RIYADH, 23 April — The program of the 3rd Saudi e-Commerce Conference 2002 kicked off yesterday with Mohammed Kateeb, GM, Microsoft Gulf presenting first in a day that was extraordinarily vendor focused. Kateeb survived his 20 minutes on stage in fine form. Not surprisingly, he made no comment on the current Microsoft debacle in Israel, an issue on the minds of many conference attendees. The latest news on the MS Israel incident is that Egypt’s media outlets are now calling for a boycott of Microsoft products.

Today, the conference will be the scene of presentations on the theme, “E-Government International Experience.” The UK has shown its commitment to the Kingdom’s market in the number and quality of experts they have brought to the conference. This week, Trade Partners UK, the British Government’s trade promotion organization has sponsored 12 technology experts on a visit to Saudi Arabia. They plan to share their experiences in delivering innovative e-systems for both the public and private sectors.

Alan Mather, CEO of the UK’s Office of the e-Envoy, is leading the “e-Delivery” trade group. This morning at the conference he will be giving the opening address on the implementation of e-government in the UK. Later in the afternoon, Simon Moores, chairman of the Research Group and e-Government Forum, UK, will be discussing “The Security of e-Commerce, e-Government and e-Banking.” Those who cannot make it to the conference, can still see Moores’ presentation by visiting www.drmoores.com. Just click the menu item, “Files and Video,” and then download the two files titled “Information Security Presentation Gitex.”

One bright light from the developing world, who will be presenting at the conference today, is Dr. Zainal A. Ahmad, director, Planning and Technology, Integrated Visions, Malaysia. Zainal will be speaking about Malaysia’s experience with e-government. He believes that it is very important for Saudi Arabia to analyze the Malaysian e-government program because of the comprehensive ideas and examples it offers to the Kingdom, especially coming from a country outside the Western geography.

“Malaysia created its National ICT Master Plan back in 1993,” explained Zainal. “That means we’ve been focusing on e-government for nearly a decade now. We have learned valuable lessons in that time and Saudi Arabia should take the opportunity to benefit from our experience. It is said that the most successful businessmen are those who learn from the mistakes of others. I am certain that the same sentiment applies to governments and nations.”

According to Zainal, Malaysia chose to implement e-government for several reasons. The central authority wanted to update the government’s administrative machinery and its services to the people of Malaysia. The government also wanted to upgrade the quality of its interaction with citizens and businesses. It was recognized that an accelerated flow of information would enhance the government’s functionality and processes. The central authority also realized that in this age of globalization it was necessary to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

“The overall goal of implementing the ICT Master Plan was to improve Malaysia’s democratic system and build a thriving civil society,” said Zainal. “Remember that in Malaysia we have citizens of varied ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. We decided that for many reasons, e-government would help our people live in harmony. E-government would reform bureaucratic procedures and bring transparency to many areas of government.”

According to Zainal, due to the diverse nature of Malaysian society it was challenging to draft the original ICT Master Plan, but once it was in place then there was a clear strategy to follow. He felt that e-government would not have been so successful in Malaysia if the national ICT plan had not been formulated before the government tried to move forward with this concept.

Once the ICT Master Plan was ready, three committees were organized. One committee handled all issues relating to the master plan and human resources. A second group looked into all technology issues and a third committee was responsible for legal aspects. There was and still is much work to be done.

“The move to e-government is a dynamic process,” said Zainal. “The original master plan laid out the basic guidelines and there is a commitment from all levels within the government to embrace it. But the specific details, which will be implemented to achieve the guidelines, are investigated and developed as the plan moves forward. Once the plan was begun, halting it has never been an option. There is no “off and on” switch. Changes, improvements and additions to the system have to be instituted with the current running!”

The various Malaysian ministries began the move to e-government by converting spatial and textual data into digital form. This is an ongoing process. With the digitization under way, the nation began building a network. Malaysia laid a fiber optic backbone from the country’s border with Thailand all the way to Singapore. That took three years. During this time the government also created clearinghouses where the digitized data was collected and unified. Eventually the clearinghouses became portals into the e-government network.

On the human resources side, people had to be trained.

“Not everyone was enthusiastic about the coming of computers to the workplace,” commented Zainal. “Some civil servants were phobic when it came to using the machines. So it became vital to familiarize our citizens with computers early in their careers. We immediately changed the syllabus at our universities so that college graduates would be computer literate. The government created a training facility for civil servants, and from the junior to most senior levels, bureaucrats received IT training for the first time.”

Purchasing equipment, training, and creating policy and procedures, all took funding. Fortunately, the Malaysian economy was strong, the timing was right and there was enough revenue to meet the requirements. Many foreign IT companies established factories in Malaysia and this has been a driver for both trained human resources and excellent value in equipment. The ICT Master Plan is not brand specific. The technology of any vendor may be used as long as the specifications are met.

Once the plan was moving forward the central authority did a study to identify all the sectors needed to run the government and decide what data was required, from where, and who the users of the data would be. Then a methodology was perfected to clear the data from one department to another. A pilot project was done in one area of the government. This project created the National Land Information System (NALIS). Anything connected with land and the government, from land surveys to property assessment to demographics, was brought together in one portal. This pilot project was successful and in Malaysia e-government is now being implemented with enthusiasm.

Zainal was pleased to list some of the achievements of the Malaysian e-government project thus far:

— Licensing and related vehicle services and utility payments can now be completed by the public online.

— Electronic procurement has improved transactions between the government and businesses providing goods and services.

— The prime minister’s portal helps civil servants gain faster and easier access to accurate and up-to-date information.

— The Human Resources Management Information System allows the management of government employees through a single interface.

— The Project Monitoring System has created a mechanism for the monitoring of the implementation of government projects.

Malaysia has now introduced a national multipurpose card. It is basically a smart card that has the capability to perform a wide range of functions related to data management. The cards are being provided to any citizen, age 12 or older. Adoption of the national multipurpose cards has been heavily promoted through the country’s education system. For the future, Malaysia is building “Smart Schools” that will utilize IT. Malaysia also hopes that telemedicine will transform the nation’s health care management.

“One of our most ambitious projects is the creation of World Wide Manufacturing Webs,” said Zainal. “Using the Manufacturing Webs anyone can send an idea by e-mail from anywhere to one of the technology parks in Malaysia. A designer there will create a design for the item and come up with a soft prototype. The original investor can even be advised on suitable materials, procurement of components and engineering requirements. Once the approval of the investor is received the steps toward mass production are taken, including costing and packaging of the product. The purpose of these World Wide Manufacturing Webs is to encourage small and medium-sized industries to upgrade and be innovative.”

Malaysia knows that the full realization of its plans are still decades away. The nation is building a 750 sq. km. multimedia super corridor (MMSC) which is expected to attract a core group of innovative companies. The MMSC will include the world’s first “smart city” Putra Jaya, which is being built at a cost of $5.5 billion. Putra Jaya will eventually become the new administrative capital of Malaysia and the center of e-government. The Malaysians are also creating Cyber Jaya, a place that will accommodate multimedia industry, R&D centers and the multimedia university. Cyber Jaya will enable worldwide manufacturing and trading activities using multimedia technology.

“Cyber Jaya is not being developed for Malaysia alone,” emphasized Zainal. “Cyber Jaya is to be Malaysia’s gift to the world.”

***

(Comments to [email protected].)