Open Data in Asia: An Overview of Open Data Policies and Practices in 13 Countries

Open Data in Asia
An Overview of Open Data Policies and Practices in 13 Countries
August 2014
Waltraut Ritter
Knowledge Dialogues

Open Data in Asia
An overview of Open Data Policies and Practices in 13 Countries 1
Content
Overview of Countries
1. Introduction
2. Method and Approach
3. Open Data related indicators
4. Other Factors relevant to the Enabling Environment of Open Data
5. Country snapshots
6. Summary and Outlook
7. References
Acknowledgement
Numerous interviews, conversations and discussions with experts, researchers, users, and advocates in the emerging Open
Data community are the basis for the study, and the authors is thankful to all contributions, comments and suggestions. The
author would also like to thank Google for their support to conduct the research.

Open Data in Asia
GDP per capita, in USD (2013) IMF* estimates
Cambodia 1,015
Hong Kong 38,604
Indonesia 3,498
Japan 39,321
Korea Rep. 23,837
Laos 1,490
Malaysia 10,428
Myanmar 914
Philippines 2,792
Singapore 52,917
Taiwan 20,706
Thailand 5,878
Vietnam 1,895
*International Monetary Fund data include Taiwan as “Province of China”

Open Data in Asia
1. Introduction
Open Data is a relatively new concept in Asia; currently few governments in the region include it in their national ICT or economic development
strategies. One of the first international events where the opening of public sector information was discussed, was the 2008 Ministerial Meeting of
the OECD in Seoul on the Future of the Internet Economy. The Seoul Declaration states that the Internet economy has become a new source of
growth, with the potential to boost the whole economy, to foster innovation, competitiveness and user participation, and to contribute effectively
to the prosperity of society as a whole. Governments around the world were looking for ways to revive the economy after the 2008 financial crisis
and opening public sector information was considered a way to create value from data which can be freely used, reused and distributed by anyone.
Since 2010, there have been thematic sessions and workshops focusing on public sector information and Open Data policy development in Asia at
international and regional meetings of the Internet Governance Forum with representatives from government, academia, business and civil society.
At these meetings, questions about a more comprehensive overview on Open Data developments in Asia came up. This study aims to provide an
overview on the current situation of Open Data policies and practices in North and South-East Asia. The countries included are, in alphabetical order:
Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The selected
countries are part of the group categorized as “East Asia and the Pacific” in the widely used Knowledge Economy Index of the Worldbank.
The study shall contribute to a better understanding of Open Data for socio-economic development and innovation, and stimulate discussion among
the different stakeholders of the Digital Economy/Open Data community in government, business, academia, and civil society. It also aims to
contribute to more collaboration and activities across the Asia Pacific region. Currently, most countries develop national Open Data strategies,
however, there are many issues that require cross-border data exchange and analysis. Public Open Data is always also global data, as anyone can
access and use it.
In this study, we use the term Open Data in the context of open public and/or government data referring to the OECD definition on Public Sector Information as
“information, including information products and services, generated, created, collected, processed, preserved, maintained, disseminated, or funded by or for
Government or public institutions”(OECD 2008). The definition of Open Data is much broader, and includes any type of data that is free to use, re-use and
redistribute without any legal, technological or social restrictions (Open Knowledge Foundation).

Open Data in Asia
2. Method and Approach
Public Sector Information/Open Data is not a standalone action item as part of a government’s ICT strategy, but is embedded in national socio-economic
strategies, policies, practices, and cultures. Open Data can be considered a reflection of the overall knowledge society and internet
economy maturity of a country.
The information and communication technology infrastructure of a country and the accessibility of information and services through the internet in
that country show the general ability of a country to generate, adopt and diffuse knowledge. There are a number of international organisations and
think tanks developing and tracking indicators measuring ICT and e-Government readiness, which we have included in our analysis.
The most comprehensive of these measurements is the Knowledge Index (KI) compiled by the Worldbank, which monitors key variables across 146
countries (including Hong Kong and Taiwan, which are otherwise not included in United Nations statistics) with data from 1995 until today. The
index provides us with a picture of the overall potential of knowledge development in a given country. The variables included in the Knowledge Index
are grouped in three so-called “Knowledge Economy pillars” – education and human resources, innovation and information and communication
technology (ICT) of the society.
Another is the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI), which takes into account whether the environment is conducive for knowledge to be used effectively
for economic development. It is an aggregate index that represents the overall level of development of a country or region towards the Knowledge
Economy. The KEI includes as an additional pillar the “economic incentive and institutional regime” which tracks indicators relating to governance,
accountability, rule of law and civil liberties. The KI and KEI are both useful tools. However, a quantitative assessment of a country’s knowledge
economy status alone is not enough to understand the different levels of Open Data preparedness. This study therefore additionally draws upon the
recently developed Open Data Readiness assessment tool.
In this study, we use the term Open Data in the context of open public and/or government data referring to the OECD definition on Public Sector Information as
“information, including information products and services, generated, created, collected, processed, preserved, maintained, disseminated, or funded by or for
Government or public institutions”(OECD 2008). The definition of Open Data is much broader, and includes any type of data that is free to use, re-use and
redistribute without any legal, technological or social restrictions (Open Knowledge Foundation).

Open Data in Asia
Open Data Readiness Dimensions
Source: Worldbank
The Open Data readiness tool provides practical support for any country developing a sound and productive environment for Open Data, and has
been used by a number of governments as a planning tool. This readiness tool looks at different dimensions and suggests analytical questions for
each of them.
In the selected 13 countries, we have sought answers from different stakeholders in government and civil society to these questions and also asked
for examples of interesting use cases. In some countries, Open Data/PSI is already quite advanced, however, even in those countries, not all
dimensions are well developed.
(With an example of a question from the assessment tool)
1. Leadership: Is there someone in the government driving Open Data developments?
2. Political/legal framework: Is there access to information regulations and Freedom of Information
laws? Is the Creative Commons infrastructure in place?
3. Institutional Structure: Which government department is dealing with operational/practical issues
of data management?
4. Data within Government: Is key government data (statistics etc.) available in digital format?
5. Data demand/re-use: Is there a demand for public data from civil society and/or business?
6. Open Data Ecosystem: Are there a multiple stakeholders?
7. Financing: Is there a budget for Open Data?
8. Infrastructure: What is the general ICT readiness, Internet penetration, ICT skills in the country?

Open Data in Asia
Open Data is a complex issue and the department/agency in charge sometimes has no influence on changing enabling factors, such as copyright and
licensing of data, or training of staff in editing meta-data and creating data catalogues. Data markets need to be developed; the supply of public
open data does not automatically create demand; and the value of publicly available data is often not immediately visible nor can it be foreseen as
value is derived from its usage.
In some of the least developed countries with low internet penetration and hardly any digital information services in place, the concept of open
public data is not yet on the agenda of governments. Interestingly, in some these countries, there are active and diverse civil society groups
developing their own open data sites through scraping public data only available in non-open or proprietary formats, crowd-sourcing of non-published
data and publishing own data collections. Civil society groups are vital for open data developments, but are they are creating the demand
for high quality public data to address societal problems based on data-driven decision-making?
Restricted access to information is not always limited to emerging economies either; a highly developed internet economy does not guarantee a
dynamic open data community, nor is there a direct correlation between high GDP and open data readiness. The wide range of economic
development among countries in East Asia from Myanmar to Singapore therefore provides interesting insights into these dynamics and the state of
information societies' policies and perceptions. A common attribute across Asian countries is the relatively high (information) power distance
between government and citizens.
Open Data and internet usage are rapidly developing in the region, particularly in the emerging economies. However, while some of the figures
relating to access to data and amount of data available in open formats might soon be outdated, attitudes, mindsets and traditions of how
governments see their roles and responsibilities in responding to information needs, and the willingness of governments to engage with business
and civil society to jointly develop data-driven policies and decisions remains to be seen.
Power Distance according to G. Hofstede “expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed
unequally. The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people. People in societies exhibiting a large degree of power distance accept
a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification.” In cross-cultural studies, differences in power distance can explain
different attitudes towards right to access information. The Power Distance Index lists Malaysia with the highest score (104), followed by the Philippines (94),
Indonesia (78), Singapore (74), Hong Kong (68), Thailand (64), South Korea (60), Taiwan (58), Japan (54). http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/
power-distance-index/

Open Data in Asia
Open Data related Indicators
Overview of general indicators relating to current state of internet economy in the selected countries. The figures are based on the most recent
reports in 2014 and statistics published by international organizations, research institutes, consultancies and think tanks (as of July 2014) and include:
1. Knowledge Economy Indicator / Worldbank 2012
2. Networked Readiness Index /World Economic Forum 2013
3. Internet penetration / World Internet Statistics 2012
4. Prosperity Index / Legatum 2013
5. World Press Freedom Index / Freedom House 2014
6. Corruption Perception Index/Transparency International
7. E-government Readiness / UN 2013
8. Democracy Index / Economist Intelligence Unit 2012
9. State of the Internet / Akamai 2013
Note: Few reports include all 13 countries; in this survey, we have only included figures if not more than 3 countries are missing. Generally, figures for the least developed countries
in Asia (Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) are often not taken into account simply because no reliable data is available or because the publisher of the data has no business in those
countries. The potentially useful Open Data Index (https://index.okfn.org/), an independent peer-reviewed assessment covers 70 countries as of 2013, only includes seven of the
selected countries.

Open Data in Asia
Knowledge Economy Index in East Asia and Pacific (2012)
Rank
Country Missing Data KEI KI Economic Incentive Regime Innovation Education ICT
1 1 New Zealand
8.97 8.93 9.09 8.66 9.81 8.3
2 -1 Australia
8.88 8.98 8.56 8.92 9.71 8.32
3 0 Taiwan, China X 8.77 9.1 7.77 9.38 8.87 9.06
4 3 Hong Kong, China X 8.52 8.17 9.57 9.1 6.38 9.04
5 -1 Japan
8.28 8.53 7.55 9.08 8.43 8.07
6 -1 Singapore
8.26 7.79 9.66 9.49 5.09 8.78
7 -1 Korea, Rep.
7.97 8.65 5.93 8.8 9.09 8.05
8 0 Malaysia
6.1 6.25 5.67 6.91 5.22 6.61
9 0 Thailand
5.21 5.25 5.12 5.95 4.23 5.55
10 2 Mongolia
4.42 4.45 4.3 2.91 5.83 4.63
11 2 China
4.37 4.57 3.79 5.99 3.93 3.79
12 -1 Philippines
3.94 3.81 4.32 3.77 4.64 3.03
13 -3 Fiji
3.94 4.6 1.96 4.65 5.27 3.87
14 1 Vietnam X 3.4 3.6 2.8 2.75 2.99 5.05
15 -1 Indonesia
3.11 2.99 3.47 3.24 3.2 2.52
16 1 Lao PDR
1.75 1.84 1.45 1.69 2.01 1.84
17 -1 Cambodia
1.71 1.52 2.28 2.13 1.7 0.74
18 0 Myanmar X 0.96 1.22 0.17 1.3 1.88 0.48
Source: Worldbank http://info.worldbank.org/etools/kam2/KAM_page5.asp

Open Data in Asia
Country Knowledge
Economy
Index (2012)
Networked
Readiness
WEF (2013)
Internet
penetration
% pop.
(2012)
Prosperity
Index (2013)
Legatum
World Press
Freedom
(2014)
Transparency
International
(2013)
E-Government
Readiness UN
(2012)
Democracy
Index EIU
(2012)
Broadband
Connectivity
Akamai
(2013)
Cambodia 131 106 4.4 110 144 160 155 100 n.a.
Hong Kong 18 14 74.5 19 61 15 n.a. 63 12
Indonesia 107 76 22.1 69 132 114 97 53 84
Japan 22 21 79.5 21 59 18 18 23 6
Korea Rep. 29 11 82.5 26 57 46 1 20 1
Laos 130 n.a. 9 92 171 140 153 156 n.a.
Malaysia 48 30 60.7 44 147 53 40 64 62
Myanmar 144 n.a. 1 n.a. 145 157 160 155 n.a.
Philippines 92 86 32.4 66 149 94 88 69 82
Singapore 23 2 75 18 150 5 10 81 33
Taiwan 13 10 75.4 22 50 36 n.a. 35 31
Thailand 66 74 30 52 130 102 92 58 42
Vietnam 103 84 33.9 62 174 116 83 144 83
* highest rankings highlighted

Open Data in Asia
Other Factors Relevant for Open Data and Public Sector Information
There are other enabling factors that contribute to an environment where Open Data can thrive, some are related to the regulatory environment,
such as Freedom of Information Acts and open licensing jurisdiction. Equally important are universities or other education institutions providing
courses on data science, data curation or journalism, information science or related disciplines which build skills necessary to the use and analysis of
data.
Open Data Community: The existence of a dynamic and diverse community of open source developers and information entrepreneurs indicates a
potential for Open Data activities, but these communities are difficult to measure. Barcamps could be one of the indicators for such a community.
Barcamps are an international network of user-generated conferences, which are open and participatory. They often focus on early-stage web
applications, open source technologies, social protocols and open data formats. The first one took place in Palo Alto in 2005 and tech groups in Asia
have quickly adopted it. Apart from Barcamps, blogger groups, wikipedians, civic hackers and coders, open source advocates, data journalists, apps
developers, and other Internet and media activists are part of an Open Data stakeholder environment. We found such groups in all countries
included in this study.
Business Community: Established businesses in the ICT, publishing and information services are another important part of an Open Data
environment as well as information/media industries, Big Data, Business Intelligence and analytics solutions and service providers. There has been
little research combining Open and Big Data concepts in Asia.
The information industry sector is often one that needs public information to produce value-added services and traditionally paid for access to such
information, e.g. legal and financial services, as well as architecture, real estate and others using mapping and geospatial data. In many countries,
government agencies created paid business information services in the past; a business model which may no longer be appropriate within an open
data policy framework.
Dynamic Open Data environments are built on collaboration between multiple stakeholders and are changing the relationship between government
and civil society towards more participatory modes of joint exploration, experimentation and collaboration with public data. Traditionally, the power
distance between government and citizens is quite high in many Asian countries, often with a culture of secrecy rather than transparency, and
governments providing citizens with information on a “need-to-know” rather than “right-to-know” basis.

Open Data in Asia
Civil Society: Civicus, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation developed an “Enabling Environment Index” that analyses the state of civil society
across 70 countries. Civil Society is the public sphere created by individual and collective actions to advance shared interest outside family, market,
or state. The 2013 Index only includes 5 of the 13 countries included in this study, and is therefore not included in the table of indicators. The ranking
of the included countries is: Korea (23), Indonesia (59), Malaysia (68), Thailand 65) and Vietnam (100), out of 109 examined countries with New
Zealand and Canada ranking highest. More research on civil society in Asia and its role in enabling data-driven innovation is necessary. In some
countries examined in this survey, citizens still largely focus on achieving higher transparency of their governments, whereas in New Zealand's
advanced Open Data envrionment civil servants closely collaborate with civil society and universities on improving public data sets for better
decision-making. Whether and how relationships between government and civil society change through Open Data initiatives is another field where
more research that goes beyond anecdoctal evidence is needed.
The World Justice Project (WJP) describes itself as independent, multidisciplinary organization working to advance the rule of law around the world.
Their WJP Rule of Law Index measures “how the rule of law is experienced in everyday life” in 99 countries based on household and expert
interviews. The index is based on 47 indicators in different dimensions, such as accountable government, security and fundamental rights, open
government and regulatory enforcement. The rankings are included in the table below.
The role of civil society in creating a dynamic demand and supply in the new Open Data markets cannot be underestimated. Some governments
create public information portals with datasets rarely downloaded. User statistics of data portals need to be monitored and interpreted for further
development. Only a few data platforms offer the opportunity for users to suggest new datasets. Often, the decision on what data is made available
on the platform is not transparent, making it difficult for the user to know whether the data supply is reliable and complete.
One of the most recent assessments of Open Data developments globally is the Open Data Barometer developed by the Worldwide Web Foundation and the
Open Data Institute which covers 77 countries and combines a peer-reviewed expert survey with secondary data and indicators.
The 2013 Barometer provides data and rankings for Korea (12th), Japan (14th) Singapore (29th) Thailand (31st) Philippines (47th) and Indonesia (52nd). Since only
about half of the countries in this study are taken into account, we have not included it in the list (page 9). However, future editions of the Open Data Barometer
may well include countries currently not examined.

Open Data in Asia
Other Factors relating to the Enabling Environment for Open Data
Country Freedom of Information Acts/Laws WJP Rule
of Law
Index
Creative
Commons
Data Science/Journalism courses First
Barcamp
Cambodia Draft for Freedom of Information law has been
discussed since early 2000, (secret) draft on
cybercrime law 2012
83 no Royal University of Phnom Penh offers data-driven
journalism courses (DMC)
2008
Hong Kong no FOIA, but Code on Access to Information from
1995
10 yes Hong Kong University (JMSC), Chinese University 2007
Indonesia Public Information Openness Law 2010 35 yes Universitas Indonesia and others, information science
courses
2009
Japan Law Concerning Access to Information Held by
Administrative Organs,2001
9 yes Many universities and long tradition in providing data
and information science related courses
2009
Korea Access to information constitutional right 1996,
Open Data law 2013
15 yes KAIST, Seoul National University: Research Institute of
Public Information
2008
Laos Art 44 of Constitution “Freedom of Press”, but all
media and internet state-controlled
n.a. no n.a. 2011
Malaysia FOIA in 2 states 2011: Selangor and Penang, Art 10
of Constitution “Freedom of expression” limited by
Sedition Act, Security offenses Act and Defamation
Laws
48 yes Nottingham University: CSCC Centre for the Study of
Communications and Culture; Taylor’s University
2008
Myanmar 2008 Constitution provides Freedom of Expression,
but high level of censorship existing restrictions
reduced in 2012, new laws in preparation
n.a. no n.a. 2010

Open Data in Asia
Philippines Senate Bill No. 1733 passed in March 2014 59 yes Several universities with information/data science
courses
2008
Singapore Art 14 Constitution Freedom of speech, in practice
many restrictions, 2013 Media Development
Authority licensing scheme for online news site
19 yes Singapore Management University, Singapore Internet
Research Centre at the Nanyang Technological
University
2007
Taiwan Freedom of Government Information Act 1997 n.a. yes Academia Sinica Information Science Taipei 2008
Thailand Official Information Act 1997 42 yes Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thammasat
University: Information Science
2008
Vietnam No FOIA. Decree 72, or the "Management,
Provision, Use of Internet Services and Information
Content Online” 2013
91 yes Vietnam National University Information Science 2008
Notes: The The information about Information laws largely comes from secondary sources, as this information was often not available directly on government websites.
Rule of Law Index 2012-2013 (World Justice Project) sub-factor “open government”: access to official information, administrative procedures, draft laws and
regulations
The information about education in data/information related courses only lists some of the universities. Information/data related skills are interdisciplinary and
relevant programs/courses may be “hidden” in different faculties.

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Cambodia
The Cambodian government has three major data generating sources: the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) at the Ministry of Planning (MOP)conducts large
surveys and censuses (the last one in 2008), the Commune Councils generate data for local-level planning, and most ministries collect administrative statistics
pertaining to their activities. The Guidelines for the formulation of the National Strategic Development Plan for 2014-1018 address the governance challenges of
data quality and standards: “the quality of especially the administrative data requires improvement. For this, the statistics departments in line ministries must revisit
their data collection methods, and if necessary, seek assistance from the NIS/MOP. Such a step will also help establish a better dialogue between different ministries and
agencies.” The guidelines also state that “there is still limited standardisation in the definitions of indicators and data-generating processes across different
agencies. There is also limited knowledge on data use among government personnel”. Government key websites provide census and economic data in Khmer and
English, however, the format is in non-open PDF. The website of the National ICT Development Authority, where one might expect some information about ICT
related strategies, has not been updated since 2012. http://www.nida.gov.kh/.
Transparency on government spending is low; data on institutional spending, project bidding and financial management are rarely available to the public and
media. Information that is in the public interest should be made public for verification, and legislation giving citizens and media the right to access it should be
introduced in the name of open government, public debate, and social integrity, says Koun (2014). A freedom of information law has been proposed for 10 years,
but so far not drafted. More than 20 years after the Constituent Assembly Elections in 1993, governance across the government is still low.
The most comprehensive open data portal comes from a civil society organization called Open Development Cambodia
(http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net), which compiles freely available data in a ‘one-stop shop’ in open format. ODC provides data on economic land
concessions, forest cover, natural resources, company data and many and other information about Cambodia and its economic and social development. Its ‘open
data’ approach guarantees materials and information are available to all users for use and re-use.
Cambodia has a local group of the Open Knowledge Foundation (http://kh.okfn.org/)
References:
Khoun, Theara (2014). Can Cambodia’s media reform. http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/can-cambodias-media-reform/
Ministry of Planning: Guidelines for the Formulation of National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2014-1028
http://www.mop.gov.kh/Home/NSDP/NSDP20142018/tabid/216/Default.aspx

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Hong Kong
Hong Kong prides itself to be one of the most advanced internet economy, and scores high in most technical and infrastructure readiness and rankings. In 2011
Hong Kong set up a Public Sector Information portal, Data.one*, and released selected data sets provided by government departments. The portal is managed by
the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) which is under the CEDB (Commerce and Economic Development Bureau). The objective of Data.one is to
provide “the PSI in a form or on terms that facilitates its wider dissemination and re-use [which] will increase the value that the community realizes from the use
of such information”.* It is not clear why Hong Kong does not adopt the international naming standard which should be www.data.gov.hk for a site using public
data sets, nor why Hong Kong avoids the term “open data” and uses “PSI” instead. Data.one leads to this URL: http://www.gov.hk/en/theme/psi/datasets/
In 2011 and 2013, the government launched apps competitions with the ICT community to encourage software developers and IT students to develop ideas and
solutions based on the published datasets. The most recent competition resulted in more than 100 contributions, of which 22% were based on using traffic data
sets, followed by weather (16 %) and air pollution (12%). Promoting apps development is currently the only form of developing demand for PSI. On the regulatory
side, Hong Kong faces some challenges, as the HKSAR lacks comprehensive access to information laws as well as copyright regulations that would provide users a
sound basis for business built on public data. A revision of information laws is currently under review by the Law Reform Commission. In the recent fourth update
of the Digital 21 Strategy (Budget 2014-15) the government proposed a series of initiatives under the theme of "Smarter Hong Kong, Smarter Living", and
announced that it will make “all government information released for public consumption machine-readable in digital formats from next year onwards to provide
more opportunities for the business sector. Currently, Public Sector Information available for free access covers real-time data such as road traffic information,
geo-referenced public facility data, property market statistics, population census statistics, etc.”
On the demand side, there is an active Open Data community, www.opendatahk.com, which has attracted more than 400 members and advocates open data
development in Hong Kong through active community engagement. Opendata Hong Kong is the first chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation in Asia. The
wider business, ICT and academic community is just starting to get involved in the Hong Kong’s open data development.
References:
Hong Kong Budget 2014-15 http://www.budget.gov.hk/2014/eng/budget08.html, paragraph 48. (b)
Ritter, Waltraut (2009). Developing Public Policies for Re-use of Government Information: Starting the Public Discourse in Hong Kong http://www.cyberlawcentre.org/unlocking-ip/
2009/materials/Papers/4B_WRitter.pdf

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the founding members of the Open Government Partnership, and reaching higher levels of government transparency and accountability are
one of the driving factors for open data development in the country. A recent Open Government Data Readiness Assessment by the World Wide Web Foundation
states that while the country has made far-reaching political, economic and judicial reform in the past decade, low-quality public services, regional economic and
social disparities remain challenges in the development (Alonso 2013). The assessment also reveals that while there is an active civil society on freedom of
information, government transparency and accountability have been in place for many years, there are few dedicated open data groups. Jakarta has one of the
most active open data community, and recently hold the Jakarta Open Data Challenge (HackJakarta) using public transport and city budget data. Since 2013, the
country is also part of the Open Knowledge Foundation. Most of the Open Data activities are driven by international organisations such as the Worldbank and
international donors and foundations active in the country.
There is currently only a beta-version of an open data portal which was launched in 2012 (http://satupemerintah.net/); the government aims to launch a portal in
mid-2014.* The national statistics agency, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS-Statistics Indonesia) www.bps.go.id, publishes most statistical data in open format, but the
material is copyrighted.
The country is rich in natural resources, however, information about the public revenue of extractive industries is still rather treated as “state secret”. During the
recent Open Government Partnership Asia Pacific regional meeting, which was hosted by Indonesia, environmental NGO discussed topics from extractive revenue
management to sustainable natural resources, and several speakers highlighted that Indonesia has not yet committed to disclose data on revenues obtained from
resource exploitation. Having better access to data would increase the ability of citizen engagement and accountability mechanism in environmental and natural
resources related issues, which has been an area of potential social conflicts and environmental risks according to the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law.
References:
*http://opengovindonesia.org/2014-indonesia-commitment-open-data/
Indonesian Center for Environmental Law. 2014. http://www.icel.or.id/2014/05/08/models-of-openness-in-sustainable-natural-resources-management/
Jose M Alonso 2013. Open Government Data Readiness Assessment Indonesia. World Wide Web Foundation. http://public.webfoundation.org/2013/06/OGD-Indonesia-Final.pdf
Nout van der Vaart 2014. Editorial. The OGP Civil Society Hub http://www.ogphub.org/blog/editorial-may-20/
Vanesha Manuturi. 2014 HackJakarta, an Open Data Challenge in Effort to Improve Transparency http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/hackjakarta-improve-transparency/

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Japan
Public data open by default and in open format has been part of the National IT strategy since 2010, and a roadmap for a national open data policy has been
discussed in the eGovernment Taskforce between 2011 and 2012. At an “eGov Open Data Practitioners Conference” in 2012, technical standards, prioritization of
data release, legal and licensing issues were discussed and a beta version of a national open data catalogue was released at “Datameti”
http://datameti.go.jp/?lang=en in early 2013. The Abe Administration endorsed open data with a focus on business innovation and growth, but is also trying to
determine the cost for the government to open data, e.g. provision of previous not open format information, creating meta-data, interaction with potential re-users,
training and education of information professionals in the public sector.
The Fukushima earthquake in 2011 was a game-changer for Open Data awareness in the country and was the starting point for many open data projects related
to recovery assistance, creation of open API for spatial, energy and environmental data. Hackathons and app contests addressing power shortage, reuse of
geospatial information and crowd sourced infographics relating to mitigating and monitoring disasters. Safecast and Fukushima Wheel are examples of crowd-sourced
open data applications.
In 2012 the Open Data Promotion Consortium was established which aims to bring together government, academia and business partners; its secretariat is
supported by the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The consortium promotes open data and supports the govern-ment’s “ICT Policy for Realizing the Networked
Knowledge and Information Society" which aims to improving the open data environment to distribute information more widely and make it open to all people,
industries, and fields. Today, more than 60 cities have active open data communities, both civic and tech communities. Japan also has a chapter of the Open
Knowledge Foundation and is actively contributing to international Open Data discourse. The country is also the only Asian member signing the G8 Open Data
Charta.
References:
Laurence Cruz (2014) After Fukushima: Crowd-sourcing initiative sets radiation data free http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature/1360403/After-Fukushima-Crowd-Sourcing-Initiative-
Sets-Radiation-Data-Free?utm_medium=rss
Soichiro Takagi (2014). Japan’s growing open data movement https://theodi.org/blog/japan-open-data
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2013). White Paper on Information and Communications in Japan on Open Data
http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/joho_tsusin/eng/Releases/Telecommunications/130419_01.html
Open Data Promotion Consortium http://www.opendata.gr.jp/en/
Open Knowledge Foundation Japan http://okfn.jp/home/aboutus/

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Korea
South Korea introduced an open data portal (www.data.go.kr) in 2011, but the country’s public information disclosure initiatives go back more than a decade,
when the government developed Minwon 24 into one of the most citizen-focused information portal. Last year the Park administration launched the“Government
3.0” plan which will provide access to a wide range of public information. The Government 3.0 plan was one of Park’s key campaign pledges along with the
promise of a “creative economy”, and the government promises that by 2016, it will nearly quadruple the scope of administrative data releases from 16% to 60%
of the available total source documents in areas like transport, climate, finance and welfare (Cain 2014). On the demand site, there is a dynamic linked and open
data community including a local OKFN group.
The Open Data policy is developed under the office for “Creative Government and Management Office” and formulates policies on promoting a creative
government and opening public information, and promotes administrative efficiency through interagency collaboration and improving administrative systems.
The Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) is the lead ministry on open data policy in Korea; the open data portal is operating by the Open Data
Center (ODC) with is part of the National Information Society Agency (NIA).
One of the most active Open Data sites is Seoul Open Data Plaza (data.seoul.go.kr) managed by the Metropolitan government of Seoul. It started an open data
initiative in 2012sharing public information with citizens in order to create diverse business opportunities for the private sector and to develop IT industries. The plaza is
an online channel to share and provide citizens with all of Seoul’s public data, such as real-time bus operation schedules, subway schedules, locations of public Wi-Fi
services, shoeshine shops, and facilities for disabled people. Information registered in Seoul Open Data Plaza is provided in the open API format, and is designed to enable
citizens to be able to use it in creating diverse businesses.
References:
Geoffrey Cain.2014. South Korea’s Conundrum – more open less freedom http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/02/18/south-koreas-conundrum-more-open-less-freedom-2/
Open Net http://opennetkorea.org/en/wp/about-opennet/history-achievement
Seoul Open Data Plaza http://english.seoul.go.kr/policy-information/key-policies/informatization/
Seoul Open Data Plaza http://english.seoul.go.kr/policy-information/key-policies/informatization/
Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) Creative Government Strategy Office http://www.mospa.go.kr/eng/sub/a02/functions/screen.do

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Laos
The country is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and the combination of low ICT access and literacy, largely non-transparent and corrupt government make it
difficult to find a starting point for open data. While the importance of ICT as an essential tool for development of the country and its role in economic
development and meeting Millennium Development Goals is stressed in all official statements, the overall government e-government strategy to strengthen such
development, is hardly reflected in the current internet readiness of the government. Lao Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Mr Hiem Phommachanh
states at an international meeting that “many countries and people cannot take advantage of ICT resources because of financial difficulties, disabilities, low-literacy,
remoteness, cultural and language barriers”, however, these barriers are often a consequence of poor governance.
Since joining the WTO in 2013, the website of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (www.investlaos.gov.la) has slightly improved, however, the links to other
government department provided on this site are often not functioning or only lead to outdated information, non-functional websites, and statistics in PDF format.
Most information portals with relevant and updated data are run or financed by international organizations, such as the Rural Poverty Portal.
One of the best data sites is the Data and Information Services Portal of the Mekong River Commission (MRC)http://portal.mrcmekong.org/ which is an
intergovernmental organization. The MRC collects and manages a range of data and information enables direct access, including to real-time information and
downloadable data such as spatial and mapping data, time-series, non-spatial data, as well as technical documents.
MRC could become a catalyst foropen data across member countries (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam plus so-called dialogue partners China and Myanmar)
which belong to the least developed economies in Asia Pacific. The high quality data and information services on different aspects of the Mekong rivers provide
data to many different stakeholders, public sector staff, local and international organizations, academic and commercial users, as well as general public. Currently,
the information is accessible, however, there is a complicated system of pay barriers with data fees for a price category may be different for different data user
account types. Since the MRC depends on funding from donors from bilateral and multilateral development and financial institutions, all of which have adopted
open data policies, the case for opening MRC data could be made.
References:
Mekong River Commission http://www.mrcmekong.org/
Laos: Students make use of Open Data (2012) http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/04/05/laos-students-make-use-of-open-data
Laos asks for ICT support (2013) for http://www.asianewsnet.net/Laos-to-ask-for-ICT-support-53706.html

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Malaysia
At last year’s UMNO* International Forum Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak spoke about significant change “common to the societies around the world. We
now have technology that supports a much wider and deeper range of public involvement in policy-making, with ‘open source government’ and open data
breaking down traditional divides.” Malaysia has promoted Open Source Software in the Public Sector for many years, among others through the Malaysian
Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON), but only started on open data portal last year. The site www.gov.my lists datasets from 24
ministries, however, only half of them have published data, and the top provider of data, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, published much of its data in PDF
format. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as well at the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, both of which produce data which is
in demand by environmental NGOs, have not published anything as of June 2014.
The data portal has been set up under the National Framework Big Data under the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia Commission in 2013 and aims to
enhance the ability of the government to make decisions based on facts and data. The 2014 Government IT and Internet bills encourage all ministries to prepare
and take the initiative to identify data for the implementation for open data in each of their core services.
On the demand site, a number of civil society and volunteer networks have since developed, most well known internationally is the Sinar project, which uses open
source technology and ideas to track and measure corruption. Sinar Project is a collection of related open source projects that comprises open data providers and
applications, tracking people of interest (e.g. CEOs of construction companies receiving public funds for projects), bill watcher which tracks proposed bills in
parliament, and corruption. Although the various government agencies provide a lot of services and information online, the data is not available in open format
making data scraping a necessity.
*United Malays National Organisation, the largest political party in Malaysia
References:
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/governments-must-demonstrate-commitment-to-effective-rule-open-politics-say#sthash.gueGr5FJ.dpuf
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/governments-must-demonstrate-commitment-to-effective-rule-open-politics-say
Michael Tiemann. 2010 The role of open source in emerging economies: A Malaysian success story http://opensource.com/government/10/12/role-open-source-emerging-economies-
malaysian-success-story

Open Data in Asia
Country snapshot: Myanmar
The Worldbank Knowledge Economy Index ranks Myanmar as second lowest among 157 countries across all key variables relating to ICT, innovation, education as
well as economic incentive and institutional regime; and the most recent Internet World Statistics report (2012) shows that internet penetration is around 1%,
although with the entry of two international telecom operators, Telenor and Ooredoo, rolling out voice and data services nationwide starting this year, these
figures are expected to move up fast. Recent reports and studies about Myanmar (ADB 2012, Cheesman 2012, and McKinsey 2013) describe the backwardness of
everything related to information, from information laws, information access, ICT infrastructure to internet governance. With the recent opening of the country,
most observers expect a fast catch-up process.
Building the soft infrastructure, capacity, skills and mindset is another challenge. Nwe Nwe Aye says that the government in Myanmar is still heavily
circumscribed by secrecy and lack of transparency, and that there is “no sense of political rule as a participative process”* The culture of an authoritarian society
is hard to throw off, and technology may act as a catalyst, but there are quite a few countries with excellent ICT infrastructure and non-existing or low civic rights
and public transparency as well.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), is advising the government on ICT strategy and public administration reform. Following their tender for the development of
an e-Governance Master Plan, Building ICT capacity is the basis for information and data management across the public sector, and also the basis for any Open
Data initiative. All major global tech companies are preparing their investment plans for the country, many of them coupled with educational programmes or civil
society collaborations. Myanmar has an active civil society working on various aspects of information and data, the most related to open data is MIDO (Myanmar
ICT development organization, which organized the first internet freedom forum in Yangon last year as well as open data workshops, These networks and
organisations could play an important role in building the soft infrastructure of the future information society.
The legal side of Myanmar’s information and internet governance also needs to be reformed. Currently there exist a number of outdated but still valid laws, such
as the “Burma Official Secrets Act” from 1932, instated by the British Colonial regime, which is part of the ongoing discussions on constitutional reform ahead of
the 2015 elections. In April/May 2014, the first census in 31 years has been conducted supported by UN organisations, the data collection will take
place in March and April, and provide a sound basis for all further socio-economic development. The Worldbank is regularly organizing workshops on
open data usage http://data.worldbank.org/country/myanmar
References:
Claire Africa (June 2013) http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2013/jun/27/world-bank-promotes-open-data-myanmar/
Paul Mooney (April 2014). Reuters. Myanmar's first census in three decades extended amid controversy http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/12/uk-myanmar-census-idUKBREA3B06X20140412

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Philippines
As an emerging economy with sounds economic fundamentals and high growth rates, the current government aims responds to greater demand from citizens for
government transparency and accountability. Earlier this year, the Senate approved the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill after years of discussion. In 2013 the
country launched an open data platform http://data.gov.ph/ which states on its homepage: “Openness inspires trust with is the foundation for a genuine
partnership”. According to the National Open Data Action Plan 2014-2016 the primary goal of data.gov.ph is to “foster a citizenry empowered to make informed
decisions, and to promote efficiency and transparency in government”
The country is one of the eight founding states of the Open Government Partnership, a multilateral initiative that “aims to secure concrete commitments from
governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance”*
The Data.gov.ph website is one of the more interactive public data sites and encourages the public “to request for the data they want, send in comments,
suggestions, and even stories of how they use open data. Likewise, it also encourages the public to participate by submitting applications and visualizations based
on the public data. This engagement of ideas between the public and the government will help develop the platform even further, for the benefit of everyone
involved”. Hackathons around disaster resilience, national budgeting and health are core issues for collaborative data analysis. An example for such multi-stakeholder
collaboration supported by the government is the “Readysaster: Hack for Resilience” event.*
The Philippines are internationally recognized as a country with the vibrant and advanced civil society, with a long history of citizen engagement in national and
regional issues dating back to the 1986 People Power Revolution. It is estimated that 46% of the population are active member in at least on Civil Society
Organization. Data and information skills training for the Civil Society are part of the Open Data Action Plan. There is also a national research portal on Open Data
research funded by international organizations maintained by the Computer Studies School of De La Salle University http://www.opendataphils.org/
While the overall internet penetration in the country is still around 30%, the demand side for open data is well developed and driven by the connected, highly
skilled part of the population.
References:
Ona, Sherwin. 2014. Open Data in the Philippines: Opportunities and Issues. http://www.opendataphils.org/Open%20Data%20in%20the%20Philippines.pdf
Open Data Philippines Action Plan 2014-2016 http://www.gov.ph/downloads/2014/01jan/Open-Data-Philippines-Action-Plan-2014-2016.pdf
*Open Government Partnership http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about. The Philippines and Indonesia are the only Asian founding members.
*Readysaster: Post event report 2014 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_7gVrtEHninOXhEdFFGdmQzTDBmNUlpUUZpZXEzcVZHW

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Singapore
The city state launched data.gov.sg in 2011, and describes it as “the first-stop portal to search and access publicly-available data published by the Singapore
Government”. There are around 8600 datasets from 60 government ministries and agencies. It is managed by the Ministry of Finance and the Infocomm
Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore. The Singapore Land Authority is one of the key partners, as it provides OneMap, the authoritative cadastral map on
which many apps are based. The website has a showcase of apps and the top rates ones are “Healthy Hawkers”, “MyWeather@SG” and apps related to transport,
housing, and health. The aims of the portal are to provide “convenient” access to public data, to create value through apps development and to facilitate analysis
and research. Currently only around 50 per cent of the datasets on data.gov.sg are open (machine-readable), but IDA is working on opening up more.
The most active partner to promote public data re-use is a private organization called “UP Singapore” which stands for “Urban Prototyping Singapore” and
describes itself as “ground-up innovation platform that makes creative use of technology and data to improve our urban environments and regularly organizes
thematic hackathons”. UP Singapore describes itself as a “new movement where people from the public, private and people sectors come together to tackle the
wide range of social and environmental challenges facing our cities”. The first UP Singapore event was held in June 2012, and has since organized eleven hacka-thons.
They state that today their community comprises around 4,000 people from the tech / developer, business, marketing communities and government
sectors.
To access the data provided at data.gov.sg, users must register with the government before they use any of the datasets, and agree to the terms of use. These
terms of use are rather rigid, in particular regarding copyright and indemnity clauses. While the data is provided royalty-free, the intellectual property remains
with the government; there is no open licensing. The Singapore government can also ask users to cease using datasets and remove them from their apps or
website upon the request of the Singapore government.
Currently, Singapore does not have a chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation and is generally not using the term “open data”.
References:
Data.gov.sg Terms of use http://data.gov.sg/common/terms.aspx
Mehta Basu (2013). Singapore announces open data initiative http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2013/aug/15/singapore-moves-forward-open-data-initiative/
UP Singapore http://www.upsingapore.com/
Josephine Yip Yee Hui (2013). Internet regulation – a myth in Singapore? Singapore Law Review http://www.singaporelawreview.org/2013/11/internet-regulation-a-myth-in-singapore/

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Taiwan
Taiwan set up a government data portal in 2011 (www.data.gov.tw), and has a comprehensive framework for data-driven development with a strong focus on
community engagement. The portal provides access to nearly 2000 datasets (as of May 2014) with interactive features allowing users to suggest data for
publication and discuss open data use. Most datasets also come with good metadata. The portal includes data from different cities and provinces in the country.
After the typhoon Morakot in 2009, where there was strong criticism over the slow response, unpreparedness and lack of information from the government, the
need for better information-and data sharing within the community in the natural disaster prone country became more evident. Today, most of the data sets on
the portal are relating to disaster prevention and response as well as high quality mapping data. Open data advocate T.H.Schee lists more than 230 events of the
open data community in the past few years, which have contributed to improved communication and dynamic exchanges between the public sector and the
wider business and civil society using public information. The Open Data Alliance, founded in 2013, has more than 200 members, groups, institutes in the public,
private and academic sector is a new platform between the data user communities the government.
Earlier this year, the Taiwanese Minister of Science & Technology, Chang San-cheng signed an agreement on collaboration between Taiwan and the UK Open Data
Institute* stating that "Open Data can improve the transparency of government and improve citizen participation, which is needed in Taiwan to resolve various
kinds of environment and economy issues. Open Data can help Taiwan not only be seen by the world, but also unlock potential economic values and enable
Taiwan's companies to go global (…)”.
Taiwan has the highest ranking in the Knowledge Economy Index and Press Freedom Index among the 13 countries in this study, and is one of the few countries
successfully combining information push and pull elements in the open data environment, thus enabling a dynamic market for data.
The Open Knowledge Foundation has a local group in Taiwan.
References:
*Collaboration between Taiwan and the UK Open Data Institute http://www.ocac.gov.tw/OCAC/Eng/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeid=331&pid=1516
Catherine Chu (2013). http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/11/google-public-alerts-for-taiwan-highlights-need-for-open-source-data-about-disasters/
Jessica McKenzie (2013) Transparency in Taiwan gets boots from open data alliance http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/24348/transparency-taiwan-gets-boost-open-data-alliance
T.H.Schee (2013). Open Data in Taiwan. Presentation at the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum http://2013.rigf.asia/wp-content/
uploads/2013/09/How%20Open%20Data%20and%20the%20Internet%20are%20transforming%20the%20Government%20-%20TH%20Schee.pdf
Jonathan Stray (2013). Nieman Journalism Lab: How does a country get to open data? http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/04/how-does-a-country-get-to-open-data-what-taiwan-can-
teach-us-about-the-evolution-of-access/

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Thailand
ICT Policy Framework or ICT2020 is the policy framework for ICT development in Thailand for the year 2011 – 2020. The ICT2020 has identified open government
data under a strategy on Smart Government. Under the ICT2020 is also the strategic National ICT Master plan for 2014 - 2020 which includes actions for the
government to open the data to the public and allow third parties to reuse government data. According to a government official, the master plan is “still in the
process to get an approval from the cabinet”. *
The ICT2020 is rather an outline for e-government policy on developing smart public services, and open public data is only vaguely described as providing more
access to information for citizens. The most recent update with the title “Smart Thailand towards Digital Economy” was presented by the Ministry of Information
and Communication Technology (MICT) at the 2014 Asia Pacific Telecommunity Policy and Regulatory Forum in Pattaya and talks about a “paradigm shift in Smart
Era” while acknowledging values and conflicts in society in this development.
In 2010-2011 there have been some initiatives to create an open data portal (http://data.pm.go.th/) under the Office of the Prime Minister and Opendream,
(http://opendream.co.th/) a social enterprise of “digital natives aiming to change the world through information”. The URLs on the website pointing to Open Data
Thailand sites such as opendata.in.th or data.pm.go.th are not functioning though as of May 2014, and it is not clear whether these initiatives are still operational.
Opendream has in collaboration with UNESCO developed games and apps to educate on flood mitigation, and also on health data apps, however, the data is
mostly crowd-sourced rather than downloaded from public data portals. Apart from Opendream, there are several other NGOs and social enterprises aiming to
support civil development in Thailand through information, communication and technologies.
Communication between civil society and governments has been described a “fluid and uneasy” in Thailand (ADB 2011); even though the 2001 Official
Information Act has strengthened citizens’ right to access public information, “state agencies do not well understand the law and the principle of people’s rights
to know and are not ready to provide good services of information disclosure” says N. Serirak (2001). The recent military coup has effectively reduced access to
public information and exposed the vulnerability of the societal development in the country.
References:
*Conversation with a senior staff in the Policy and Strategy Bureau of Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand shortly before the Thai military coup of 22
May 2014
Asian Development Bank. 2011. Civil Society Brief Thailand http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/csb-tha.pdf
Phomphan Tanukit (MICT). 2014. Smart Thailand towards Digital Economy. http://www.crc.gov.mn/file/newfile/PRF-14-INP-20-MICT-Smart-Thailand.pdf
Nakorn Serirak. 2001. Challenges of Thailand Freedom of Information http://www.oic.go.th/content_eng/nsreport.html

Open Data in Asia
Country Snapshot: Vietnam
ICT Policy Framework or ICT2020 is the policy framework for ICT development in Thailand for the year 2011 – 2020. The ICT2020 has identified open government
data under a strategy on Smart Government. Under the ICT2020 is also the strategic National ICT Master plan for 2014 - 2020 which includes actions for the
government to open the data to the public and allow third parties to reuse government data. According to a government official, the master plan is “still in the
process to get an approval from the cabinet”. *
The ICT2020 is rather an outline for e-government policy on developing smart public services, and open public data is only vaguely described as providing more
access to information for citizens. The most recent update with the title “Smart Thailand towards Digital Economy” was presented by the Ministry of Information
and Communication Technology (MICT) at the 2014 Asia Pacific Telecommunity Policy and Regulatory Forum in Pattaya and talks about a “paradigm shift in Smart
Era” while acknowledging values and conflicts in society in this development.
In 2010-2011 there have been some initiatives to create an open data portal (http://data.pm.go.th/) under the Office of the Prime Minister and Opendream,
(http://opendream.co.th/) a social enterprise of “digital natives aiming to change the world through information”. The URLs on the website pointing to Open Data
Thailand sites such as opendata.in.th or data.pm.go.th are not functioning thoughas of May 2014, and it is not clear whether these initiatives are still operational.
Opendream has in collaboration with UNESCO developed games and apps to educate on flood mitigation, and also on health data apps, however, the data is
mostly crowd-sourced rather than downloaded from public data portals. Apart from Opendream, there are several other NGOs and social enterprises aiming to
support civil development in Thailand through information, communication and technologies.
Communication between civil society and governments has been described a “fluid and uneasy” in Thailand (ADB 2011); even though the 2001 Official
Information Act has strengthened citizens’ right to access public information, “state agencies do not well understand the law and the principle of people’s rights
to know and are not ready to provide good services of information disclosure” says N. Serirak (2001). The recent military coup has effectively reduced access to
public information and exposed the vulnerability of the societal development in the country.
References:
Statistics office of Vietnam, Statistics Law http://www.gso.gov.vn/default_en.aspx?tabid=502&catecode=2
Mong Palatino. 2013. Decree 72: Vietnam’s Confusing Internet Law http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/decree-72-vietnams-confusing-internet-law/
Ajay Datta and Pham Lan Huang, Open Data Institute. 2013. Knowledge, Information and economic policy-making in Vietnam http://www.odi.org/publications/7413-knowledge-information-
economic-policy-making-vietnam
UNDP Vietnam 2014. How Citizen-led data is supporting policies in Viet Nam http://asia-pacific.
undp.org/content/rbap/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2014/06/04/how-citizen-led-data-is-supporting-policies-in-viet-nam-pratibha-mehta-jairo-acu-a-alfaro.html

Open Data in Asia
Summary and Outlook
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) classifies 5 of the countries in this report as "Advanced Economies", and the other 8 as "Developing Asia".
One of the findings of this research is that highly developed internet economies do not necessarily have dynamic Open Data communities and
markets. This applies both to Singapore and Hong Kong. Both countries started their Public Sector Information portals around 2011, but the demand
site for the data had to be pushed by app competitions rather than through developing a dynamic exchange between stakeholders from supply and
demand sides. Both countries also uses the term “Public Sector Information” rather than “Open Data” since neither has a freedom of information
law.
In some countries the emphasis of open data is on creating the conditions for greater accountability and transparency of government, others focus
on efficiency and innovation through value-added services through civic-minded technologists and startups. Indonesia and the Philippines are
clearly advocating better governance through open data, whereas Hong Kong and Singapore stress innovation and development of ICT-related
solutions.
Japan, Korea, and Taiwan include both perspectives in their strategies, whereas Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar are still at an early stage of building
capacity for digital public services. Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia are countries with a tradition of restricted public information access and score
low on information openness. In these countries, the trust level between civil society and government is often low, and public data is not considered
a reliable source of information.
While Indonesia and Philippines are promoting government accountability, they score relatively low on transparency, so there is a certain
discrepancy between official ambitions and reality. Data about national resources is still considered a national secret in Indonesia, and press
freedom in the Philippines is among the lowest in the region.
Creating a dynamic environment for an open data economy can take a long time to nurture as there are many different building blocks to achieve
“Open Data Readiness” as defined by the Worldbank. Given the diversity of experiences, practices and policies across Asia perhaps more knowledge
sharing across countries could support the development. Such channels for knowledge transfer and collaboration already exist through ASEAN and
the Asian Development Bank, although overall regional collaboration, in particular institutional collaboration, is still weak.

Open Data in Asia
Since Open Public Data has political, economic and technical dimensions, it is a challenge for governments to develop public policies that address all
aspects. At the core it is question about a new understanding of government and citizen collaboration. Setting up data portals with a few datasets,
focusing only on the ICT and business community and advocating technological rather than societal innovation will make it difficult to realize the
benefits of open data. Data-driven analysis and decision-making is also about capacity building for an increasingly knowledge-based and
participatory society.
Given the fast pace of socio-economic development in Asia, many countries portrayed here are also fast developing internet economies. Removing
barriers that cause friction in accessing and using data will be easier if the long-term social and economic benefits of an open information
environment are better understood as necessary condition for development.

Open Data in Asia
References:
Agrast, Mark David et.al. (2012). WJP Rule of Law Index. Washington D.C: World Justice Project
Barcamps Past Events http://barcamp.org/w/page/401344/BarCampPastEvents
Creative Commons Affiliate Network http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network
Civicus (2013) Enabling Environment Indexhttp://www.civicus.org/index.php/what-we-do-126/2014-04-25-03-26-23/2013-05-06-10-38-39/1886-download-the-
2013-enabling-environment-index-eei-report
International Monetary Fund www.imf.org
Haley, George T. et.al. (2009) New Asian Emperors. Singapore: Wiley (Asia)
OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy 2008 http://www.oecd.org/futureinternet/
OECD Recommendations on Public Sector Information 2008 http://www.oecd.org/sti/44384673.pdf
Open Knowledge Foundation, https://okfn.org/opendata/
Picard, Nicolas; Michelle Chang (2014) The Power of Open Data in Asia http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2014/02/19/the-power-of-open-data-in-asia/
The Open Data Barometer 2013 Global Report: World Wide Web Foundation and Open Data Institute, http://www.opendataresearch.org/barometer
Worldbank (2013) Open Data Readiness Assessment Tool (2013) http://data.worldbank.org/about/open-government-data-toolkit/readiness-assessment-tool#
Recent_Assessments
World Economic Forum (2013) The Global Information Technology Report (Networked Readiness Index)
Zwillenberg, Paul et.al. (2014) Greasing the Wheels of the Internet Economy: The connected World (Boston Consulting Group)
END

Open Data in Asia: An Overview of Open Data Policies and Practices in 13 Countries

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