Core Values: e-Government Implementation and Its Progress in Brunei

Introduction

Singapore and Brunei are both considered to be comparatively small countries situated in South East Asia. The aims of the chapter are to examine e-Government and the role of national cultures and its core values in Singapore and Brunei that enable e-Government to be successfully implemented, and thus make e-progress and assist economic growth and development (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

The respective positions of Singapore and Brunei in South East Asia

To put it simpler terms, e-Government can be defined as the administrative processes of the government as well as the latter’s facilitative interaction with the public or the citizenry. In addition, e-Government is used to serve citizens, support businesses, and strengthen societies (Lee, 2007).

A culture is usually taken as “the way we do things around here,” and values about “how things ought to be” are shared amongst the people (Mead, 1994; cited in Hill, 2009). In other words, core values establish the foundation of a culture. Hence, national culture can be defined as a set of core values held by its people, and these core values are the people’s key beliefs or convictions, something very close to their hearts (Low, 2009, 2005). Interestingly, values are people’s or organization’s (nation’s) priorities; they also provide purpose and a sense of direction, setting the standards and giving us a sense of right and wrong (Low, 2011).

In e-Government, culture is one of the critical factors in enabling economic growth by streamlining government processes, providing better access to information, and promoting a suitable enterprise environment to further facilitate greater business growth.

The Critical Success Factors Of E-Government Implementation

The researchers felt that in order to make e-government a success, it is very important that a nation should have a top down approach in which the government with a dynamic and robust management team (including a strong ICT support), strategically planned, installed, and made available ICT infrastructure at the critical places of the country for current and future networking purposes. Hence, good government provides good leadership with the necessary infrastructure and strategic maintenance (Low & Ang, 2011; Low, 2011, 2009a, 2009b, 2005); and this is then followed by implementation of good e-government policy for the public and the citizenry at large (Rahman, et al., 2012).

On the other hand, a nation also requires a bottom-up approach in which the government enables the people to participate and own the e-government process. This meant that the people need to be enlightened, engaged, empowered, and entertained (The 4Es). Firstly, by enlightening the people, one makes people aware of the e-government system, and when people understand the system well, they can obtain facts and data supply by the government when they need them. Secondly, from time to time, one can also engage the people via education and training sessions and this would help them to improve their confidence and trust in using the system. Thirdly, one can also motivate the people by enabling them to involve in the e-government process and to see the progressive changes that they have made for the betterment of e-government. And lastly, when entertainment goes electronic, and paying cashless, the people would accept the e-process as a way of life and that it would be part and parcel of their daily living. When e-ticketing or purchases of cinema/drama and opera tickets go online and there would be much ease and convenience for the people with easy adoption of the e-process (Low & Ang, 2011). The top-down and bottom-up approaches of e-government implementation can be illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

The key success factors of e-government implementation