The e-Gov fever has officially hit Burma’s regional governments.
As of June 20, 2015, 9 of Burma’s 14 regions and states had official government websites:
| Region/State | Website? | Unicode compliant? |
|---|---|---|
| Kachin | ||
| Kayah | x | x |
| Kayin | x | x |
| Chin | ||
| Sagaing | x | x |
| Tanintharyi | ||
| Bago | ||
| Magway | ||
| Mandalay | x | |
| Mon | x | x |
| Rakhine | x | x |
| Yangon | x | x |
| Shan | x | x |
| Ayeyawady | x | x |
The majority of websites have been developed by Myanmars.net, a longstanding Burma-based web developer. A handful were developed by Information Matrix. More thankfully, most of these websites are Unicode-compliant. When I reported back in 2013, a plurality of Burmese government websites were still using Zawgyi.
Features
For the time being, most of these regional government websites offer rudimentary e-Gov features, if any. They are overwhelmingly available in Burmese only, with information on each region’s/state’s respective:
- Government officials
- Government departments
- Parliament representatives
- Regional news
- Contact information
The most sophisticated is Yangon Region’s, which offers electronic forms for government services ranging from measuring lot sizes to online payments for phone bills.
Government Websites
Website: kayahstate.gov.mm
Website: www.kayinstate.gov.mm
Website: sagaingregion.gov.mm
Website: www.mdyregion.gov.mm
Website: www.monstate.gov.mm
Website: rakhinestate.gov.mm
Website: eyangon.gov.mm
Website: shanstate.gov.mm
Website: www.ayeyarwady.gov.mm
The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has had an online presence since the early 2000’s, and is fairly replete with information and various online services.
Website: www.ycdc.gov.mm
Social Media Presence
More interestingly, several regional governments have Facebook pages:
- facebook.com/kayahstate.gov.mm – 540 Likes
- facebook.com/sagaingregion.gov.mm – 3,878 Likes
- facebook.com/rakhinestate.gov.mm – 5,898 Likes
- facebook.com/eYangon – 1,035 Likes
- facebook.com/pages/Shan-State-Government-Office/393636547423666 – 20K Likes
It remains to be seen whether Facebook outlets will be used to connect with local citizens.
Fifty Viss 