Singapore E-Government
e-Government: The Singapore
Arun Mahizhnan & Narayanan Andiappan Arun Mahizhnan is Deputy Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore and Narayanan Andiappan is Assistant Manger, Infocomm Development Authority, Singapore Government. This paper draws heavily from resource materials provided by IDA. The views expressed are in the authors' personal capacity. ___________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The term "e-Government" is used in this paper to denote the concept of using Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a means to organise and manage the administrative processes of the Government, especially the interactive processes between the Government and the public. Though ICT has been available widely for more than four decades and many governments around the world have indeed used ICT in certain aspects of government, the concept of eGovernment is relatively new in the sense mentioned above. Only a handful of governments have progressed to a high degree in harnessing the immense power of ICT in re-organising their government infrastructure and in serving their citizenry, and have done so in an efficient and effective manner. e-Government is not mere "technologising" of government. It is not just a matter of automating some manual processes nor is it a simple introduction of technology where none existed. e-Government requires a fundamental re-thinking of governance itself and, as some have suggested, a re-inventing of government. If bureaucracy is the invention of the 19th century, we might say e-Government is the invention of the 21st century. e-Government reexamines the organising principles of bureaucracy and governance, re-defines the objectives and deliverables of government and re-deploys the resources available. In this process of reinvention, the basic intent is both refinement of the old and introduction of the new. eGovernment is NOT throwing the baby with the bathwater. Advent of e-Government in
Arun Mahizhnan & Narayanan Andiappan Arun Mahizhnan is Deputy Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore and Narayanan Andiappan is Assistant Manger, Infocomm Development Authority, Singapore Government. This paper draws heavily from resource materials provided by IDA. The views expressed are in the authors' personal capacity. ___________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The term "e-Government" is used in this paper to denote the concept of using Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a means to organise and manage the administrative processes of the Government, especially the interactive processes between the Government and the public. Though ICT has been available widely for more than four decades and many governments around the world have indeed used ICT in certain aspects of government, the concept of eGovernment is relatively new in the sense mentioned above. Only a handful of governments have progressed to a high degree in harnessing the immense power of ICT in re-organising their government infrastructure and in serving their citizenry, and have done so in an efficient and effective manner. e-Government is not mere "technologising" of government. It is not just a matter of automating some manual processes nor is it a simple introduction of technology where none existed. e-Government requires a fundamental re-thinking of governance itself and, as some have suggested, a re-inventing of government. If bureaucracy is the invention of the 19th century, we might say e-Government is the invention of the 21st century. e-Government reexamines the organising principles of bureaucracy and governance, re-defines the objectives and deliverables of government and re-deploys the resources available. In this process of reinvention, the basic intent is both refinement of the old and introduction of the new. eGovernment is NOT throwing the baby with the bathwater. Advent of e-Government in