E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation so far and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

Malaysia is implementing electronic government, generally known as ‘e-government’. The implementation of e-government was initiated by the introduction of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. The e-government initiative launched the country into the Information Age.

Implementation of E-Government Projects in Malaysia

Most of the e-government project implementations are currently in progress. The e-government projects are:

1) Generic Office Environment (GOE)
2) Electronic Procurement (eP)
3) Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
4) Project Monitoring System (PMS)
5) Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)
6) Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
7) E-Syariah.


The implementation of e-government would bring benefits to the public administration and Malaysian society in several ways as shown below:

• E-government improves efficiency since the use of information technology enables improvement in mass processing tasks and public administration operations. Hence, e-government applications can generate savings on data collection and transmission.

• E-government improves services, as the main element in reforming government operations is to adopt a customer-focussed approach. The e-government application is developed based on best understanding of citizen requirements. These applications will provide a seamless online service and thus improve traditional government services.

• E-government would help to achieve specific outcomes. The internet can help stakeholders share information and ideas and contribute to specific policy outcomes. For example, online information can boost training programme, sharing health information can improve resource use and patient care.

Citizen's Adoption Strategies

The main challenge in e-government in Malaysia is the technological challenge, which includes issues like standards, data integration, legacy maintenance and privacy and security. In order to make the right decisions and avoid falling behind, governments must identify and resolve the different issues that have arisen from the transition period during which traditional and e-government co-exist. Rather than just focusing on introduction of ICTs, government should decide, guide and control the transformation of government into e-government. The use of ICT to strengthen the involvement of citizens and businesses in public decision-making must be progress at the same time. In short, implementing good strategies must be addressed carefully. Otherwise, e-government will remain misleading.