Local E-Government in Malaysia: An Empirical Investigation

Introduction

Within the national governance systems, the federal government is the centre for most discussion, followed by the 13 state governments and the 144 local authorities that make the local government. Fifty percent of the Gross Domestic Product is generated from areas under the charge of local authorities. Some 14.57 (62% of total population) millions people lived urban areas in 2005 and this figure is forecasted to reach 16.85 million (63.8% of total population) in 2010 (Ninth Malaysian Plan (NMP), 2006:360). Most, if not all, urban citizens live in local authority administered areas. As the population becomes urbanized, local government grows in direct importance to the welfare and the quality of life experienced by a majority of the citizens of this country. Local land use planning and control, hawking and business premise licensing, basic disposal services, environmental control, and social and recreational facilities are within the purview of local authorities. The local government has been since independence plagued by a multitude of problems arising from its financial, personnel and administrative shortcomings. The advent of ICT especially the ubiquitous Internet has opened up new possibilities to expand and improve services at all levels of government. Much of the e-Government attention has been focused on the federal and to some extent the state government. The local e-Government has been relatively quiet despite some remarkable developments in some urban local authorities. This paper is aimed at visiting the state of e-local government to bring the local e-Government development or lack thereof into the national stage. This will provide a balanced picture of e-Government development in Malaysia.