This year 2011 denotes the sixth Malaysia Government Portals and Websites Assessment (MGPWA) conducted since its first in 2005. With the objectives to reach out to the citizen, the assessment also aimed to help promote information and the online services provided by Government agencies.
MGPWA has consistently made up of 2 approaches, namely the assessment itself and incorporating best practices. The former involved a set of criteria which was developed and agreed upon during the Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting. Members of the meeting are from MAMPU, MOSTI, PSD and EPU. With the TWG approval, assessment was then conducted for a period of three and half months, beginning April 2011. Upon completion of assessment, overall analysis was performed and put forward findings and recommendations.
In the latter approach, reports of international bodies were studied. This year observation was only made to Waseda University World e-Government Ranking as it was the only report produced for the year. Malaysia was noted to retain its place at number 24 with 67.37 score. Nevertheless, there is an improvement of 3.87 score. Out of the 7 indicators, 3 were found to be the most affiliated with MGPWA 2011 namely Required Interface-Functioning Applications, National Portal and e-Participation.
In adjustment to the requirement that some websites are not transactional, Portal and Website category were introduced in the assessment. Both portals and websites have to conform to the 5 pillars. Criteria were re-arranged according to the new 5 pillars, i.e. Content, Usability, Security, Participation and Services. New criteria were also introduced this year. A portal as compared to the website will have the opportunity to earn additional 10 marks from the total of 100 marks.
The total portals and websites assessed in MGPWA 2011 have increased to 1,155. They are derivation from item Machinery on myGovernment Portal. From the assessment, there are still availability of inaccessible portals/websites, a total of 64. In the overall ranking of portals and websites, sub rankings were derived. They Ministry, State, Local Authority, University and Managed Portal Services (MPS). Two new sub rankings are introduced - Top 10 Portals and Top 10 Websites.
In terms of star rating, a significant progress was observed in the 5-star rating. There are 285 5-stars as compared to 101 in 2010. The 4-star portals/websites are the biggest portion, an increment of 50.45%. For 3-star, the total portals/websites is 330, an increment of 0.61%. As desired, the number for 2-star and 1-star has much reduced. A noteworthy finding of MGPWA 2011 was the percentage of portals and websites rated 3-star onwards which sums up to 86.71%, as compared to 61.57% in 2010.
The other subtle objective of the assessment is to streamline all listed agencies and their respective URLs on myGovernment portal. As there are a number of 64 inaccessible portals/websites, the respective agencies need to verify their existence as not to confuse users or public when accessing the gateway portal of their availability.
Many portals/websites scored well for updating criteria such as contact number, updated website and web 2.0. Number of online services showed good progress with 88.7% achieved at least 1 service put online. Statistic of online services tracked via the sites and the client's charter achievement were found to be on the contrary. For the disability criteria, it is not encouraging as fulfillment showed only 34.19%. Languages, although has several combinations, was observed to have majority of only 1, either Malay language or English language. Platforms to promote citizen participation are still low where response for feedback forms was given not within 3 working days. Social media is not widely used with only 61.96%.
Taking into account the observations made, Government portals and websites must strive further to ensure better take-up rate for every citizen of Malaysia and utilizing the portals and websites as their communication medium when dealing with Government agencies.
Download MGPWA 2011 Full Report
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