Why Asian governments are measuring the wrong things

The UN's Internet Governance Forum Leadership Panel just released its 2025 report, and buried in the recommendations is a message every Asian digital transformation ministry needs to hear: stop measuring inputs, start measuring outcomes that matter to your citizens. 

For two decades, Asian governments have counted broadband subscriptions, celebrated connectivity percentages, and commissioned policy frameworks. 

Meanwhile, fishing communities in the Maldives still can't afford 1GB of data, Pakistani e-government services crash during internet disruptions, and Tongan government operations collapsed for five weeks after a volcanic eruption severed their only submarine cable. 

The gap between digital strategy documents and actual service delivery has never been wider. Here's how Asian governments can close it. 

Measure what citizens actually experience 

Your ministry reports 85 per cent internet penetration. But can your citizens actually access government services during monsoon season when submarine cables fail? Can rural hospitals use your telemedicine platform on 3G networks? What percentage of median household income does meaningful connectivity actually cost? 

The Leadership Panel recommended creating "measurable deliverables on meaningful Internet access, especially for the Global South."  

For Asian governments, this means replacing vanity metrics with citizen-centered measurements: 

Instead of: "Fiber deployed to 500 district" 

Measure: "Healthcare centers in 500 districts can access national health records during extreme weather events" 

Instead of: "75 per cent smartphone penetration" 

Measure: "Percentage of citizens who can afford data plans sufficient for essential government services" 

Instead of: "E-government portal launched" 

Measure: "Government services accessible to citizens using entry-level devices on congested networks" 

Bangladesh's experience with biometric identity systems, India's Aadhaar implementation challenges, and Indonesia's struggles with connectivity in remote islands offer lessons.  

The question isn't whether you have digital infrastructure. It's whether that infrastructure delivers services when citizens need them most. 

Build sovereignty into your digital architecture 

The report's recommendations on data governance arrive at a moment when Asian governments are wrestling with a fundamental question: How do we regulate platforms we don't host, moderate content in languages our regulators don't speak, and tax digital services with no physical presence in our territories? 

The answer isn't choosing between openness and sovereignty. It's building technical capacity to exercise sovereignty without fragmenting the internet. 

What this means in practice 

Data localisation done right: Not blanket requirements that drive up costs, but strategic capacity to audit algorithms affecting your citizens. Can your ministry actually evaluate whether AI systems deployed in public services respect your data protection laws? 

Regional coordination: South Korea's Digital Platform Government, Singapore's Smart Nation initiative, and Japan's Society 5.0 framework work better when coordinated. 

ASEAN governments collectively have more leverage to negotiate with global platforms than any single ministry. 

Emergency sovereignty: When crisis hits – natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, or technical failures, can your government maintain essential services? Tonga's experience should be a warning. Five weeks without connectivity isn't a technical failure. It's a sovereignty failure. 

The GDPR proved strong data protection coexists with an open internet. Asian governments can develop frameworks ensuring local accountability without breaking global connectivity.

But this requires investment in technical capacity, not just policy documents. 

Integrate climate into every digital decision 

For island nations and coastal Asian cities, climate change isn't a separate policy track. It's the context for every infrastructure investment. 

The Maldives reality check: Subsea cables must be climate-resilient because there are no terrestrial alternatives. Data centers must be energy-efficient because every liter of diesel is imported. E-waste protocols matter because small islands have limited 

disposal capacity. 

The South Asian calculation: Monsoon-proof infrastructure, flood-resistant data centers, and emergency connectivity protocols aren't nice-to-haves. They're essential for service continuity. 

Asian governments planning digital transformation need climate vulnerability assessments integrated from day one. Not as an afterthought, but as a design parameter equal to bandwidth and latency. 

Stop building what already exists 

The report warns against creating duplicate structures when existing mechanisms work. For Asian governments, this is urgent. 

The temptation is always to launch new initiatives. Another digital transformation council, nother smart city framework, or another AI governance working group. 
 

Meanwhile, existing regional cooperation mechanisms (ASEAN ICT Masterplan, SAARC frameworks, Pacific Islands cooperation) are under-resourced. 

Better approach 

Use what works: National and Regional IGFs bring together government, industry, civil society, and technical experts. They exist in most Asian countries. Fund them to become implementation platforms, not just discussion forums. 

Coordinate regionally: When Pakistan faces internet shutdowns affecting cross-border commerce, when Sri Lankan forex restrictions impact cloud services, when Myanmar's connectivity crisis affects regional supply chains – these aren't isolated problems. They need regional solutions. 

Leverage existing data: The UN DESA E-Government Survey and UNESCO's ROAM-X indicators measure things governments care about. Stop commissioning new baselines. Use existing data to track what's actually changing. 

The AI governance opportunity 

The recommendation to "leverage IGF networks for AI initiatives" is specifically relevant for Asian governments deploying AI in public services. 

Technical communities debate model weights.

Your ministry faces practical questions: Who controls the training data that encodes your language and cultural norms? Can you audit AI systems making decisions about your citizens? What happens when algorithms trained elsewhere make assumptions that don't work in your context? 

Three actions Asian governments can take now:

1. Establish AI evaluation capacity: Not just ethical principles, but technical ability to audit AI systems before procurement. Can your ministry verify what an AI system actually does? 

2. Regional AI observatory: Collectively evaluate AI systems being marketed to Asian governments. Share evaluation frameworks, audit results, and procurement standards. 

3. Protect training data sovereignty: The data encoding your languages and knowledge systems is strategic infrastructure. Treat it accordingly. 

What success looks like in five years 

Island nations: Climate-resilient redundant connectivity to every inhabited island. Emergency protocols tested and working. Local content in local languages thriving because infrastructure and digital literacy gaps are addressed. 

South Asia: Regional data governance framework allowing negotiation with platforms from strength. Auditable AI systems in public services respecting diverse legal frameworks. Coordinated approach to cross-border digital issues. 

Southeast Asia: ASEAN digital economy initiatives delivering measurable 

improvements in service access. Regional cybersecurity cooperation reducing vulnerability. Climate-adapted digital infrastructure as standard practice. 

The resource question 

The IGF Leadership Panel recommends USD 3 million annual funding for global coordination. But says nothing about funding national and regional implementation. 

If Asian governments are serious about digital transformation that delivers, resource flows need to change. Not more consultancy reports, but investment in technical capacity to evaluate systems, implement solutions, and measure outcomes. 

The African Union's digital transformation strategy shows what sustained investment enables. Asian governments need similar commitment to building institutional capacity, not just strategy documents. 

From strategy to delivery 

Asian governments have produced excellent digital transformation strategies. What we lack is the accountability mechanism forcing those strategies to deliver measurable improvements in citizens' lives. 

The IGF Leadership Panel report offers that mechanism. Use it. 

Five changes ministries can make immediately:

1. Change your KPIs: Measure citizen outcomes, not infrastructure inputs 

2. Build technical capacity: Hire people who can audit AI systems and evaluate platforms 

3. Coordinate regionally: Stop solving the same problems independently 

4. Integrate climate: Make climate resilience a mandatory design parameter 

5. Fund implementation: Move budget from strategy development to actual delivery 

The question is whether digital transformation in Asia will be driven by global frameworks designed elsewhere, or by Asian governments confident enough to build systems serving their citizens' actual needs. 

The IGF Leadership Panel report gives Asian policymakers language to demand the latter. Time to use it. 

Read also:

What Indonesia and Malaysia's Grok ban teaches Small States about AI platform governance, Jan 13, 2026

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Mohamed Shareef is a former Minister of State for Environment, Climate Change and Technology in the Maldives (2021-2023). He previously served as Permanent Secretary of Science and Technology Ministry (2019-2021) and the Chief Information Officer at the National Centre for Information Technology (2009-2014) and led the development of the country's national digital public infrastructure. He also served in the academia including as a researcher at the United Nations University. He currently serves as Senior Advisor for Digital Transformation at Nexia Maldives.