Access to Government Information: Case Study in Malaysia

Yusmazy M. Yusup, Umi Asma’ Mokhtar and Zawiyah M. Yusof

Center for Cyber Security, Faculty of Technology and Information Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,

43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Service Delivery, Transparency, Malaysia, Open Data, Government Information.

Abstract: Providing access to government information will increase transparency, accountability and public confidence

in the government. The right to acquire information will foster a better understanding of the decisions made

by the government, increase citizen participation in the political process, and increase government efficiency.

This study aims to determine the level of citizen’s access to government information that is available through

the official government open data portal and to propose a framework of access to gov-information. The

objectives of this study are to identify factors that influenced the information access and follow by a

development of the framework. A survey method by means of questionnaires was used to collect data. The

questionnaires were distributed to twenty-one respondents in twenty-one ministries in Putrajaya. The study

found that three factors are highly influenced (based on statistical score) which are the top management

commitment; knowledge and information classification. The other three are averagely influenced which are

the network; portal development and information access. The study develops a framework for access to

government information by categorising all the identified factors into three basic components which are

Information Society, Transparent Government, Access to Government Information. The findings could help

the government to prepare plans and improve access to government information thus upholding government

transparency and accountability.

1 INTRODUCTION

A transparent government is an important element to

ensure the delivery of public services at all levels of

society is trustworthy. According to Mazlan (2017)

the Chief Operating Officer from Malaysian

Communications and Multimedia Commission’s

(MCMC), today's society tends to share information

without filtering whether or not the information is

authentic. The scenario leads to the culture where

every information easily goes viral before confirming

from the sources. Individuals, organisations and

governments may receive bad reputations if the

shared information is false or fake. In particular to

government information, the awareness of

information freedom should be taken seriously to

ensure the validity of news spread through social

media, blogs and websites.

This study is conducted to identify the level of

knowledge of information freedom and what are

factors that influencing the information access. These

two objectives are to carried out to find out how the

current mechanism of gov-information access in

Malaysia. The motivation of these objectives came

from the current scenario of unrestricted sharing of

information which can lead to the spread of false

information.

Among the reasons that may lead to such

occurrences is that there is no awareness in the rights

of gov-information sharing, not understanding the

value of any information and the ignorance attitude of

the importance of information obtained. One of the

ways to curb spreading false information is through

law’s enforcement. Since it contradicts with the rights

of society to get information freedom, many countries

have introduced rules and regulations; guidelines and

Freedom of information Acts, to guide the society in

the sense of sharing and accessing information.

In addition, the absence of clear guidelines in

government information sharing also tends to leak the

gov-information that should not be transmitted to the

public. The necessary guidelines and Acts are

essential to tackle the problem of false information

sharing that can damage the nation’s reputation and

image.

The gov-information needs to be kept and

protected because of high evidence value. It involves

438

Yusup, Y., Mokhtar, U. and Yusof, Z.

Access to Government Information: Case Study in Malaysia.

DOI: 10.5220/0007235704380444

In Proceedings of the 10th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (IC3K 2018) - Volume 1: KDIR, pages 438-444

ISBN: 978-989-758-330-8

the national and individual interests and any

manipulation will provide security risks. It also has

the potential to privacy infringement of an

organisation or individual if it falls into the hands of

irresponsible parties. The importance of managing

records and information has got the attention when

the Securities Commission Malaysia (2010) alerts all

the directors and officers of public listed companies

about the responsibility of keeping records and the

serious consequences if the records is lost or

destroyed during investigation especially involving

the high-profile cases. Although the gov-information

contains high evidence value, it is considered as non-

confidential (refer to government records category)

and can be accessed openly through four mediums

such as proactive dissemination (release voluntarily);

reactive dissemination (release upon request); leaks

for whistleblowers, i.e WikiLeaks; open public

meeting that discuss and distribute the information to

society (Piotrowski, 2007).

This paper discusses on the access to gov-

information, definition of concepts such as records,

information and documents, method employed, and

the discussion of access to gov-information. This aim

of this study is to propose a framework of access to

gov-information by identifying the influenced factors

that contribute to the access.

2 ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT

INFORMATION

Over the past decade, many countries have increased

the transparency in government-related affairs. There

are more than 40 countries that have passed the laws

that facilitate access to gov-information while more

than 30 countries are in the process of approving the

law. Since 1980s, the decline of authoritarian power

and the emergence of new democracies has created a

new constitution that provides specific guarantees on

the rights to information. This guarantees a new law

on access to information. It is supported by

democratic practitioners such as the United Kingdom,

the Commonwealth, the European Council, and the

American state organization that created a legal

model to promote freedom of information (Banisar,

2006).

The freedom of access to gov-information in the

world is protected by the Freedom of Information of

Act. The laws to access record has begun in Sweden

in 1766 which provided for the general public the

rights of record access and specific rights to media

practitioners (Kingdom of Sweden, Fundamental

Rights and Freedoms 1766). Two decades later, the

United States drafted and approved the US Freedom

of Information Act by its legislature. Later on, it

follows by Australia (1982), Canada (1982), Japan

(1999) and the United Kingdom (2000).

However, the existence of the law of access to this

information does not always guarantee the

accessibility of information. This is caused by the

enforcement mechanism is still at a weak level. In

order to protect sensitive information, the government

restrains, passes the application process or imposes a

high fee on the selected information. This

phenomenon is increasingly prominent after the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks witnessed many

developed countries, especially the United States and

Canada, which restricted the freedom of information.

The delay in the implementation of the freedom of

information act also occurred in the United Kingdom

since 2005 (Banisar 2006).

In Malaysia, the implementation of gov-

information rights is still low (Yusmazy, Umi &

Zawiyah, 2017). In addition, freedom of information

is not guaranteed by the constitution and there is no

legal act that guarantees this human right except the

Selangor Freedom of Information Enactment 2010 in

Selangor and the Penang Freedom of Information

Enactment 2010 in Penang. Clear guidelines on the

access, sharing and dissemination of gov-information

are not contained in the legislative acts and there is

still no formal framework that can be used as a major

reference to freedom of information access in

Malaysia (Muhammad Izwan 2014). Recent studies

have found that developed countries have Acts and

guidelines for accessing gov-information such as the

Freedom of Information Act (US), Access to

Information Act (Canada) and Access to Information

Act 1985 (UK). The Table 1 lists the Acts in countries

including Australia, the United States, the United

Kingdom, and Japan. Except for the republic such as

China, Russia, and South Korea, a total of seventy-

three countries around the world have prepared an

Act to impose their people's right to access gov-

information.

The needs of access to government information is

crucial for government activities to be monitored

effectively and transparently. The information

controlled by the government can connect people to

people and people to the government. Moreover,

providing access to government information should

be able to increase the participation of citizens in a

democracy, increase their understanding of the

decisions made by the government, protect the rights

of others, and create a better government machinery

through check-and-balance by the people. The

Access to Government Information: Case Study in Malaysia

439

Table 1: List of Acts to Access Government Information.

Countr

Acts and Guidelines

United

Kingdom

Local Government (Access to

Information) Act Act 1985

Freedom to Information Act

2000

United States

of America

Freedom of Information Act

1966 Amendment (2007)

A Citizen’s Guide on Using the

Freedom of Information Act

Privacy Act of 1974 to request

Government Records

(

2012

)

Canada Access to Information Act

(

1985

)

Japan Law Concerning Access to

Information Held by Administrative

ans

(

2001

)

Malaysia Freedom of Information

Enactment

(

Selan

)

2011

New Zealan

Official Information Act 2002

eria Freedom of Information 2011

Norway Article 100: Freedom of

ression

Pakistan Freedom of Information

ordinance 2002

Paraguay Article 28: Right to Obtain

Information

South Africa Promotion of Access to

Information Act 2000

South Korea Act on Disclosure Information

y Public Agencies 1996

Australia Freedom of Information Act

1989

technology has enabled access to government

information to be implemented more effectively and

efficiently. On the economic front, the use of

information, communication, and technology (ICT)

in accessing government information can reduce

communication costs because all the information is

available on the government’s website at all time

(Komba, 2013)

Definition of Concepts

Access to Information. Access to information and

freedom of expression are international human rights

norms. Article 19 on both the United Nation

Declaration on Human Rights and the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

states that the right to freedom of information

includes “not only freedom to impart information and

ideas of all kinds, but also freedom to seek and

receive them regardless of frontiers and in whatever

medium” (UNDP, 2003)

Records. According to Zawiyah (2015), records are

information internally generated by the organization

as a result of operating and transaction activities.

Gagnon (1987) defines the record as all recorded

information irrespective of the media or features,

produced or received and maintained by the

organization in maintaining legal or business

transactions. According to Malaysia Standard 2223-

1: 2009, records are information created, received,

and maintained as evidence by an organization or

individual to meet the requirements of the law and

while executing official transactions.

Gov-Information. Official records that are formally

accepted or issued by any public offices for the

official events (National Archives Act, 2003). The

examples of gov-information are heritage or

historical Country’s Records; information that can

contribute to nationalism; single source information

for references either by government or citizen; and

information that can protect government’s or

individual’s rights.

Documents. According to ISO 15489 (International

Standards for Record Management), document as

information or object that is considered as a unit. It is

a file or an object of various versions. During the

period its life, the document can be referred

repeatedly. The life of the document is determined by

business or legal requirements. A version of the

document can be a record. Therefore, each new or old

version of the document should be maintained to

ensure its availability whenever needed.

The Differentiation of Records and Information.

Records and information are two different things.

Records are not similar as information. Although

records contain information but records contain of

evidence of actions and transaction. The records able

to indicate what happens; when and how the

transaction involved; who is involved; and the results

obtained. Records should not be changed. The records

are more than just information on the page, screen or

tape but is generated as a result of a combination of

content, context and structure. For example,

telephone conversations are an exchange of

information but the notes written to record the

conversation are a record (Sussex Downs & Weald,

2004). The information is as entity that can change as

appropriate and manipulated for the benefit of certain

parties, acquired and owned easily because it is

commonly collected for general access purposes

(Zawiyah, 2015). Information is data that is processed

and gives a certain meaning to its users. The results

of analysis, manipulation and presentation processes

in the form of scheduled statistics and graphs that can

help to increase the quality of decision making.

FR-HT 2018 - Special Session on Managing Digital Data, Information and Records: Firm Responses to Hard Technologies

440

3 METHOD

This study employs a quantitative approach by means

of questionnaire technique to collect data on the

factors that influenced to information access. The

focus will be on the implementation of the official

portal of open data portal through www.data.gov.my.

This method was chosen because it was easy to carry

out when involved with a large sample population

research and the acquisition of information from the

questionnaire was then subclassified to represent a

phenomenon in a large group. This method also

allows the data to be obtained in a fast, high response

rate from the primary source and with minimal cost.

3.1 Data Sampling

The survey method was adopted to explore whether

the selected sample understand the right to freedom

of information, implement the classification of

information, and use the access to government

information that is available. The study population

included the custodian of the data and information in

the ministries around Putrajaya. There are twenty-one

ministries in the federal government administrative

centre in Putrajaya. For every ministry, there is a

section responsible for providing information about

the ministries and departments to be uploaded to the

official portal of open government data.

The questionnaires were given to the head of the

custodian of the information to be uploaded to the

open data portal of the Malaysian government.

3.2 Data Collection Instrument

The research instrument to collect data is a closed-

ended questionnaire. The advantage of questionnaire

enables the researches to collect all data in a short

time. There are seven sections allocated in the

questionnaires:

 Demographic questions

 The knowledge of information freedom Acts

 The implementation of gov-information

classification

 The access to gov-information through open

data portal (www.data.gov.my)

 The development of open data portal as an

integrated portal

 The level of network security for securing

the portal

 The top management commitment towards

developing the portal

The questionnaires use a Likert scale from 1 to 5

as recommended by previous researches to seek for

individual subjective responses and decrease the

variance to measure.

3.3 Data Analysis

The analysis of data is divided into two sections, the

descriptive and inferential by using the SPSS

(Statistical Package for Social Science) 22.0

software. The analysis was done to determine the

level of gov-information access among the

respondents.

Each question is constructed to measure the level

of variables through Likert scale. The researcher

divides all the items into 5 levels to measure the level

of variables based on Min value, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Level of Min Value for Variables.

Level Min Value

Very Low 1.00

–

1.50

Low 1.51

–

2.50

Moderate 2.51

–

3.49

h 3.50

–

4.49

Ver

h 4.50

–

5.00

4 FRAMEWORK OF ACCESS TO

GOV- INFORMATION IN

MALAYSIA

According to Muhammad Izwan (2014), the right to

information freedom has a limited coverage within

the legal framework. However, the scenario has

rapidly changed due to advancement of social media

network where the information can be easily

disseminated. Past researches also have proven that

the ICT can help to enhance transparency and

improve the effectiveness of internal control which

can avoid the corruption activities (Shim & Eom,

2008). For example, in India, records related to rural

poverty have been stored online that can expedite the

update and access process. As a result, it can prohibit

civil servants from corruptions (Bhatnagar, 2003). In

Philippine, an acquisition system has also been set up

to allow public bids the government contracts without

involving pricing activities by unrelated parties

(Anderson, 2009). In the United States of America, a

website that allows public to access government

expenditure data (www.recovery.gov), general funds

(www.usaspending.gov), and information technology

funds (www.IT.usaspending.gov) has been set up to

Access to Government Information: Case Study in Malaysia

441

encourage the public to monitor government

spending for better management.

4.1 Identifying the Influencing Factors

of Access to Government

Information

A study on existing models is carried out in

identifying factors that influence access to

government information. Models developed by

researchers such as DeLone and McLean (1992),

Petter et al. (2008), Wilson (1996), United Nation

Development Program (2003), EDO (2016), and

Komba (2013) can provide an important dimension in

identifying factors that influence the effectiveness of

government information access as depicted in the

Table 3.

Table 3: Factors Influence to Information Access.

Name Reference Facto

Information

System

Success

Model

Delone and

McLean

(1992);

Petter et al.

(2008)

System quality, information

quality, service quality, user

satisfaction, benefits gained

Information

Behaviour

Model

Wilson

(1996)

Psychology, demography,

social, environment

Access to

Information

Conceptual

Framewor

UNDP

(2003)

Legislations, network,

awareness, communication,

politic, socio-economy,

technical, and external factors

Australia

Guidelines on

Access to

Information

EDO

(2016)

Release types: mandatory/

proactive, informal or formal;

charges; public interests;

decision and review rights.

Framework of

Factors that

Influence

E-

Government

Adoption

Komba

(2013)

Enhancing factors; necessary

knowledge, necessary

resources, awareness,

confidence to use the website,

availability and reliability of

internet connections, positive

incentives, getting

information on demand,

guidance for internet use,

possession of ICTs,

availability of up-to-date

information in the website,

education, income and social

influence

Barrier factors: security

and privacy of information,

lack of support from the

government, unreliable power

supply, inaccessibility of

internet services due to

geographical locations,

system quality, cultural

arriers, age, and language

In Malaysia, there is no comprehensive reference to

access gov-information as compared to most

countries in the world. Many researches focus on

utilising ICT for accessing gov-information, but less

disclosure on a study of reference and guidelines to

access the information. ICT is seen as an instrument

that can leverage the government activity from public

knowledge for the purpose of national security. This

can be seen through the rapid implementation of

electronic government around the world including in

Malaysia. However, it appears that the function

provides to the people through the electronic

government only focuses on facilitating the

government's delivery system. The information

published on the website is just a report. Sensitive

information that is closely related to public interest is

still locked-up up in ministries and government

departments.

This study identifies six influenced factors to

access gov-information from Malaysia context,

which are Knowledge, Classification, Access, Portal,

Network, and Top Management Commitment. All of

the selected factors were chosen based on statistical

results (mean value) by range levels are high (3.50 –

4.49) and average (2.52 – 3.49) as shown in Table 2.

i. Knowledge of Freedom of Information Acts

The results of each item infer that the respondents

have a high level of knowledge of information

control and freedom of information Act, but they

moderately/average understand the information

control and the Act because Malaysia does not have

the Act. The level for this factor is high.

ii. Gov-information Classification

The respondents agree that the factor of classifying

the government information is important which

include to understand the type of information

classification; the needs to classify information

once received from ministries; understand the

process of classifying the information; should refer

to the responsible department if needed; and

understand the implications of non-compliance.

The level for this factor is high.

iii. Gov-information Access

17 items were analysed and categorised into two

levels: the average and the high. There are five

items (portal easily manipulated; relevant

information; quick service; meeting the needs of

design; and improve quality of life), which received

an average mean score between 3.29 and 3.48.

Whereas, 12 items namely ease of use; easy to learn;

satisfactory portal; accurate information; reliable

portal; easy to understand; suitable format; as

expected; availability; help decision making;

FR-HT 2018 - Special Session on Managing Digital Data, Information and Records: Firm Responses to Hard Technologies

442

improve management service; improve awareness;

and increase market opportunity have received a

high score level between 3.52 and 3.81. Hence, in

general, the respondents agree that an open

government data portal can facilitate access to

government information. The level for this factor is

average.

iv. Integrated Portal Development

The respondents agree that the development of this

portal involves engagement with stakeholders.

Nevertheless, the criteria and aspects of user

requirements still need to be improved. The level

for this factor is average.

v. Network

The respondents also agree that the item “network

security monitor” provides a high influence on the

overall network security (mean = 4.00, standard

deviation = 0.775). The item “guaranteed network

security” recorded the lowest mean score relative to

the standard deviation (mean = 3.76, standard

deviation = 0768), implying that the respondents

still feel that the network security infrastructure can

be improved in order to avoid the portal from being

invaded by hackers or irresponsible stakeholders.

The level for this factor is average.

vi. Top Management Commitment

The analysis found that overall, the scores of the

items for the factor “top management commitment”

are also high (mean value between 3.62 and 3.67).

The respondents agreed that each item was

important (mean between 3.62 and 2.67, standard

deviation between 0.740 and 1.161). A strong

commitment from the management will ensure that

the cooperation of all parties can be well

coordinated to achieve the objectives of the system.

The level for this factor is high.

4.2 Developing the Framework of

Access to Gov-Information

The proposed framework of access to gov-

information is based on the previous studies by

Komba (2013) through its research on the

Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989), Siau

and Long Model (2005), Model Wilson (1999),

Theory of Dissemination of Innovation (Rogers

1995) and DeLone and McLean models (1992).

Based on results from data analysis, this framework

includes six factors that affect the official portal of the

Malaysian government's open data in conformity with

the scope and limitations of this study. The six factors

are contained in three identified components which

are: Information society; Transparent Government

and Access to Gov-information. The framework is

shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Framework of Access to Government

Information.

Information Society: The first component represents

the target group who benefits from the access

availability. However, the role of the community is

not just as the recipient of information, the

community also needs to provide input and feedback

on the type of information and the quality of access

provided as a continuous improvement process. The

community also needs to be aware of the particular

level of access to information on national security

factors.

Transparent Government: The second component

is a primary source of all the information that

becomes the essence of gov-information access.

Responsibilities include ensuring that records and

access information are of high quality and meet the

needs of target groups. The principle of

confidentiality of gov-information should be

balanced with the freedom of public information. In

addition to providing information, the government is

also a trigger in facilitating access to information

through this government's open government official

portal initiative. The open-portal initiative is to

facilitate and control for information freedom.

Access to Gov-information: The third component

is Access to Government Information through an

online portal. There are six factors (identified in this

study) influenced to the access such as knowledge,

information classification, access, portal

development, network, top management

commitment.

4.3 Discussions

The study found that in Malaysia, despite the absence

of Freedom of Information Act, the public still can

Access to Government Information: The Six Influenced Factors

Knowledge

Information

Classification

Top

Mana

ement

Network

Portal

Development

Information

Access

Information Society

Transparent Government

Access to Government Information: Case Study in Malaysia

443

access the gov-information via a portal. The ICT

infrastructure was built to facilitate the people

accessing information across time and space. The

existing facility has provided an access that meets the

needs of respondents but there is still room to be

improved. Among the improvements that can be

made to this portal are from user-friendly aspects,

providing accurate information, reliable information,

easy-to-understand information, easy information

format, reliable and reliable service, able to help

make decisions effectively to increase management

services, increasing awareness and opening up market

opportunities.

Also, the study found that respondents' knowledge

on information freedom and gov-information are

crucial for developing information society. The

exposure for information freedom is important to

ensure the people has the Right to access gov-

information and its risks. High risk information must

always be protected and secured in the interests of the

nation beyond the particular individual's interests.

Transparent government has always come with a risk

whether or not the information can be shared. From

this point of view, people should realise not all gov-

information can be shared and accessed due to its

value to protect the nation.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The study is expected to help the government through

the Malaysian Administrative Modernization and

Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) for

improving the development of the open data portal in

terms of user interface; content; and security. The

MAMPU also can collaborate with the National

National Archives, to monitor all the processes to

acquire/collect/gather gov-information and store in

the portal for public access.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study is funded by Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia (DCP-2017-013/6). It is an InterPARES

Trust project by Team Malaysia.

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