ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION ON DIGITAL DIVIDE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

On August 26^th, Dr. Tran Dinh Lam - Director of Center for Vietnam and Southeast Asia Studies - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City joined the roundtable discussion hosted by Mr Ernesto Braam - Regional Strategic Advisor of the Netherlands Embassy in Singapore. Other participants of the webinar were experts in Information Technology (IT) and digital economy.

Focusing on the topic of the discussion, “Digital Divide in Southeast Asia and viewpoint from the Netherlands”, burning questions were raised at the online seminar. Those questions related to the current situation of digital divide in Southeast Asia countries and the Netherlands respectively; its consequences and how to bridge this  digital gap.

The discussion was facilitated by Mr Ernesto Braam. Speakers of the discussion were specialists from organizations in IT and digital economy. Representatives participating in the webinar were Mr Thomas Abell- Asian Development Bank; Dr. Kasititorn Pooparadai- Digital Economy Promotion Agency, Thailand; M. Agustiadi Lee - BLOCK71, Indonesia; Ms Ingrid Zondervan -The Ministry of Home Affairs and Ms Jenny Wong - Infocomm Media Development Authority.

During the discussion, several opinions were voiced upon digital divide. Nonetheless, all speakers came to the  conclusion that bridging the digital divide was necessary for the development of a digital economy. In addition, to succeed in bridging the digital divide, the government should improve policies and actively invest in IT and the digital economy sector.

Speakers making discussion during the seminar

According to the representative from the host country, despite its advanced development in IT and Internet services, approx 2.5 million people lack knowledge of IT and 1.2 million ones have never used the Internet in the Netherlands. Moreover, digitizing documentation and automatic tasks are still in slow progress. As a consequence, the Netherlands government is attempting to educate people on IT as well as cooperating with IT startups to help their citizens easily get access to the Internet.

Furthermore, Mr Thomas Abell pointed out several potentials when the digital divide gap issue is solved. He also mentioned changes in consumer behaviour in daily life and the entertainment sector during the outbreak COVID-19. As to him, those changes helped boost the growth of the digital economy.

Representatives from Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore presented in turn about the current situation of digital divide in their countries. Several reasons that most Southeast Asia countries share for such gap are limitation of facilities to bring the Internet to rural areas, few demands for using the Internet or incapabilities of paying for Internet services.

Likewise, Vietnam is also facing with similar digital divide. However, the Internet and IT sector in Vietnam have witnessed positive changes in the last 5 years. Statistics from Google, Temasek and Bain indicated that by 2019, Vietnam may rank 2nd (after Indonesia) regarding the growth of digital economy, with 61 million Internet users.

Acknowledging potential benefits of the Internet, Vietnam government is formulating loads of policies to help their people easily browse the Internet and trying to better improve Internet using skills for public servants.

On top of that, IT is also applied in management and supervision activities, administrative procedures such as paying for administrative offences, personal tax or registering Birth Certificate etc. The government urged the officials of 63 provinces to quickly implement digitalisation so as to reduce cost, save time and strengthen government transparency.

During the pandemic COVID-19 the government has made the most of the spreading power of the Internet to update and give the latest information to the public. One highlight of applying IT in coping with COVID-19 is Bluezone application. The app uses Bluetooth to store places and contacts of other Bluezone users. It will notify its users if they are at risk of infection.

If we continue educating people and creating more opportunities for them to interact with the Internet and simultaneously applying IT in fundamental industries, Vietnam will stand a high chance to bridge the digital gap in the short term.

Mr Ernesto Braam and Mr Simon van der Burg - General Consulate of the Netherlands in Vietnam at the talk with USSH students about “Geopolitical Rivalry between the US, China and Japan in Southeast Asia, 2016”

(*) Mr Ernesto Braam onced visited USSH-HCMC to give a speech on “Geopolitical Rivalry between the US, China and Japan in Southeast Asia”

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