WHEN Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam speaks of a need to "rebrand" his department, he should be careful not to allow a racy bit of marketing jargon to run away with the concept. To "review and refocus" the PSD's "core business", as he put it, makes better sense -- it alludes to the potential benefits of turning the department into a galvanising force in the civil service; "to enhance," as Ismail said, "the capacity of the public sector in human resource and organisational capability". "Rebranding", however, is a different matter. In market-speak, it involves altering the public perception of a product, service or organisation; in this case, presumably, changing the notion that the civil service is a hide-bound tangle of red tape, inefficiency and petty corruption, into the image of a dynamic, clued-in, conscientious and efficient, eager-to-please public sector.
We would certainly wish the PSD D-G the best of luck with helping generate what the prime minister expressed to an assembly of civil servants at the National Institute of Public Administration on Monday as the need to "give the people one service, one delivery and no wrong-door policy". But it should be borne in mind that such a "rebranding" can only be the natural consequence of the upgraded performance and capabilities Ismail is calling for from the civil service. It grows from the ground up, with improved service and delivery, and is not sprayed from above with slogans and catch-phrases.
Ostensibly dispassionate analyses such as Malaysia's rankings in the Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development's assessments of "world competitiveness" might go some way towards offering an objective appraisal of the country's track record: 6th in the world for "economic performance" (among countries with populations over 20 million); 4th in "business efficiency"; 10th for "infrastructure"; 8th in overall "competitiveness", etc. But such positive generalisations can seem far removed indeed from the negative sentiments arising at the counter level, if the public sector's service to the public falters in meeting expectations.
Such expectations have risen steeply in the more than four years since the present administration took office -- the need for a better, brighter, more efficient and "Malaysian" civil service has stayed firmly on the agenda. There has been much improvement, certainly in counter services. But the urgency with which the 8,000 public officers at Intan this week were addressed by their bosses clearly emphasises how much more needs to be done.
From NST: editorial 30.01.2008
