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legal framework Turner Hulme 1997; Waheduzzaman 2007 in Waheduzzaman 2008; Uddin Joya 2007.
2.3.2 Participation as a Central Foundation of Good Governance
As mentioned in section 2.3.1, there are four major components of good governance which, conceptually, tend to be mutually supportive Waheduzzaman 2008. However,
as argued by Schneider 1999 and Rahman 2005 in Waheduzzaman 2008, citizen
participation is the central element government activities among other elements since it can assure more transparent, accountable, and predictable government for the citizens.
Citizen participation, as an essential right, is defined as the capabilities of citizens to help themselves in specifying their needs and discovering solutions, and act as the actors
instead of the objects of development Neras 2001 in Rose 2004; UN 2007. Some scholars define citizen participation by focusing on democratising and increasing the
quality and support for policy making by taking into account the potential contribution from citizens i.e. ideas, comments, solutions in national development Arnstein 1969;
Lourenço Costa 2007. It can take forms of public hearings, public survey, citizen review panel, or negotiated rule-making Arnstein 1969; Fiorino 1990. Meanwhile,
other scholars define it in term of citizen’s coproduction by interacting and negotiating
with government service providers Whitaker 1980; Pestoff 2009. In other words, citizen participation is also regarded as involvement in government’s daily processes in
providing public services. In this research, a broad view on participation is taken,
including both involvements in national development policy-making and in government’s services delivery, in order to make it relevant with the case study context.
UNUSCAP 2009 argues that public participation is a fundamental cornerstone of good governance. The concept of good governance should be realised as more than just
people-oriented, but it should be ‘owned by people’ Waheduzzaman 2008. In view of
this, it can be understood that the level of good governance can be improved through the high citizen participation in development programs and that active participation of
citizens, as one of stakeholders, in the decision-making process is becoming the hallmark of participatory governance Schneider 1999; Waheduzzaman 2008. Despite
of some debates on participatory governance denying the value of a people-centred
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orientation in development in terms of efficiency, empowerment, and prevalent benefits Cleaver 2001, the conviction in the sense of encouraging citizens to provide their
opinion or deliberation on policy-making process is argued to be part of solution in improving sustainable development outcome Gbikpi Grote 2002.
2.4 M-Government and Participation
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