"E-government action has been introduced by the PAP on a grand scale in Singapore. Its primary aim is to ensure that advances in technology are adequately embraced by government institutions to deliver services efficiently to citizens and businesses. To this end monies are invested in upgrading information and communication technologies used by government agencies and a sizeable budget is allocated for training public servants to use such technologies. The key thread running through the e-government rhetoric is how technology can be harnessed by the public sector for governance as opposed to how citizens can use the technology to safeguard their political rights."

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"IT ..for instance..is used.. in the collection and enforcement of the vehicle road tax and electronic road pricing (ERP) system by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). When the tax is due for renewal, the computer generates from its data base notices of payment to vehicle owners. If the amount is not paid by the date stipulated in the notice, an automatic fine is imposed and it increases every time another notice is generated according to a predetermined time frame. When ignored, these notices culminate in a computer-generated warrant for arrest with a notice to appear in court. The person is given a choice between paying a large compound fine or taking the matter to court and being slapped with an even bigger fine for noncompliance. Most opt to pay the large compound fine.

All computer-generated letters state they do not need a signature. Thus, by mere oversight, one can run afoul of the law by not keeping up with one's personnel administration as the computer generates notices of fines with clockwork precision. Public servants tasked with collecting the monies derived from fines are quick to point out that it is the citizen's responsibility to keep track of his correspondence and to pay the government on time."

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"That e-government is lopsided can again be seen in the example of the licensing Division which does not process certain applications via the email or Internet. For instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs lists the need for various activities, including that of public lectures, discussion and debates, which are ad-hoc meaning one-off events, as requiring a license but such licenses have to be applied by hand. That is, they still physically require the applicant to submit an application form and collect the actual permit. And the process time can take from 2-3 weeks. This is a far cry to business registration that takes only one day. So one can see in terms of facilitating political participation, public discussion and transparency and access to information e-government does not play a role consummate with the IT capability available in Singapore. In fact e-government is used as a tool to extract information and monies from the people but not to politically empower them efficiently through it."

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"All government agencies in Singapore normally have information officers who are known variously as public relations officers, public affairs officers, public enquiries personnel, to name a few titles government department now have. And all have email addresses. When query emails are sent by individuals/groups usually the response time is fairly decent but the content that the public relations officers can or willing to release is another story. For instance, getting unpublished information is a different matter altogether. A single theme is prevalent in the civil service: the agencies or departments reserve the right to disclose or not to disclose information. They are not compelled by law to release any information to the public. This policy runs counter to the vision of e-government and is not in synch with developments and the nature of the IT revolution. Ironically, there is no mention of transparency as an objective in all the talk about e-government. Even when one seeks published information most officials may tend to be suspicious of the motives of the person or group seeking information. The researcher's problem is not so much getting the information, but fielding the questions about why he/she needs it in the first place.

Officials are often wary about disclosing information and even their names to private citizens. Civil servants are often reluctant to share information over the phone, preferring to put it in writing. Sometimes the information they seek is released too late for their purposes. They also wait for their superiors to tell them how to address queries from the public. If one is persistent and engages a particular department or officer in an exchange of letters, the tendency is to fall back after a couple of replies to the original answers in the first reply. The exchange between a member of the public and the civil service often ends here. Since there is no legal time limit, waiting time is at the discretion of the agencies. There has been no attempt, though, to take the issue to court to seek redress. So you have a case where the ruling party has rushed to get onto the Internet to occupy a large presence but in terms of efficiency and transparency it leaves much to be desired.

Instead the ruling party through the institution of government uses the Internet to put out information of its parliamentary officials. This it does through the government websites. It also uses the feedback unit as a forum of public feedback that it uses to make adjustments to its policy and to gauge sentiments on the ground. The feedback unit also maintains a large mail list, mainly of civil servants, academics, social groups and those who sign-up. They then use that to send out alerts and seek views and conducts surveys. News and transcripts of speeches of senior civil servants and PAP parliamentarians are also available from the mail list of every government ministry. Even the Singapore 21 facilitation committee sends our its newsletter via email. Launched in March 1999 and under the management of MITA, SG News is a free subscribers' mailing list service that sends a wide range of Singapore information to its subscribers. These include: Singapore government press releases; Singapore government speeches; Interviews given by our ministers; Daily Summary of press releases and speeches; Bites of the Week - a weekly summary of happenings in Singapore; Chinese Bites - Chinese version of Bites of the Week. Thus, through these mechanisms the PAP manages to have a large presence.

The overall characteristics of e-government introduced by the PAP are greater efficiency, better co-ordination, and information exchange among the various ministries and government institutions. Thus it is important to note the Internet has also enhanced the powers of control of the government - something which is not often acknowledged or recorded. In this context, government initiatives, such as the e-citizens website, largely provides service and allows for information extraction. "

Taken from James Gomez, Internet Politics: Surveillance & Intimidation in Singapore, (Singapore & Bangkok: Think Centre, 2002), ISBN 981-04-5563-1, pp. 132.