ACCELERATION OF SPBE IN RURAL-AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS: LESSONS FROM INTERNATIONAL SMART VILLAGES AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE CHALLENGE IN PANDEGLANG

Abstract

Pandeglang Regency, which is predominantly agricultural (79.65% of villages), faces major challenges in implementing the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) due to the digital divide characterized by blank spots (231 villages with weak signals), low digital literacy among apparatus (53.80% of civil servants have at most senior high school education), and limited regional budget with locally generated revenue accounting for only 11.4% of total regional income. This research is important because the gap between the mandate of Presidential Regulation No. 95/2018 and the actual conditions of rural-agricultural regions such as Pandeglang has not been adequately addressed in the public administration literature. This study employs a systematic literature review (SLR) with a qualitative comparative approach, analyzing ten journal articles indexed in Scopus/SINTA 1–2 over the past ten years, as well as official documents from BPS Pandeglang Regency 2025–2026. Literature searches were conducted through Google Scholar, Scopus, and Garuda using Boolean keywords “SPBE”, “e-government”, “digital divide”, “smart village”, and “smart kampung”, accompanied by thematic synthesis to identify challenges and adaptive models from India, Thailand, the Philippines, and Banyuwangi. The findings indicate that a phased approach prioritizing service centers and funding through universal service obligation (USO) and CSR schemes is more effective than a big bang approach. This study formulates the Inclusive Rural SPBE Acceleration Framework (IR-SAFE) consisting of three pillars: adaptive infrastructure, gradual apparatus capacity building, and essential priority services (population administration, social assistance, and maternal and child health reports).