GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Edited transcript of the closing remarks of Rodolfo C. Severino,
 Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
at the ASEAN Executive Seminar on e-Government

Singapore, 19 November 2002

Congratulations are in order for this most successful and important seminar on e-Government.  My congratulations go to the e-ASEAN Task Force, the InfoComm Development Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, and to the resource persons and participants.

I say that this seminar is a success, because it managed to define and clarify the role of government in the development and use of information technology.

The role of government in IT has not always been clear.  There was a time when governments thought it was their business to decide every little thing that their citizens could get out of IT.  They wanted to get the scientific and economic benefits of IT for their countries, but tried to control all the other stuff, namely, information that they claimed would de-stabilize their societies – or, more precisely, threatened the power of the rulers.  I said, “There was a time,” but unfortunately some of that thinking persists in a few countries.  We all know, of course, that it is almost impossible to filter information so discriminately once technology is available.

At the other end, some people were promoting the idea that IT was almost exclusively the domain of private enterprise and of individuals, that IT could thrive and grow only in an environment of absolute freedom, that the less government had to do with it the better.

Fortunately, most of the world now accepts the idea that, while IT can develop and be used to advantage only with freedom of thought, freedom of information, freedom of expression and freedom of enterprise, government has a key role to play in enabling it to develop and be effectively used.

It is with this balance in mind that the eATF is, unique among ASEAN bodies, purposely composed of both public officials and leaders of private industry.  This is why the eATF has been so effective despite its shortage of time, smallness of staff and modesty of financial resources.  And this is why the ASEAN Secretariat works closely with the private sector in the realm of IT.

A related consideration, of course, is that the government and the private sector must work together for IT to live up to its potential in the nation and in the region.

This seminar underscored the three-fold role of governments in IT:

? The government as enabler;
? The government as leader; and
? The government as user.

Clearly, the government has a responsibility to provide the legal and regulatory environment to encourage the development and use of IT, for e-commerce and for such social purposes as education and health, and to prevent its abuse.  This is quite tricky to pull off.  Laws and rules have to be clear enough and specific enough to provide the certainty and predictability that developers and users of IT need in order to work with it with confidence, knowing that the government is sympathetic in its attitude and progressive in its thinking.  And yet laws and regulations have to be loose enough and flexible enough so as not to constrain and stifle IT with the bureaucracy and red tape and conformism that are IT’s worst enemies.

The government also has an obligation to lead.  But in leading it cannot, in most cases, be so active a player in the IT business itself as to stifle creativity and competition and discourage others from playing.  Singapore is one example in which the government plays an active role in the business of IT; so is, to some extent, Malaysia.  But it is not possible in most other societies.

To pursue the analogy from sports, in most cases the government can be the commissioner, referee and cheerleader, but not usually a player or even the coach.  In other words, it should work out the national strategy and policy, enforce the rules, and undertake advocacy work.  If it can do more without being an obstacle, so much the better.

For the government to play this leadership role, it must be clear where the locus of that leadership is.  IT cuts across the whole spectrum of government, the economy and society.  So, some entity has to do the coordinating, the pushing, the promoting, the advocacy, the strategic planning, and so on.  In other words, what is needed in each government is a clearly identified and mandated focal point.

Just two or three years ago, with one or two exceptions, ASEAN countries had no clear idea of who or what was responsible for IT, even as they gave voice to their recognition of its importance.  Some countries tossed the responsibility to the trade ministry, others to telecommunications agencies, still others to public information bodies.  One of the key recommendations of the eATF and of the e-readiness assessment that the ASEAN Secretariat commissioned was the designation of a focal point in each ASEAN government, preferably with the direct involvement of the head of government or of his or her office.  Now, most ASEAN governments have designated and mandated such focal points, either as a separate agency, a task force or unit in the office of the head of government, or in a distinct division of the telecommunications ministry or agency.  This also makes it much easier and more effective for ASEAN to work together in IT matters.

One of the important functions of IT focal points is to serve as nodes for ASEAN cooperation in IT and for carrying out the e-ASEAN framework agreement and the other directives of the ASEAN leaders in this area.  An indication of the importance given by ASEAN to cooperation in IT is the fact that ICT is one of the four components of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, ASEAN’s program for narrowing the development gap between the older and the newer members.  (The others are infrastructure, human resource development, and capacity building for regional economic integration.)  Indeed, ASEAN considers the digital divide as a critical factor and a reliable indicator in the development gap within ASEAN.

If the government is to take a leadership role in promoting IT, then it must itself use IT in its own operations, which is the whole point of this seminar.  It must practice what it preaches.  This is not just a matter of setting an example.  It is a good in itself.  It fosters efficiency, timeliness, transparency in government service, and, therefore, public satisfaction.  Lack of money is often a problem, but IT has proven to be a money-saver and a good investment.  The shortage of human competence in IT can be an obstacle.  But to me, the most serious problem is at the heart of government.  It may be political inertia or unwillingness on the part of a critical mass of officials or of the leadership itself, unwillingness to do things transparently, honestly and efficiently.  If this is the case, then neither IT nor ASEAN cooperation can help.  As one speaker pointed out in the seminar, IT by itself cannot solve the problem of corruption.

However, the problem could be a lack of awareness and appreciation of the benefits of IT.  This is where this kind of seminar comes in, which could develop ASEAN-wide cooperative measures for sharing knowledge, raising consciousness among the people who can further share the knowledge and impart awareness and take the lead in adopting and promoting policies on behalf of IT – its development and use, particularly by, in this case, government.

I hope there will be many more like it.