Malaysia closing half of all government websites
Government looking to provide citizens with easier access to digital services.
Malaysia plans to shut down half of all its government websites by the end of the year.
"We aim to reduce government websites to 50%", Dr Suhazimah Dzazali, Government Chief Information Officer confirmed to GovInsider. This is primarily a step "towards better quality, standardised, secure and citizen-centric government online services", she said.
The closure will involve 750 of the government's 1500 websites, according to The Star.
Malaysia plans to provide a single portal for citizens to access services from across agencies, Dr Dzazali told GovInsider earlier this month.
The United Kingdom had also shut down over 1000 government websites by 2011, while consolidating services onto its Gov.UK portal.
A study by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit shows that “on average, one in three websites assessed last year received a rating of three stars or below”, according to an official quoted by The Star. “It was almost the same story in 2013.”
Government websites that have not been maintained properly for over six months will be shut down.
All ministries, state governments, statutory agencies and local councils were told about the mass shut down in June.