Is Singapore's e-govt model exportable?

Singapore wants to sell its e-government model to the world. But do other countries want or need what Singapore is offering? FutureGov asked government information officers in India, China, South Korea and the Philippines…

“Our achievements in e-government services are highly regarded by many countries,” Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts told the press at the launch ceremony for Singapore‘s new international e-government consultancy, IDA International. “We have attracted increasing attention from the public agencies of many countries. They share the same interest to develop their own e-government programmes. They are keen to work with us,“ he said.

But are they? True enough, the Infocomm Development Authority has found a market for Singaporean IT firms in countries such as Brunei, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago. But besides Brazil, IDA has yet to export its expertise to a country of the size and complexity of China or India. Or besides Brunei, a country nearby in Asia Pacific.

Madhav Ragam, Director of Government & Education, Healthcare & Life Sciences for IBM’s Growth Markets Unit, says that four things needs to be in place before any model can be successfully exported: “Strong leadership, a well-defined governance model, close alignment with the budget process and clearly defined performance measures.” He argues that while Singapore’s e-government technology cannot simply be uprooted and planted elsewhere, technology is not the issue. “It is the holistic thinking around a challenge for government – be it tax or customs clearance – that has put Singapore ahead of others.”


Ray Roxas-Chua, Chairman, Commission on Information and Communication Technology, the Philippines: I admire Singapore’s e-government programmes and I have the utmost respect for the IDA. I believe a country like the Philippines can learn a great deal by studying the Singapore e-government model. However, it will probably be very difficult for the Philippines to adopt the Singapore model in its entirety. Managing the e-government programmes of an island citystate with 5 million people is vastly different from that of a country with over 7000 islands and 90 million people. In addition, our government structures are also very different. For example, the Philippines does not even have a Department or Ministry of ICT, so our e-government programmes are handled by the Commission on ICT under the Office of the President. We are currently in the process of passing a law establishing a Department of ICT, so that we will finally have a stronger authority to push e-government initiatives. Adopting the Singapore e-government model in its entirety might be a stretch, but I am open to learning more about their best practices to see what may be applicable in the Philippines.