66 A Web Presence Analysis of Malaysian Government Agency Websites Baharudin Osman a , Azizi Abas b , Mohd Rushdi Idrus c and Azizah Sarkowi d Faculty of Information Technology Universiti Utara Malaysia,06010 Sintok Kedah Tel: 04-9284782, Fax : 04-9284753, E-mail : a bahaosman, b azizia, rushdi, d s83390@uum.edu.my, ABSTRACT The focus of this research is to identify the Malaysian government web presence stage, quality factors based on the last updated period and downloading time and the website updating problem from webmaster view. The study employed a multi-method approach such as inspection method on selected websites, URL analyse using web diagnostic tools and e-mail survey. An analysis of 74 government agencies website shows that the majority of Malaysian government website presence in Stage III to V. Many of the website did not achieves the expected quality with only 31 percent which has been updated less than once a month and 76 percent are poor in downloading times (more than 10 seconds). Keywords Government web present, web diagnostic, downloading times. 1.0 INTRODUCTION The penetration of the internet and information and communication technologies (ICT) has caused government around the globe become aware of its potentials and consequently utilized them into electronic services. The utilisation of ICT in providing improved services and products to the internal and external stakeholders can broadly refer to as Electronic government (e-Government). In Malaysia, e-Government was implemented as one of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) flagship in 1998. Its implementation aims at reinventing how the government works as well as improving the quality of interactions with citizens and businesses through improved connectivity, better access to information and services, high quality services and better processing systems. As an initiatives, an e-government gateways for the public named as Malaysian Civil Service Link (MCSL) was developed. Through this gateway, many online databases were upgraded and hyperlinked to the MCSL for more comprehensive information access and facilitate internet-enabled service. With this regard, agencies were required to developed and link their websites to the MCSL. In order to ensure smooth and effective development of agency web sites, guideline on the design and implementation of web sites were issued by MAMPU in the year 2000 (MAMPU, 2000). With the government major initiatives, it is hoped that this website to be fully utilize by the Malaysian citizen, as the internet dial-up subscriptions was increased from 1,659 thousand to 3,439 thousand in year 2005 and the numbers of broadband subscriptions also increase from 19,302 in 2002 to 297,937 in 2005 (MCMC, 2005). 1.1 Problem Statement Many government agencies worldwide recognised the advantage of the Internet and its surrounding opportunities. Electronic government was implemented to deliver public services to citizens through the Internet and World Wide Web. As this phenomenon grows, United Nations starts an evaluation program to check the e-government readiness among United Nations countries. E-government readiness is based on e-government readiness index which is formed by three specific indices, Web Measure Index (WMI), Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) and Human Capital Index (HCI). Web Measure Index (WMI) is an important assessment to check the government willingness and ability to employ ICT for the provision of basic services. In 2003, United Nation conducts an e-government survey worldwide. In their report, United Nations for the Global E-Government Survey 2003 (United Nations, 2003), Malaysia was ranked at level 35th among the 191 member states of the UN. Meanwhile, in the Web Assessment Measure Index, Malaysia was ranked at level 33rd. Another survey, which was carried out by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and the United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (UNDPEPA), found that in terms of e- government web presence, Malaysia seems to spread between Stage II (enhanced Web presence) and Stage IV (transactional Web presence), not reaching the final stage – Stage V (full integrated Web presence) (UNDPEPA, 2002). Amazingly, UN Global E-government Readiness Report 2004 (UNPAN, 2004) listed Malaysia’s web presence stage increasing from Stage III to V. The above mentioned study, focused on national government website among countries. There are not many research have been conducted to identify the web presence stage of the government agencies website within particular country, especially for Malaysia