Optimizing Digital Government Services

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

The process of digitizing archives at the Kampung Melayu Village office, East Jakarta, Saturday (11/1/2020).

Indonesia\'s ranking in digital government services, or e-government, rose to 88th position in 2020 from 107th in 2018. The country ranked in the 70th position in 2003.

Indonesia\'s ranking lags behind Malaysia (47th), Brunei Darussalam (57th) and Thailand (60th). Indonesia has struggled to increase its position, but other countries have worked harder and smarter.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic uncovered the weakness of the data integration, including digital data. The integration of digital data from various hospitals throughout Indonesia has not gone as expected. When data integration is hampered, it ultimately affects the quality of public services.

Also read:

> Digital Transformation Improves Public Services

> Data Security and Digital Public Services

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has spurred remote work, has helped accelerate the digital transformation. The news about the launching of websites related to government services in the last few months is nothing new at all. This is certainly good news.

However, a professor of state administration at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Sangkala, said that in the transformation of the e-government, technological infrastructure development only accounted for 20 percent. "The rest is related to aspects of politics, culture, mindset and competence," he said.

Culture, a digital mindset and competence are indeed the most important elements in the transformation of digital government services. There are a lot of government websites, but they are useless if the digital system is not 100 percent ready or if there are still "back door" services.

The results of a Kompas Research and Development survey from the third week of August confirmed this. More than half of the respondents (52 percent) acknowledged that they had never used online public services.

ARSIP ANGKASA PURA II

PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) utilizes digital service facilities at a number of airports it manages, as seen at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Cengkareng, Saturday (28/8/2021).

The government will to have to work extra hard to encourage people to use online public services. Moreover, if the government believes that online services are really good for the public – faster, easier and free of illegal fees – communication should be improved so that people are aware of the advancements made by the government.

The public may be hesitant to access online public services because they do not trust the security of digital platforms.

In line with this, the government still has a lot of work to do. Much of it relates to data security, as the personal data protection bill has not yet been discussed in the House of Representatives. The public may be hesitant to access online public services because they do not trust the security of digital platforms.

Also read:

> E-Government Not Optimal

> Long and Winding Road to Digital Public Services

Some people are reluctant to download the Peduli Lindungi Covid-19 tracking app because they do not trust the security of their data. Some say they install the app only to be allowed into the mall. They then uninstall the app after leaving.

Many people are still mistrustful the Covid-19 tracking app. What will happen if there is an application related to voting during the upcoming elections? It will be an embarrassment if there are people who don\'t trust in their government. Without mutual trust, it is certainly not easy to optimize digital government services.

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).