Wednesday, 16 January 2008

Each Government Institution Should Review Their Web Sites

16 January 2008.
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 543

“Phnom Penh: Government institutions should review their web sites in order to facilitate those who do research and want to study about Cambodia.

“Earlier this week, a group of students discussed their research in a meeting in a complex of an university in Phnom Penh in order to complete their assignments and submit them to their professors; however, Rasmei Kampuchea became interested in their complaint about the lack of documents on the web sites of different ministries of the Cambodian government.

“The students complained that the web sites of almost all ministries do not have sufficient information for their research, and the information is not up-to-date.

“None of them dared to give an interview to Rasmei Kampuchea, but after getting this information, Rasmei Kampuchea tried to browse a web site they had mentioned – the web site of the Council of Ministers with the address http://www.pressocm.gov.kh.

But when it was visited, what they had stated seemed not to be right at all. The web site is written in Khmer, in good order, with many documents, though there are in general not so many which try to show something new and up-to-date.

Rasmei Kampuchea tried to browse through it step by step, from the first page to a page which says ‘Ministries.’ When we clicked it, it names 26 ministries, 2 secretariats-of-state, and another link is to the Phnom Penh Municipality.

From this point on, Rasmei Kampuchea journalists spent time from the beginning until the end of the week to click on the names of all ministries, from one point to the next, and they found that all ministries of the Cambodian government have their own web sites, and those web sites are designed not worse than the web sites of ministries or departments of neighboring countries.

But what is a pity is that hardly any of those web sites have anything new, and some ministries show only information collected in 2005, while at this time the world moves already into the year 2008.

“Rasmei Kampuchea could not contact the designers of those web sites; however, Mr. Phu Leewood, the Secretary-General of the National Information Technology Development Authority [NiDA], told Rasmei Kampuchea by phone that the government pays very high attention to information technology, but the design of the different ministries’ web sites is the work of the ministries.

He said on Friday, 11 January, ‘According to the Rectangular Strategy of the government, information technology development receives high priority attention, but such development has always also many lacking points.’

“He continued to say that, seeing the importance of information technology, the government decided to create NiDA in 2000, and up to now, this Authority has trained approximately 6,000 public servants and the public; as for web site design, more than 30 people have been trained.

“Since 2000 up to now, after eight years, looking at the web sites of different ministries, it seems that a lot of information is lacking.

“Mr. Leewood said stated that it is normal that during a development process, there are always some missing points, but the government pays much attention; and concerning the web sites of the ministries, the Authority [of NiDA] does not have the right to intervene.

“He stated, ‘As for the web site of any ministry, that ministry has to find up-to-date information, not NiDA.’

“Mr. Eng Chhay Ieng, a parliamentarian [and secretary-general of the Sam Rainsy Party], said that web sites are like libraries or bookshops. Therefore the government should pay attention to organize them well, so that it becomes possible to find lots of information, because web sites are warehouses of documents which facilitate the work of those who do research and study about Cambodia.

“He stated, ‘The Ministries should pay attention to improve their web sites.’

“A senior official of a non-government organization who is working on information technology development, told Rasmei Kampuchea - without giving his name - that the lack of information on web sites is a deficiency that the ministries should rectify. He said, ‘The government should pays attention to this deficiency so that researchers do not waste time.’

“He went on to say that because some officials in some ministries have not been aware, they also seem not to be interested in this problem, and they do not consider the collection of information as a priority, while other countries pay much more attention.

Mr. Leewood said that the promotion of web site design is part of the Cambodian government’s intention in its public administration reform programs.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4488, 13-14.1.2008

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