of digital divide among government agencies (Ooi, 2001). The resource rich agencies like Subang Jaya Municipality and Malaysian Tourism Board are able to outsource their web design and management. Most agencies have no overall Internet strategy, which is likely to result in wastage, lack of synergy, and unfocussed development of the web-based services. Most agencies still had static content that were not regularly updated and some were regularly not accessible. The design of these websites is still very amateurish and does show that usability has been a primary consideration. Without regular surveys of citizen perception of the website quality, agencies can go on without identifying the basic problems. One study shows that 40% of users who had negative experiences are unlikely to return to the site again (reported in Ooi, 2001). Hazman, Jalil, Maniam & Naqiyuddin (2004) carried out a survey of 168 websites of Malaysian public agencies in terms of their citizen-centricity, data currency, responsiveness, participation and online service. Most agencies were mostly using the website to broadcast or publish information and data. The web design structure mirrored the agency structure. There was very poor response to inquiries from the researchers.

An Accenture annual e-government report found that of the 126 services that could be delivered online, 64 were available to some degree indicating a service delivery breadth of 50.79% (Vivienne, 2000). Of the 64, only 5 services could be classified as transactional and interactive while the rest were classified as ‘publish’ (reported in Izwan, 2001. The same report indicated that Malaysian E-government services exhibited low service delivery maturity i.e. low integration of services across agencies, lack of single point of entry and low use of customer management techniques. The e-government development best described as ‘platform builders’ characterised by high level publication of information online with gradual but low level of depth in the service category. Human resources, justice and public safety, education, regulation democracy, transportation and postal were sectors that had low overall service maturity.

RESEARCH METHOD 

The study is a cross-sectional sample survey of local authorities with websites. It is intended to examine the state of development of the online services. Thirty two local authority websites were sampled using a standard questionnaire. The observation instrument was developed using a combination of sources and bases.  Similar instruments used in other studies in the US were used to maintain some comparative consistency. Norris, Fletcher & Holden’s (2001) study of local authority websites was mainly relied on in the development of the observation instrument. The web guidelines issued by UK (www. e-envoy.uk) and Australia (www.webguidelines.au) were also referenced to ensure that the survey benchmarked with the requirements that are deemed basic to government websites. These e-government guidelines unlike the general web guidelines specifically addressed the needs of governmental agencies and their obligations to the public they serve.

The attributes were categorized under several groups namely, corporate information, data currency and updating, user assistance, e-participation and feedback, online services and communication. This categorization is not mutually exclusive but does provide an intuitive classification for the purpose of this survey. The categorization of the attributes/features and the attributes cannot be considered complete or advanced. Some attributes that characterised the best of the government websites were not included because the Malaysian e-government is not placed in this advance category by most surveys. (Accenture, UNPAN, Taylor Nelson Flores, Gartner). Examples of features not surveyed are provision for the disabled, automatic site detection and adjustment to the visitors/users system features (display quality, download speed etc).

FINDINGS 

A total of 32 websites were sampled with a slight over-representation of bigger authorities (8 cities, 11 municipalities, 13 district councils). About a third of the websites were in Bahasa Malaysia while the balance was bilingual. 

Privacy Policy 

Sixty-five percent of the websites did not display a privacy policy which is very worrisome as it is a standard practice in e-government. In fact, MAMPU guidelines require that the privacy statement be displayed. This is not going to allay fears of misuse of private information by governmental agencies that is restraining the uptake of e-government among citizens. The Personal Data Protection Act under consideration may also impose this standard on all e-services in Malaysia. With security and privacy issues being still the main obstacle to e-business and e-government, the poor showing here is not very helpful to ameliorating these perennial concerns by users.  

User Orientation 

The lack of user orientation is obvious from the low use of FAQs, search facilities in the websites and also cross-links to other related agencies. This reinforces the belief that local government websites are still to adopt a user perspective in the design and upkeep of the websites. Producer-centricity is understandably a feature in the early stages of e-business and e-government. But to cultivate more citizen acceptance of the e-government, the websites must become more citizen-centric. Ease of use, an important construct in technology acceptance, requires that the designers appreciate the convenience of the users more than the do agency and accordingly reflect this in the website design. Pleasant initial experiences are recognised as powerful motivators of behaviour and destroy firmly held believes about assumed complexity and difficulty of using the Internet or dedicated public kiosk for public services (Davis, 1979; Beaumaster, 2002).  

TABLE 1: User Assistance Tools 

 Currency of Data 

The local authorities are, like other public organisations, notorious for their failure to keep the information on the websites current. Critics have scoffed at the suggestion of e-government development by constantly referring to the lack of data currency. The staleness of information on the web speaks volumes of the lack of attention to the website in the local authority activities. Using the difference between the current date and date of last updating, the time lag was established. Table 2 shows the slow updating of the data. This survey finding does nothing to diminish this criticism. About half of the local authorities updated the websites within the last six months or if they did, the update information was not posted o the website. This indicates that there is no automatic or scheduled updating of information. The use of outside vendors for the creation and maintenance of the websites in part also explains the lag. The local authority data must be carefully scrutinized before making it available to third parties for uplink to the website.

TABLE 2: Currency of Information posted

“What is on the menu?” 

The government agency websites have been classified as generally as at the “publish or broadcast” stage. At this stage in the development of the local e-government, local authorities mostly present corporate information for public viewing. Table 3 shows that the local authorities sampled adopt a distinct internal focus in the operation of the website. The organisational structure and office holder information, often with pictures posted, is almost a standard feature of these websites.  

TABLE 3: What is Served Online? 

 Online Services 

The promise of e-government lies in bringing the agency services to the “anywhere and anytime” concept that the Internet makes possible, cheaply. All e-government surveys look at the range and extent of agency services which are available on the Internet. Although many international surveys have accorded high marks for online services in Malaysia, this survey tells a different story. Less than 5% of the local authorities sampled provided complete online services to the public. A minority had some form of online services but they represent only a part of the total service. Even forms and guides are still to become a standard feature of website services. The availability of the online payment facility probably is the best indicator of how far full online services can proceed. On this score, there is precious little to report. The local e-government is very much at the first broadcast or publish stage using the Internet to provide information. 

TABLE 4: Online Services 

*  Any service whether partially or completely concluded online

  ** A service that can be all done online

Public Participation 

The Internet offers local authorities an inexpensive means of reaching out to their customers and users. User feedback and participation is looked at as the panacea for all that ails the government agencies – slow, inward looking, lacking innovation, cold and impolite, unresponsive etc. It provides a golden opportunity to reverse the decline in social and political capital in societies. The tools of participation are of the highly limited type with active participatory tools still untapped. Even the passive forms are still not a standard feature. The Malaysian E-government vision does not accord, at least at this point, much weight to extensive public participation in the agency affairs beyond the role as users. The role of the users as citizens in the policy making process is not articulated as a key objective in the e-government vision. It is, therefore, not surprising that local authorities have not made much headway either.

TABLE 5: Channels for Public Participation 

DISCUSSION 

In the following sections, the findings of this survey are examined fully in the context of e-government development worldwide. 

Information Currency 

Government services are information based. As such, they represent the services best suited to the application of ICT and especially the Internet (Lovelock & Wright, 2002). The quality and quantity of information defines the quality of service available to the people. United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) list the quality of information as a sine quo non for developing the credibility of the e-government (UNPAN, 2002:9). Even in more progressive e-government countries, the citizen’s demand is greatest for information – current and clear (Barnes & Vidgen, 2000). It is not merely the creation of the website that marks improvement or greater openness. It is quality and quantity of information about the internal administrative functions that is made available to the users that determines whether local e-government improve services in a democratic society (Demchak, Friss & La Porte, 2000). The access to information, where available, must be convenient and inexpensive. Undue difficulties and costs in obtaining information about the government serves only to frustrate, not facilitate citizen-government interaction. The staleness of the information posted on the government websites has become an object of ridicule and a measure of the commitment to the digital service window (Li, 2003). The information quality has three dimensions namely the currency of the data, the regularity of updating and the level of aggregation of the data presented.  This study examined the time since the last updating. Granted that in the case of some agencies, failure to regularly update the data or information does not hurt the service because of the fairly long data cycle. But this argument is not applicable to many agencies. Some still have 1998/99 data as the latest statistics which paints negative picture of the agency’s capacity to develop information pertinent to its work or that it will only upload data that has become less useful by effluxion of time.

The difficulties are likely to arise if the backroom activities are not computerised and integrated to enable easy, if not, seamless uplink to the local authority websites. Even where such links exist, the effectiveness of these links must be continuously examined because many sites offering database search do not yield anything except a note of server problems. Citizens’ expectations of online and conventional services are different.  The lack of ICT resources within the organisation to manage the regular updating is a major contributor to the information staleness. Many local authorities have developed the websites using outside vendors and the uplinks are managed via these vendors. The transfer of information to intermediaries to be posted on the net not only prolongs the process but may also introduce new risks as some information cannot be exchanged with outside parties. Other speculative reasons can be offered for this state of affairs. Weber (1946) observed that it is the nature of bureaucracies to hoard information to be effective in power struggles. The agencies are in constant struggle to develop a better image of performance. This image is not entirely predicated on performance as judged by quantifiable information. Hence, making available information that is, in the local authorities’ view, only a partially indicative of their effectiveness, is risky and unwarranted. Added to this is the paternalistic attitude of public bureaucracies in many regions that act as caretakers of the public and rarely involve or consult the public in the details of policies or their implementations (Rowat, 1988; Suleiman, 1984).

Yet another reason for this information staleness is the lack of resources to turn large volume of data into a presentable form for the public. The raw data must be aggregated or disaggregated and presented for public consumption. Demchak et al.’s (2000) observation that “…it is the unusual agency that values both its internal information assets and the wide dispersion of the public knowledge of its operations”. When information assets are highly valued but dissemination of that information is not, the more costly forms of information dissemination are seen to yield too few benefits to be worthwhile.”…provides an important insight into the outward reluctance to make available information to the public.

The staleness of the information served on the agency website is also perhaps in part due to the tactical question of keeping the citizens away from actively evaluating the authority’s performance (Stower, 1999; West, 2000; Hazman, 2003). Stale or the lack of credible information stifles democratic and critical participation of the citizenry (Demchak et al., 2000). Indeed, there is as yet no legal requirement for local authorities to make information available to the public. In fact, the contrary is often the case. Much of the information and data, however innocuous they seem, are classified as confidential and as such cannot be made public.  It is, therefore, no surprise that a United Nations study of e-government accorded Malaysia a low 0.333 score on information access (UNPAN, 2002: 43). The national guidelines on e-government strategy and implementation do not provide standards for the currency of the information. In fact, it makes no mention of the type of information that should or must be posted for public consumption. Without strong leadership on information availability and currency, progress on this front is not expected to be rapid. 

Agency-Centricity 

To begin with local authorities are still agency centric institutions despite the introduction quality initiatives aimed at providing better services to the clients/citizens through increased focus on the customer cum citizen (Hazman, 2003). Despite the improvements in services over the years, the local authorities remain very producer centric in their orientation. This trait is also reflected in the development of e-government. To be useful, the agency websites must be designed, operated and improved for the benefit of the public (uang & Chao, 2001; Mishra, Hiremath & Mishra, 2006). This general advice is often not heeded in the design of the sites. The websites are replete with corporate information that includes the standard vision, mission, objectives and also the client charters. In addition to this, the structure of the organisation and the information of the office bearers, at least the senior ones are a standard feature. The western public agency websites rarely dwell too much on the public officials except for an introductory message. The websites have been studied as cultural artifacts that broadcast the same cultural proclivities as physical symbols (Ackerman, 2002). It is observed that in high power distance societies such as Malaysia, the all important civil servants who head the agencies and its various departments are given particular prominence in the webspace (Smith, 2004). In fact, sometimes nothing more is available besides personnel and corporate information. This information is only marginally useful to the public. 

Online Services 

The primary value of the Internet for the public organisations is in the extension of the services to the citizens anywhere and anytime through 24/7/365 service delivery. The convenience of the online service relieves the rigidity of offline services. In fast developing and modern societies time is of the essence. The digital window allows the local authorities to offer services to the sophisticated and busy whilst reserving the offline services for the old and the information have-nots. The primary attraction of e-government is that it can vastly improve efficiency of the operations, reduce cost by automating the services and enhancing public satisfaction with local authority services. Without sufficient uptake local e-government, the efficiency outcomes will remain limited.

In the case of the Malaysian e-government, the main objective of e-government is to extend services to the people via an alternative medium (Muhammad Rais & Nazariah, 2003). For this goal to be achieved, the services must go online. The findings of this study are a terrible indictment of the state of online services. Few services are carried out online. Some are partial in nature. The local authorities especially the urban ones are actively seeking to go online. But online payment is a big stumbling block in the transformation.  Recent surveys have shown that Malaysians, just like their counterparts all over the world, are still concerned about the security (Taylor Nelsen Flores, 2002).  Improving the networks, employing secure channels, accrediting the security systems in place can mitigate these worries.  Foremost among this is the need for new set of laws that protect the users. The impending the Personal Data Protection Act, the Electronic Transactions Act and the Electronic Government Transactions Act will go a long way to allays fears about online security (Amir & Charles, 2004).

But the dismal picture is not entirely the making of the local authorities. The central agencies are attempting to set common standards that all agencies must follow in going online. This has put the brakes on many projects. The common standards have only now become available. Online service development will put the standards to real test and further clarification, specification and adjustments are almost certainly necessary. The online services require that internal operations are computerised, secured and linked to the web-services so that the services can become seamless. Many internal or backroom operations are not fully computerised. Where local authority processes are computerised, legacy problems prevent easy integration of the operations. Proprietary claims on the technology must be sorted out before the integration can become a reality.

Even the level of partial online service is still limited. Provision of forms, manuals and progress reports of offline applications have not been exploited in a major way. These partial online services can facilitate learning by the agencies of the taste and tendencies of the public that deals through the digital window. With the vast majority of the local authority websites in the “broadcast” phase, significant online services whether partial or complete appears unreasonable. Information paucity and staleness will drive away citizens to traditional means and method of obtaining services.

The development of online services is not expected to move rapidly or smoothly because the e-government plans at the local authority is not in place. Unless a formal fully thought out e-government plan is in place, the pace and purpose of e-government transformation will be affected (Beaumaster, 2002). With low Internet penetration, the local authorities may not be as encouraged to take the online services as seriously as the conventional service delivery is still the local authorities’ mainstay. The Internet penetration is rising ever more rapidly and the 50% subscriber base is expected very shortly. However, the subscription rates normally underreport the actual use in offices and in cyber cafés. The reduced prices for broadband services have already increased subscription and the price can only go lower. The net effect of these twin developments is the rapidly rising e-readiness. The local authorities must have an e-service plan in tandem with the rising e-readiness.

Interactivity 

E-government has the potential to transform the relationship between the citizens and the government. The Internet allows for the declining interest in government and in democracy to be reversed.  In fact, many observers report evidence, though still isolated, of e-government reconnecting the public with their rulers.  It is also particularly noteworthy that it is the younger citizens who are most ready to go online. This group is also notorious for its political and social apathy. The findings of this study do not reassure that the local authorities are exploiting the interactivity that the Internet provides. The emails posted on the Internet are not, in many cases, active. The artifacts and facilities for interaction are there but no one seems to be manning it for the moment. Local authorities without e-government plans, processes and standards are likely to evolve into public relations exercises that lose appeal and interest after the grand ceremonies and fanfare.

The study also examined the local authority websites for elements of e-participation and e-democracy - bulletin boards, forum, chats, listserv etc. The Internet enables the agencies to get feedback from the users on new policies and programmes. In fact, it has been posited that direct democracy is now possible with Internet. All people can be polled for the views and position on major issues and decisions. The use of this facility is still highly limited. Through the above mentioned means, the LA can reconnect with their respective constituencies or beneficiaries. But the administrative culture may be a subtle but strong impediment. The local authorities like other Malaysian public agencies are not noted for their enthusiasm in inviting active involvement of the people they serve. For example, the client charters were to be developed in consultation with the clients of the agency. Yet most client charters never involved the clients, merely considered their needs and interests (Hazman, 2003). Furthermore, street level democracy is perceived to be dilettantish by trained bureaucrats. The nuisance factor far outweighs the value that can be derived from e-participation.

To be fair, e-participation and e-democracy has not, even in developed western democracies, proceeded as rapidly (Gronlund, 2003). The bureaucrats are uneasy with the prospect of having to deal with policy which is clearly in the realm of the elected leaders. The elected leaders to will find bureaucrats overstepping their role and intruding into their domain of governance. The limited nature of Malaysian E-Government vision is symptomatic of the usual reticence shown by public servants to the idea of e-democracy. Service improvement rather than democratic engagement is the cornerstone of local e-government, at least for now. 

CONCLUSION 

The study paints a picture of local e-government in its infancy. The Malaysian local e-government, as judged by the websites features and facilities, is still very much in the early stages or phases of e-government development contrary to much higher placing in other international e-government surveys. The websites are very much focused on the local authorities’ need to broadcast information about itself. A user orientation is not evident as a general feature. This partly explains why the uptake of e-government in general and local e-government in particular is still low among Malaysians.  There is serious information paucity - not much is available and also the problem of information staleness. Outdated information is a common caricature of government websites. Utility of the information is still a major question. The local authority websites have not actively sought to interact and involve their respective constituencies. This is not surprising as the national E-Government Plan emphasizes service delivery dimensions of e-government. E-participation and e-democracy are not on the e-government agenda (MAMPU, 2003).

In summary, the evolving local e-government requires greater user centricity to propel e-government to challenge the conventional services delivery as envisaged in the Public Sector ICT Plan. The increasing info-structural facilities will not see a corresponding rise in e-government uptake unless the local authorities aggressively move beyond the broadcasting stage to interaction and even online transaction. To achieve this, the local authorities must become more user-centric in the planning and do a lot more on the internal front to develop greater e-government readiness (Beaumaster, 2002:Yong, 2003;Hazman et al., 2005). The public expectation is rising faster than can the local authorities reengineer and transform. The dream of fully portalised life event based e-services is still a long, long way to come.