E-Government in Malaysia

The Electronic Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and business. Besides that, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement. The implementation of electronic government started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996 by the Malaysian government.

The current applications of e-government in Malaysia such as e-Filling, Renewing Road Tax and Driving License Online, KWSP’s i-Akaun and E-Perolehan. Nowadays, we can renew road tax and motor insurance policy at http://www.myeg.com.my/. It also provides a list of about 100 insurances companies for citizen to choose it. In addition, we also can renew driving licenses and pay or check traffic summonses through the online at http://www.jpj.gov.my/.

However, many citizens in Malaysia do not use e-government because they are lack of computer knowledge. Besides that, the languages available of e-government applications are more on English and Malay. Some Chinese or Indian consumers are not proficient in those languages, so they are rarely using the e-government applications.

In order to encourage citizens to use e-government, the government needs marketing expertise to better promote awareness, encouragement and dissemination of information on the benefits that can be obtained by using e-government. In addition, the government can implement more languages in e-government to those consumers who are not proficient in English and Malay.