Few assembly members use e-mail

The Secretariat of the National Assembly each year publishes 20,000 to 30,000 copies of pocket books about parliamentarians, but this year officials collecting information for the pocket book are faced with trouble.

They planned to list the home pages and e-mail addresses of the National Assembly members for the first time. However, 23 out of 27 parliamentarians failed to submit their e-mail addresses by July 18.

The secretariat could simply publish the pocket book by leaving their e-mail section blank, but that would give an impression that the politicians are not wired. For this reason, the secretariat has not yet made a decision.

Secretariat officials are reluctant to release the names of the legislators who failed to submit e-mail addresses, but they hinted that they were mostly veteran politicians who do not have their own home pages or are not consistently updating their information. The situation has presented another frustration for Internet illiterates.