Government Has Political Will To Implement NKRA - Koh

December 18, 2009 22:12 PM

from BERNAMA.COM

PETALING JAYA, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- The government has the political will to ensure every programme under the six National Key Result Areas (NKRA) are implemented to provide the best service to the people said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

"If there is no political will, we will not have exhibited the NKRA documents. We would have just kept it a secret," he told reporters when asked whether the government had the capability to implement the NKRA.

Koh, who is also the chairman of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) Board said programmes aimed at reducing crime and increasing People's Volunteer Corps (RELA) had already been implemented.

"Some of the objectives may be short term and some will take longer to do, and some may be trajectory such as for crime. As the reporting system becomes more efficient, we will actually see an increase in crime reports, but if measures are implemented correctly, we will see the impact in crime reduction," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Pemandu Board said the 1Malaysia GTP roadmap to be announced next month, was a strong evidence of the government's political will for transformation.

Idris said they had received about 1,000 written comments and 70 per cent of them agreed with the six NKRA.

He said although some were still not convinced that the plans would be implemented, the government is committed to see it succeed.

"Some came with the pre-conceived idea that civil servants were pathetic. But now they are seeing something different and also the cabinet ministers are totally committed to implement the NKRAs," he said.

Earlier, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang who was among those at the open day commended the NKRA but was skeptical of the government's political will to implement them.

"They are at least making some progress and the deep problem of corruption is being admitted. But is there the political will to break the back of these problems like those of crime, poverty, deteriorating education standards, and making for higher quality of life.

"While what has been presented today is commendable, does it permeate the entire political and cabinet level? asked Kit Siang.

Citing zero tolerance for corruption as one of the target of the transformation, Kit Siang said cabinet ministers were not talking about it.

He said ministers must come forward and the entire cabinet must be committed to the transformation of the government.

"Unless these KPI programmes are reflected by policies and statements by ministers in their daily activities, there is going to be a deficient in public confidence," he said.

Lim said when the government declares a transformation plan, immediate action must be followed.

-- BERNAMA

Transforming – the Idris Jala way

from The STAR Online; Saturday December 19, 2009

By P. GUNASEGARAM,

DATUK SERI Idris Jala, the man from Bario in the highlands of Sarawak and a career Shell person until he moved to Malaysia Airlines to take a challenging role to turn the ailing national airline around, is of course no stranger to transformation.

To him, transformation is a big change, or as he puts it, it’s about big, fast results or BFR. Along with it comes a large appetite for risk because when changes are very major there are serious risks of things going wrong.

“The bigger the risk, the bigger the resistance to change. I have never gone through a transformation where there is no resistance to change,” he says.

What he brings to the Performance Delivery and Management Unit or Pemandu, of which he is CEO and which will drive the Government Transformation Plan (GTP), is his trademark style of engagement, transparency and accountability which stood him in such good stead with his earlier change plans.

When Jala became managing director of Malaysia Airlines in December 2005 after 23 years at Shell, his mandate was to turn around the airline. It had made a loss of an unprecedented RM1.7bil that year.

Barely three months later, Jala publicly unveiled his first turnaround plan – Malaysia Airlines would cut losses from RM1.7bil to RM620mil in 2006, achieve a profit of RM50mil in 2007 and a record profit of RM500mil in 2008.

It was a move never before or since seen in the corporate world – a listed company publicly stated its profit targets, mentioned broadly how it proposed to achieve them and kept details of how exactly it was going to achieve them out of the public eye. And the targets were simply stupendous.

Most people considered that plan way too ambitious and some even treated it with derision. But in the second year itself, Malaysia Airlines made a record profit of over RM900mil, its highest ever.

That led to Malaysia Airlines’ second turnaround plan, this time for five years. The profit target – RM1.5bil by 2012 and as much as RM2bil–RM3bil if conditions are more favourable.

Over the last 10 or so years, in addition to Malaysia Airlines, he turned around Shell’s LPG operations in Sri Lanka, and led the business turnaround of Shell MDS, the first gas-to-liquids commercial plant in the world and the sole supplier of clean diesel fuel for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He also headed a business consultancy unit within Shell.

Perhaps his biggest asset is his ability to engage people at all levels and infect them with his eternal optimism, and buttressed by all the effort and detail, turn that to real work done and make the impossible possible.

But there are critics who are sceptical: “This is not Malaysia Airlines, this is the Government. Those politicians and bumbling, bungling government officials will swallow him up.” Perhaps. But that’s not what Jala thinks. He believes success is assured - it’s a question of how much.

“I accept that I can fail. That makes me unafraid of failure,” he has said repeatedly in the past.

That kind of mental mood, and a stoic resolve to let whatever happen after you have done all you can, may be the very ingredient needed for success – it stops you from dwelling on the possibility of failure and doing instead all it takes to gain success.

Below are excerpts of the answers Jala gave us from questions StarBizWeek posed to him on the sidelines of this week’s GTP open day at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre.

SBW: What you did at MAS, you’re expanding it into a nationwide approach here?

Jala: Yes, it’s the same. Before you do anything, you better know the details (of the problems and the solutions). When we say we want to improve urban transport, the issues are brainstormed in the lab. We have to come out in detail exactly how we’re going to make that happen.

The lab examined KTM Komuter trains, right down to how many passengers are on the trains every day. We then knew that the answer was to increase the number of trains as they were running at over-capacity.

Then we examined buses and their routes and looked at the integration of the different transportation modes. We brought reams of data into the labs to be analysed.

For crime, we have made a pronouncement that we want to reduce street crime by 20%. But pronouncing a KPI is not good enough. Being clear about how you’re going to achieve that is most important. We got all the data from the police to find out where these crimes are taking place in urban areas and realised that there were only around 50 hotspots.

Once you know that, it becomes obvious where the police need to be deployed. With this intelligence, we are moving away from the old method of deploying police based on geographical spread. Immediately, 1,100 police personnel have been redeployed to these hotspots. We will also install more CCTVs in these areas.

There is going to be a big cost to these projects, such as purchasing new trains. Where is this funding going to come from?

The Prime Minister has made it very clear that the NKRA (national key results areas) is priority and he said so because these are things that the rakyat want. To get the money for these things will involve reallocating funds, using money from other areas which are deemed less urgent.

In the book (a planned road map detailing the KPIs to achieve the six broad goals of the GTP will be published early next year), we will talk about how much we need. These numbers won’t be firm until we get the input from the rakyat.

If the rakyat suggest that there are other things that are more important than what we thought of in the lab, then we may need to rejig it.

What’s the progress so far?

Some activities have started, some not yet. For example, on the KTM Komuter trains, we asked them how many carriages they had, and they said 58 carriages. How many are operational? 25. How many are broken? 33. No wonder we have a problem. How come the 33 are not operational?

It’s because there is not enough money for maintenance. And there is not enough money for maintenance because KTM is losing money. And KTM is not getting subsidy from the Government because it is losing money.

So it is a chicken and egg situation. Two things will happen. We intend to replace some carriages and acquire new ones. The carriages come only in 2012.

Yes, unfortunately it takes time. Just like aeroplanes, it takes time.

But by buying the new carriages, does it fix the bigger problem KTM is facing, which is that it cannot seem to run an operationally profitable business?

To be fair to them, there is a revenue shortfall. They cannot generate sufficient revenue with the kind of fares they are charging. If you never increase fares, you’ll never make money.

There’s also an operational problem of under-capacity. KTM does not have the right capacity to handle the passengers. Today, KTM (Komuter) has carriages that can fill 400 passengers. But there are 600 people going on these trains, so they are really packed. The laboratory was very clear in identifying the problems. Once identified, we then figured out which ones to start with first. You cannot start fixing the problem by raising fares as the service levels are not there yet. So we’re starting by spending money to get the new carriages in and improving the service.

The next step will be to introduce differentiated fares, like Malaysia Airlines, lah. You pay for what you can afford and the service you expect. In the interim, while waiting for the carriages to come, the plan is to increase the frequency of the trains in order to use the carriages more efficiently. That has already begun.

Getting basic infrastructure right

Let me shift into other areas – like basic rural infrastructure. A big part of the GTP is to aim to provide the basics in rural areas. We will give them roads, clean and treated water, and electricity. Based on our findings, many of the rural areas do not have access to those things. I think from 2010 to 2012 there will be the highest amount of investment being poured into roads and infrastructure since the start of our independence.

Is it economically viable to do that?

Yes. It will stimulate the economy because there will be more construction. The reality today, as we move towards a high-income economy, when we talk about 1Malaysia, is that it must comprise and include everybody. We must include the poor. We cannot bring a country to become a highly progressive society if there are Malaysians left behind. That is why we are focusing on the low-income households. But we are also looking at urban development.

What is the concern of urbanites? The public transportation system. And if you don’t fix that, the people will say that the Government does not truly recognise their problems. We give the most income tax to the country, and yet how come our public transport system is not as good as in other countries?

What are you doing about corruption?

We’re putting in place a check and balance. We’re cutting the approval time (for all sorts of Government services) so that we don’t empower anyone. Now you don’t have to wait one month for your passport. You get it within two hours. The power is no longer there with that person to facilitate the processing of the passport.

You don’t face problems of resistance?

Sure we do. Every change has resistance. This transformation is not incremental. It is big, fast results. Because it is big, it also carries a big risk. So we must have the appetite for making the big changes and handling the associated risks.

Here’s an example. We have identified that a key problem is a low quality of pre-school education. With a not-so-good foundation, the problems will creep into the secondary and university levels. Currently, only 60% of all the students who go to primary one have access to pre-school. There are 40% of students who have never been to kindergarten. So by the time they go to primary one, that 40% will be lagging behind.

What we have to do now is to improve primary and pre-school education. So we are going to convert something like 20,000 teachers from secondary schools and put them into primary schools. Naturally, there is resistance, but these are fundamental issues we will have to grapple with. If we don’t do this, 23 years from now, this group of people (the students) will be lagging even further.

I have never gone through a transformation programme where there is no resistance to change. So I have said, guys if we want to make incremental changes, that’s okay. Small risk, small resistance. But big transformation is big risk and big resistance. But the price (of not doing it) is big lah. So is the reward.

We all agree that Vision 2020 is a good thing. But at the current cost and speed, we will not get there. But we can get there if we transform and do those things we said we are going to do.

In your laboratory on education, was it addressed that part of the reason why we don’t have good universities is because of the politicking there. We have had a huge brain drain of our university faculty.

That’s partly true and partly false. But we only know the instant calculus. We fix the problem that is there now. And we know that the problem is in pre-school and primary. So we better fix this. So that when these people move into secondary school and university, we have time to fix it.

But you cannot eat a whole elephant. You have to chop it into bits and eat it. We cannot solve the whole problem in one sitting. It doesn’t mean nothing is being done in those areas. The Ministry of Higher Education under Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, is doing things to improve the universities.

Going back to corruption. Malaysia seems to keep falling in the corruption index, so what kind of resistance are you facing?

They are three buckets of corruption. One is called enforcement and regulatory corruption. The other is called procurement corruption. Then there is political corruption.

Some of the recommendations we made include open tenders, and making sure no minister gives out support letters for any projects. The fact is our corruption index is falling. If that keeps happening, foreign investors won’t have confidence to invest here as they feel policies are so opaque.

We have no choice. We have to make changes to the things that we are doing to reduce corruption. Stiffer punishment is another one. We cannot deal with corruption without stiffer punishment. We are also trying to reduce the time for cases to be tried, particularly those that generate a lot of public interest, to under one year. Some drag on for five years.

So are we correct to say that the message now, to those ‘on the take’ is that the Government is going to catch you and punish you?

Yes.

Can Jala and the GTP succeed?

But you really think you can succeed? That this programme is different from all the other attempts the Government has made in the past to change and transform?

I have no doubt about success because success is a matter of degree. We may not get to the highest peak, but definitely we will succeed to higher levels from current levels. I always believe certain things we can control and certain things we cannot. Sixty per cent of the things in our lives is not in our control. The 40% that we can control, we try our best.

We’re sure you spend a lot of time thinking how you are going to get the buy-in from the 1.2 million civil servants.

The first thing we did was not get a roomful of consultants. Instead, we got a roomful of civil servants. I asked the Cabinet for 240 civil servants. “Please give them to me for six weeks. We will sit there and find solutions,” I told them.

The labs are like a nursery. The lab is a safe place for them to grow. Once it is agreed, we then put them for implementation.

We created something called Delivery Task Force which is chaired by the Prime Minister. He has attended every single one of the meetings. Every month.

The political will is there. The commitment is absolutely there. I sit in those meetings. We report what is on track, what is not on track, who is not delivering. Just like in the private sector lah. There is no difference between how I ran MAS and how I am running this.

Again, why is it different this time, from what has been attempted in the past with limited or no success?

Nobody has done it like this. There is no generality. We don’t talk about pronouncement of policies. I don’t want to hear that. We are talking about things to do.

Yes, we have heard of these things before. But nobody pins it down like we are doing. The difference is in the details – the gory details. Every country can say it wants to improve rural development. But how are you going to do that? We bring it down from 30,000 feet to three feet. That is why we came out with the labs.

The solutions are coming from the civil servants, that is why these solutions will be implemented, because it is invented by them.

To be really honest, they knew the answer all this while. It was just that there was never an opportunity for everyone to talk and brainstorm together.

The 6 KRAs

Targets set for the six Key Result Areas

The Government’s promise of an improved delivery system takes flesh with the Prime Minister’s unveiling of the short-term targets for the six National Key Result Areas.

1. Reduction of crime rate

• Reduce street crime, including snatch thefts and unarmed robbery, by 20% by the end of 2010.
• Re-train Rela members to help improve public perception on safety.
• Upgrade equipment for enforcement agencies and increase the usage of CCTV.
• Set up special courts for street crime to speed up the legal process.

2. Combating corruption

• Updating relevant policies, procedures and enforcement to improve global perception.
• Use open or restricted tender process for all government projects with the exception of those sensitive in nature.

3. Widening access to affordable and quality education

• Make pre-school education part of the national education system.
• Ensure all normal pupils are able to read, write and count when they enter Year Four before 2012.
• Reward school principals and headmasters based on the achievements of each school.
• Turn 100 daily smart, cluster, trust and boarding schools into high performing learning centres by 2012.

4. Raising the living standard of the Poor

• Pay out all welfare cash aid on the first of each month from January.
• Create 4,000 women entrepreneurs under the Sahabat Amanah Ikhtiar programme by 2012.

5. Improving Infrastructure in rural areas

• Build 1,500km of roads in Sabah and Sarawak by 2012.
• Ensure that no one lives more than 5km from a tarred road in the peninsula by 2012.
• Increase electricity coverage in Sabah and Sarawak to 95% by end of 2012.
• Provide 24-hour electricity supply to 7,000 orang asli families in the peninsula by the end of 2012.

6. Improving public transport in the Medium term

• Increase the number of public transport users to 25% by end of 2012 from the present 16%.
• Add 35 sets of four-car-trains to operate on the Kelana Jaya LRT track by the end of 2012.

Source : The Star online.

Integriti dalam Mengurus Organisasi - Perspektif Islam

ISLAM menuntut umatnya berlaku adil dalam segala hal. Takrifan keadilan dalam Islam merangkumi keseimbangan, kesaksamaan dan pemberian hak kepada mereka yang berhak dan meletakkan sesuatu pada tempatnya yang betul.
Secara keseluruhan, keadilan bermakna tidak berlaku penindasan, tidak ada berkepentingan, tidak menzalimi dan tidak memilih kasih dalam memberi layanan dan hak kepada orang lain.
Justeru, tidak hairan jika Islam menekankan keadilan dalam segala urusannya, apatah lagi dengan melaksanakan keadilan mencegah penindasan, penyelewengan, penyalahgunaan kuasa dan perkara bertentangan nilai murni.
Hal berkaitan keadilan turut dituntut dalam pengurusan organisasi. Tuntutan ini memerlukan kepemimpinan yang bertanggungjawab serta mempunyai kekuatan moral serta kejujuran yang tinggi.
Keadilan dalam pengurusan organisasi bermula daripada proses pelantikan jawatan. Majikan perlu melantik calon berkelayakan dan berkebolehan.
Contohnya, sesi temuduga ialah alternatif yang diamalkan sehingga hari ini. Cara itu terbukti berkesan dan adil bagi mengelak salah pilih pekerja.
Sejarah tamadun Islam menunjukkan contoh keadilan dilakukan Rasulullah SAW antaranya ketika pelantikan Mu'adh Jabal sebagai Gabenor Syam. Baginda yang melakukan temuduga itu.
Baginda SAW mengemukakan soalan sejauh mana kelayakan Mu'adh untuk menjawat jawatan berkenaan dan sama ada beliau mampu menangani permasalahan yang mungkin timbul kelak.
Sementara Abu Zar pula meriwayatkan beliau semalaman memujuk Rasulullah SAW supaya melantiknya sebagai pemimpin. Beliau berkata: "Ya Rasulullah, lantiklah aku. Rasulullah SAW menjawab: Sesungguhnya ia amanah yang menjadi celaan dan penyesalan pada hari kiamat nanti."
Apa yang dapat kita perhatikan, pelantikan dan pemilihan pekerja secara adil bukan sekadar mengisi kekosongan sebaliknya, memilih orang yang layak memegang tugas diamanahkan.

Hal ini menggambarkan kepada kita, pelantikan dan pemilihan calon yang tepat menyebabkan organisasi berjalan lancar dan berkesan. Bayaran gaji dan imbuhan yang setimpal juga perlu dibuat secara adil dan setimpal dengan kelayakan, taraf hidup serta keadaan setempat.
Bagi mengelak penipuan dan diskriminasi dalam organisasi, Islam menghendaki diwujudkan kontrak yang adil antara pekerja dan majikan. Kontrak keadilan penting bagi mengelak sesuatu tidak diingini berlaku antara majikan dan pekerja.
Di samping itu, keadilan dalam kebajikan pekerja perlu diberikan perhatian sewajarnya. Sebagai majikan, mereka perlu adil dalam kebajikan terutama dari segi, kesihatan dan keselamatan. Pengabaian majikan terhadap kebajikan pekerja menyebabkan produktiviti pekerja menurun. Secara tidak langsung, menjejaskan matlamat organisasi.
Dari segi pengembangan kerjaya, majikan perlu bertindak adil dengan memberi ruang dan peluang kepada pekerja untuk kenaikan pangkat, latihan meningkatkan kemahiran dan insentif serta pengiktirafan kepada yang layak atau yang lama berkhidmat.
Begitu juga bebanan tugas dan tanggungjawab yang diberikan perlu adil serta saksama. Islam membenci penganiayaan dalam apa juga bentuk termasuk pembahagian tugas.
Contohnya, pembahagian beban tugas antara pegawai atasan dan bawahan perlu berpadanan dengan imbuhan diberikan.
Prinsip kesaksamaan dinyatakan dengan jelas dalam firman Allah bermaksud: "Allah tidak membebani seseorang melainkan sesuai dengan kesanggupannya. Baginya mendapat pahala (daripada kebajikan) yang diusahakannya dan ia mendapat seksa (daripada kejahatan) yang dikerjakannya." (Surah al-Baqarah, ayat 286)
Majikan perlu memastikan hanya pekerja yang benar-benar melakukan kesalahan dan jenayah diberhentikan atau dikenakan tindakan disiplin. Sebarang hukuman dikenakan tanpa bukti yang sahih menggambarkan ketidakadilan berlaku ke atas pekerja itu.
Sehingga kini, sejauh manakah keadilan dilaksanakan dalam organisasi anda?
Yang pasti, soal keadilan sangat diperlu dalam organisasi bukan saja demi kepentingan organisasi malah untuk kepentingan masyarakat dan negara. Tanpa keadilan wujud masalah seperti penindasan, penyelewengan dan penyalahgunaan kuasa dalam organisasi.

Penulis ialah pegawai penyelidik Pusat Ekonomi dan Kajian Sosial Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia
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@Petikan dari :Biro Laman Web
bp.Pengerusi PNI
JPS Malaysia

Mind Boggling KPI measurement !

On Integrity..what say DYMM Paduka Seri Sultan Azlan

July 21, 2009 15:46 PM

Courts Cannot Find Fault With Transparent, Open Govts, Says Perak Sultan

IPOH, July 21 (Bernama) -- So long as any government or authority administers in accordance with the law in a transparent and open manner, no court can find fault with that government or authority, the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, said on Tuesday. However, he said, this would not be the case if there were judges who had no integrity or who chose to be political or sympathised with any group or political thought. The major and heaviest test for a judge was remaining impartial, especially in terms of emotion and inclination, he said when opening a special seminar on the federal constitution organised by the Perak State Secretariat, here. As such, he added, it was necessary to safeguard the role of the judiciary as a professional and independent body of integrity.

"Judges held great responsibility in upholding the rule of law and integrity of the courts and their failure to do so will result in an imbalance. The loyalty of judges is to justice in accordance with the law. In fulfilling this responsibility, judges are exposed to public evaluation because there is in place a higher mechanism in the courts, with a panel of more judges, to review judgements," he said.

"The perpetuation of the institution of monarchy was not only to the extent of fulfilling historical values and sentimental values of the people. The ruler had a role to ensure the effectiveness of the check-and-balance mechanism which could help strengthen the institution of democracy," he said.

"As the head of state, the ruler serves as the pillar of stability, source of justice, core of solidarity and umbrella of unity. Implicitly, the perpetuation of the institution of monarchy is the continued retention of the identity of a government buttressed by the Malays. The role, duties and responsibilities of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as well as those of the Malay Rulers are based on the concept of the constitutional monarchy," he said.

This meant that the rulers had sovereign power and responsibility in accordance with the law and that a ruler was a ruler, whether it was in absolute or constitutional terms, he said. Sultan Azlan Shah said the difference between them was that one had unlimited power while the other's power was in accordance with the constitution, but it was a mistake to assume that the power of a ruler was similar to that of a president who was bound by the constitution.

"The role of a ruler far exceeded that expressed in the constitution," he said.

The sultan said the implied spirit behind the formulation of the federal constitution was to develop a stable, peaceful, united and prosperous independent nation, which would be achieved through the solidarity and unity of a people of various religions, ethnic groups and cultures, and speaking different languages.

"The constitution has been so formulated so as to ensure that justice prevails and that it equally protects the strong and the weak, the majority and the minority, the administrators and the administered, the Rulers and the people," he said.
The sultan said there was consensus that every Malaysian citizen was guaranteed protection in a fair and just manner, while acknowledging the fact that the indigenous people lagged far behind in terms of socio-economic progress, wealth, ownership of property and skills. As such, the Malays and other bumiputeras were given an assurance through special allocations which gave them privileges, he said.
"At the same time, non-Malays who had immigrated to this country, considering it as their home and pledging their loyalty to the king and country, have been accepted as Malaysian citizens," he added.

Sultan Azlan Shah said the federal constitution was drawn up in the spirit of negotiation, understanding, the desire to unite the people, and the objective of shaping an independent and a sovereign nation-state. For the sake of peace and prosperity, a culture of living based on the spirit of the constitution should be inculcated in the people - a spirit which accorded respect to the law and respected law-enforcement institutions, he said.

"If this basic principle is not adhered to any longer and is to be set aside due to attempts to assimilate foreign cultural influences, it is feared that the country will degenerate into anarchy. In the end, the history of the nation, peace and prosperity will remain just that - history," he said.

-- BERNAMA

Integrity : What option for Malaysia? - Tunku Abdul Aziz

JULY 5 - The upsurge of interest in integrity and ethics is not without a good reason. People all over the world have realized that human progress is unlikely to be sustainable without all of us adopting and embracing universal human values — values that transcend cultural, religious and political barriers.

In Malaysia we have the best legal framework, rules, regulations and procedures, but corrupt practices continue unchecked because those entrusted to serve the community are themselves morally and ethically deficient and devoid of ethical values and high standards of personal and public behaviour.

If we lose our competitive position because we are corrupt and lack integrity, we are putting our future as a nation at risk. Corruption kills competition, breeds inefficiency, distorts our decision making processes and promotes social and political instability in the long run. I believe that in societies where integrity is firmly entrenched, corruption can be kept firmly under control. We have to refocus our vision and reshape our views and ideas on what can be done to fight unethical public behaviour, not only on our own turf, but equally important, on the international front because cross-border corruption represents a major source of social, economic and political instability and distortion, if not dealt with decisively.

In the globalised world in which we operate with its own set of demanding rules of engagement, with emphasis on transparency and accountability, we have to learn quickly to be adaptable or we will be marginalised. However described, corruption exacts a heavy toll on a nation's social, political, and economic development. Anyone trying to persuade you that corruption is a victimless crime is just being cynical. There are victims out there all right, if only we care to open our eyes.

As always, they represent the underclass, and are among the poorest, and the least informed and educated members of our society. They are men and women who because of their economic status do not even know their rights as citizens. The recent Malaysian Indian demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur could well have been a manifestation of a sense of being excluded from mainstream economic and social development. There are large numbers of people in Peninsular, Sarawak and Sabah who are in the same boat, and the government must ensure that its service delivery meets their expectations.

I very much hope that we are not fighting corruption for its own sake, or just to feel good for that would be tantamount to abandoning a large part of mankind to perpetual misery and degradation in the face of the relentless onslaught of human greed. We fight corruption not only to be globally competitive, but more to the point, to bring about social justice and to make a difference to the lives of the poor, the real victims of corruption.

The long term, sustainable prosperity of any country depends entirely on good governance, a comprehensive, overarching system for managing the often complex social, economic and political needs of a modern state, underpinned by strong ethical principles.

The current financial crisis has many lessons for us. One is that there is really no substitute for international standards of business conduct; standards that are firmly grounded in transparency, accountability and integrity. Bad governance, whether private sector or government, contributes directly to inefficiency and corruption. Every financial crisis that has hit our nation has had elements of inefficiency, greed and corruption in the final equation. An absence of integrity is not good for business, especially international business.

Corruption in Malaysia is alive and well as revealed in survey after survey. The latest to confirm this is a report released by the World Bank. The economic strength and prosperity of our nation must begin with confronting and resolving our internal structural weaknesses, of which corruption is a serious impediment to global competitiveness. We have to keep ourselves abreast of best international practices if there is to be a return of public confidence in the way we conduct our business affairs. We have to raise the ethical bar by putting ethics in the driving seat. The international punishment for breaches of business ethics meted out to a country perceived to be corrupt such as ours can be swift and damaging in real terms.

Ethical behaviour is no longer the luxury of the virtuous; it has become a business necessity. Malaysia's capacity to prosper must be predicated on the highest international ethical standards. The way forward for Malaysia is to embrace integrity and put it to good use in our fight for a place at the global top table of clean nations. Is the government up to the task? — mysinchew

Najib wants to recruit private sector talent for civil service

The Malaysian Insider
Sunday July 19 2009

By Adib Zalkapli

PUTRAJAYA, April 28 – Datuk Seri Najib Razak today proposed to open up key positions in the government to talent from the private sector and government-linked companies (GLCs) in an attempt to modernise the civil service.

He also admitted that there was a need for the government to justify the high expenses of RM41 billion to maintain the civil service last year.

“The time has come for key positions in the public sector to be opened to talents from the private sector and GLCs and from services other than the administrative and diplomatic service.

“We cannot be too dogmatic, we need selected talent, the best and tested for the benefit of the people,” said.

The proposal, said the prime minister, was part of structural changes to the civil service, which he called “multi-level admission system.”

“Under this concept, we would be able to benefit from ‘cross fertilisation’ process between talents from the civil service and private sector,” said Najib to thousands of civil servants at a special assembly here.

He asked the civil service to emulate the career development plan and head hunting process practiced by Petronas, PNB and Bank Negara in order to attract the best talent.

He also wanted civil servants to be seconded to GLCs for better exposure to the private sector.

In improving services, Najib wanted operational procedures to be revamped to ensure efficiency.

“Why should we operationally continue practising obsolete work processes, if it can be made faster. This thing can be done if there is a will, it is not impossible,” he said citing the passport application process which can now be completed within hours.

Najib also explained that forming new agencies or departments would not solve the problems facing the civil service.

“We need to control the size of government because the government doesn’t know everything or is in possession of every solution. The reality is, the era of big government and government knows best has ended,” he said.

Ku Li decries routine extension of service for top civil servants

The Malaysian Insider
Sunday July 19 2009;

By Leslie Lau

Consultant Editor

KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 – Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah criticised today the routine extension of service for top civil servants which he said creates cults of personality and promotes a cosy relationship between senior officers and their political masters.

“This politicises the leadership of a service that is supposed to promote by its own independent processes. Those extended become, in effect political appointees. This erodes the independence of the service as a whole.

“It is by an accumulation of bad practices like this that the independent ethos of the civil service has gradually been eroded by political masters who take the ‘master’ part rather too literally,” the Umno veteran wrote on his blog, today.

He said that the routine extension of service has resulted in a “log jam” all the way down the line. An extension for one person who ought to have retired, he said, was a “promotion freeze” for hundreds of others.

Extension of service is meant to be an extraordinary measure but is now in danger of becoming the norm, said the former finance minister.

“This is bad practice,” he said.

Sidek pledges re-engineering to cut graft, red tape

The Malaysian Insider; Sunday July 19 2009
By Leslie Lau

Consultant Editor

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 – Chief Secretary Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan says the answer to corruption and inefficiency in the civil service is to cut red tape and re-engineer the way contracts are awarded and payment for work is approved. He said the government would cut down the steps taken to award contracts or make payment, but the post-audit process would have to be tightened to catch corrupt and lazy officials.

“If you have a roadblock everyone has to slow down but if there are no roadblocks people can drive faster. Of course if I were lazy then I don’t have to work. So you have to catch it at the post-audit stage,” he told The Malaysian Insider in a recent interview at his office in Putrajaya.

Mohd Sidek, who has been chief secretary since 2006, was responding to questions about civil service graft and constant delays in the awarding of contracts and payments. Such delays have hampered government efforts to attract businesses and investments, as there have been cases where it could take up to a year from the time a letter of intent is signed until a contract is awarded. Responding to this, Mohd Sidek said the current practice of imposing a series of checks contributes to delays and is based on the notion that government officers cannot be trusted.

“But if you empower one person to check through the documents then it will be much faster. “And at the post-audit stage, if we find that person has been naughty then we will come down with 30,000 tonnes of bricks,” he said.

The chief secretary pointed out that when he took up his appointment in 2006, he received many complaints that payment for contracts was often not on time, even though the rule then was that contractors were to have been paid within 30 days of an invoice being received. “So I told my officers to shorten the period even further, to 14 days,” he said, pointing out that he did not increase his staff strength but instead made his officers work extra hours to clear the backlog.

Citing last month’s statistics, Mohd Sidek said that of the RM100 million in contracts handled by the prime minister’s department, 97% were paid out within seven days. But he acknowledged that it would take time to push through this re-engineering process to all ministries and government departments.

For now, the chief secretary’s office directly monitors the performance of all government departments and ministries. If any ministry is found to have failed to make the 14-day deadline, a directive is issued for the matter to be resolved within 24 hours. Mohd Sidek said that a dipstick survey conducted last year showed that the worst performing government departments were the various land offices and local councils.

He also refuted the perception that the civil service, at 1.2 million strong, was bloated and needed to be trimmed. The chief secretary pointed out that there were nearly 500,000 government school teachers, university lecturers and other staff involved in education. The health services has more than 200,000 civil servants. The police and armed forces also had approximately 100,000 personnel in each service.

“But the public is actually clamouring for smaller classrooms so that means we need to hire more teachers. There is also a shortage of doctors,” he said. Mohd Sidek said his focus now was not on the size of the civil service but to build a “culture of competence and perfection” among government servants.

6,337 complaints on govt agencies in first six months

KOTA BELUD, July 19 – The Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) received 6,337 complaints against the public sector agencies in the first six months of this year over dissatisfactory service delivery.

PCB director (Complaints) Aziz Ismail said of the figure, 4,281 cases or 67.6 per cent were resolved.

He said complaints over delays or inaction made up 31.5 per cent of the total, followed by poor service including at the counters or through the phone (18.4 per cent) and failure to enforce (10 per cent).

“Although not all the complaints were on delays in taking action to resolve problems, they nevertheless give negative public perception that the civil service is more of a bane than a boon.

“Therefore, public servants must give satisfactory service to the public as that is what the service is for in the first place,” he said when officiating at a programme on the Integrated Mobile Counter for Complaints organised by the PCB and Kota Belud District Office, here, today.

Sabah PCB director Georgie Abas and Kota Belud district officer Mohd Najib Muntok were also at the programme where 21 state and federal government agencies took part. Aziz said by going to the ground to meet the people, it was hoped that public service delivery could be enhanced as the community could directly forward complaints, pose queries or make suggestions to improve services.

“This programme is a people-friendly approach to also prove the government’s seriousness in providing efficient, quality service to the public towards improving their quality of life in line with the concept of ‘1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now’,” he said.

Aziz also urged the public not to make wild accusations that could tarnish the government’s image, but to use the right channels to forward their complaints or suggestions for the good of the nation. – Bernama

KPI theory sounds good but the devil is in the execution

Friday July 17, 2009 (fr the STARONLINE)

Psychology at Work - By Dr Goh Chee Leong

“KPIs” (key performance indicators) and “KRAs” (key result areas) are fast becoming a buzzword among Malaysian organisations, both private and public. It’s part of a trend that began 10-12 years ago, in line with the global push towards performance management systems as a means for accelerating growth and attaining organisational focus and discipline.

On the whole, I think this is a positive development – it’s a necessity, especially for larger organisations which may have outgrown more informal means of managing goals and resource allocation. The theory is good. Everyone in the organisation must be clear about what they are to achieve, every day, every week, every month, every quarter, every year. All strategic business units are clear on what their targets and goals are. Everything is aligned to the organisational key result areas. Neat, nice, clear and meaningful. The challenge though, is in the implementation. As most of us with management experience will know, the devil is in the execution. It’s easy (relatively) to map out the institutional KRAs and KPIs, but whether this leads to real organisational change (for the better) will depend on the following two things:

Do we have the guts to tie performance with reward and punishment ?

No performance management system will work unless it is directly tied to remuneration. When the system carries no bite, it holds no power. The causal relationship must be clear; if I achieve my goals (as captured in my KPIs) then I will be rewarded accordingly. If I fail to meet my goals, then I will not be rewarded. In fact I may even be punished by being dismissed or demoted.

Human beings more often than not are creatures of necessity. We do things when we have to. If performance doesn’t matter come bonus review or promotion time, then don’t expect anything to change. It takes guts to enforce such a system, especially in organisations that have not been accustomed to performance based rewards. Staff in these organisations may have become comfortable with a more subjective system of evaluation. Some are used to systems that emphasise patronage or systems that emphasise longevity over performance. There will be resistance. Some will leave. This is the cost of change management. No matter how well the process is managed and how well the message is communicated, there will always be those who are determined to resist a genuine, bona fide performance management system because they have all this while been getting away with contributing very little. To be fair, the goals and KPIs themselves need to be achievable and reasonable. It is bad practice when organisations purposely set targets that are out of reach, as they perpetuate the attitude that “it doesn’t matter anyway, because these targets are impossible.” Never set unreachable goals. Some organisations have two levels of targets: basic targets and stretch targets which are a little higher. Staff are rewarded when they meet their basic targets and are rewarded even more when they meet their stretch targets. I think this is a fair system; by providing two tiers it is reasonable and at the same time provides incentives for staff to over-perform.

Have we trained the line managers to run performance management systems?

Some performance management systems fail because no one below the middle management level has any clue as to what is really going on. In some organisations, the KPIs may be displayed all over the office (as part of ISO compliance) but when you talk to the individual staff, they have no idea how the goals will be measured or how their individual jobs are linked to the departmental KPIs. Similarly, there are many staff in many organisations who have no idea how they will be evaluated and appraised because their direct superiors do not manage the evaluation and appraisal process with any clarity.

I remember some executives telling me “I don’t think my boss even knows how to evaluate me; in fact, he gets me to fill up my own evaluation forms because he does not have the time.” This is symptomatic of a lack of buy in from the line managers who may see staff evaluations as an unimportant nuisance. Others comment that “my boss doesn’t provide any feedback; positive or negative during my evaluation meetings; so I have no idea whether he is happy with my performance or not.” This may be due to some managers fearing confrontation with staff and therefore, they avoid providing any critical feedback. A recent survey by a local consulting firm among 50 organisations in Kuala Lumpur indicated that less than 45% briefed their staff regularly on whether their department had met their KPIs. This should be of great concern. If staff don’t know whether they are hitting their targets or not, how can they calibrate their performance?

We must brief all our line managers and make it clear in no uncertain terms that the evaluation and appraisal process should be taken seriously and that all staff must be well aware of their KPIs and should be given regular feedback on whether they are achieving them. It helps when we have clear, hard targets, KPIs that are easy to quantify. Many supervisors struggle with evaluating soft targets. This of course, can be a work in progress.

When organisations introduce performance management systems, it is my recommendation that for the first few cycles, they start with the hard targets. It makes it easier for the organisation to get “comfortable” with a new system when it is neat, clean and clear. Over time, soft targets can be introduced and training and mentoring must accompany these to support the line managers in implementing them.

● Dr Goh Chee Leong is vice-president of HELP University College and a psychologist. We welcome feedback on this article. Please email to starbiz@thestar.com.my

PM Najib's 6 key areas for KPI

2009/07/11 derived from NST Online;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced six national key result areas (KRA) for more effective attainment of the targets of the key performance indicators (KPI).

He said these are :

1. crime prevention,

2. fighting of corruption,

3. widening access to quality and affordable education,

4. raising the living standard of the low-income people,

5. upgrading infrastructure in the rural and interior regions, and

6. improving public transportation in a moderate period of time.

Najib said these six areas will be given priority focus by himself, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Cabinet ministers and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan.

Tricky task of fine-tuning KPI's

Finally, after six weeks, the preliminary key performance indicators (KPIs) for the ministers are ready. What are they and will they actually help our ministers perform their duties better? ANIZA DAMIS speaks to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who is in charge of driving the ministers and their KPIs, and finds out that this is only the beginning

Q: Why is it that ministers are only having KPIs now? Does this mean the government had no focus?

A: That's not true. The government does have focus but it was done through the civil service. Every ministry has a mission statement, vision statement, objectives and, for each and every programme, they have a listing of what is to be achieved. Budgeting and implementing the budget is in itself a performance-management exercise. It's just that we have not used the methodology, KPIs and the balance-score card system in such a rigorous way. And we have not applied it to ministers and deputy ministers. For example, it used to take three weeks to get a new passport. And then, a year ago, you could get your passport within a day, and now you can get your passport within three hours. So, this is a very clear and obvious success of a KPI exercise.

Q: The ministers have submitted the preliminary KPIs to the prime minister. Have they done a good job of it?

A: This is only the first round. For many ministers, and even for me, there is a learning curve.
In the corporate world, the exercise of driving performance through KPIs usually takes a few cycles, around two to four years, to fine tune, to make sure the targets are correct. The KPIs make the targets very focused, very clear. But I think there's a sense of commitment. I was really impressed that every minister was dedicated to getting their preliminary KPIs done. It wasn't easy. There was concern over how to measure something that doesn't seem quantifiable. For example, take my own portfolio: How do you measure national unity? I'm still in the process of figuring it out. As a rough measure, we used to take what is called the index of inter-ethnic quarrels. Any quarrel between at least two individuals of different ethnic backgrounds may become a police case. So, we take that and track it. We look at how many quarrels there were, how serious they were and how they were resolved.

Q: So, what's your KPIs?

A: I just submitted what was being used as preliminary KPIs, the number of incidents that have been reported to and recorded by the police. I said this was all that we had (as a yardstick). But I have asked the Institute for Inter-Ethnic Relations of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, headed by Professor Shamsul Bahrin, and his researchers to help me find out whether there are already existing ones in other countries and new indices we can create to more effectively measure "national unity" and "social harmony". If we can come up with certain measures as an indicator, then we can come up with an implementation plan to enhance social harmony, national unity, inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony.

Q: Last year, the National Unity and Integration Department registered 364 demonstrations and street protests. Would you take a demonstration as a positive or negative indicator of unity?

A: That is debatable. In fact, I'm in the process of discussing this with my officers. If it's a peaceful gathering of 2,000 people at a town hall, they are very unhappy and demonstrating their anger, but if they sit down and discuss things, then that's positive, because there would be a fruitful exchange of ideas. But with street demonstrations, although some would say that's an avenue to vent their feelings, I would say that it would be less fruitful than a serious discussion, where there is real communication and dialogue. Whatever it is, we need to resolve the problem.

Q: If it takes a few cycles to fine-tune KPIs, how solid are these KPIs which were prepared in just six weeks?

A: Whatever that was submitted by the ministers are what we call preliminary KPIs. They are very preliminary, based on the KPIs for their own secretary-generals, but not solely based on them. The most important thing the minister has to look at is the impact and outcome for the people and public perception. That makes it challenging. We are trying to do something, that normally takes a very long time, in a very short span of time . Since my official appointment, I've been sleeping and eating KPIs. We have lunch meetings and dinner meetings. I have to do lots of reading and have discussions with people who have a lot of experience with KPIs.

Q: At what point will these preliminary KPIs translate to actual KPIs?

A: After the preliminaries, there will be a dialogue between my colleagues and I to fine-tune the KPIs with the help of experts. Then, the second round will be a discussion with the prime minister, to see whether the KPIs are realistic. Then, we will implement it. The prime minister has set another deadline in November, which is when they have the first assessment. After Nov-ember, we will be going into KPI Version 2.0.

Q: That means the first assessment in November is not going to be an assessment on the ministers, but rather it is an assessment on the effectiveness of the KPIs?

A: Yes. There is a wide range of quantitative and qualitative aspects of performance, and of a different nature, too, from ministry to ministry. The International Trade and Industry Ministry and the Domestic Trade Ministry, for instance, have more quantitative measures. But even then, you have to see what the relevant measures are. For example, if you take foreign direct investments as the absolute amount, how would you measure it? We must also have a relative measure, because in the context of a global economic crisis, you cannot expect Malaysia to have an increase in FDI when the whole global FDI is collapsing. So then, it has to be relative. This is what I mean by fine-tuning. The danger is, if you set your KPIs too high, you're going to be in trouble, because people will say, "You're boasting". You can be 100 per cent sure that there will be a shortfall and you'll end up punishing yourself. But if you set your KPIs too low, people will think it's ridiculous, because it doesn't make any difference. So, the setting of targets itself is extremely challenging.

Q: Besides setting a target for what is deemed to be a success, are ministries setting a target for what is deemed to be a failure?

A: I think there would a grading scale. For instance, if we set a target for getting a passport ready in three hours, would it be realistic to say that, if for some reason you deliver it within six hours instead, that it is a failure? No, I would still say that it is a success.

Q: How many hours would constitute failure?

A: That would depend on public perception. People want speed, but most are also reasonable. They ask for reasonable speed. If you tell people their documents will be ready the next day before 5pm, and you keep to that promise, they would be happy. But, for those who need their passports urgently, special efforts will be made to get the passports ready in time. If we set our target too unrealistically and invest in too many personnel, we can get the passport done in one hour, but then the law of diminishing returns would come in. For instance, if in the past it took three weeks and now it takes three days, that's a tremendous improvement. But, if it takes five times the resources to drive it to one day, then it may not be worth it. Because those resources are actually public resources, and could be used to drive other things. So, you have to have a very holistic view of the allocation of resources, and this is where some of us come in. Because, even if you have billions, it is still limited resources. So, part of it is setting expectations. People want speed, certainty and courtesy; that's the three most important factors in their perception of government service. We should drive our organisation so that it works to its maximum. But we should also not over-drive it so that it's humanly not possible.

Q: How are you going to measure public perception?

A: We would like our political leaders and civil servants to be sensitised, so that they can immediately detect public sentiments. They must be sensitive, yet positive to complaints. Secondly, we can conduct public opinion polls. Or we can even have certain devices for people to vote whether they are happy with the service of that particular officer. In some countries, there are certain buttons to push: green is for "very happy", amber is for "so-so", and red is for "very bad". We might adopt that for certain counter services. But this would only come in later, after we have assessed the situation.

Q: What are the KPIs for the home minister?

A: Each minister will probably have a few KPIs. But we would like the minister to identify what he thinks are the most important and relevant KPIs to the people. That can only be arrived at through the experience and acumen of the minister as a political leader and the head of the ministry; but more importantly, through some kind of feedback from our clients.

Q: At what are the KPIs targeted? Is it the satisfaction of the people or the well-running of the government and nation?

A: They are inter-related. There are KPIs that can be objectively measured -- in the delivery of certain services. But then there's also the qualitative aspect, which is perception and sentiment, which may not be completely related and determined by the objective and quantitative measure. For instance, I can give you your passport within a day. But if I give it to you with a sour face and with certain negative remarks, you're going to be very angry. Today, through technology, we will get much more feedback than 10 years ago. That in itself is a monitoring process and wake-up call. It's already there. And the final analysis is how people will vote.

Q: Keeping voters happy does not necessarily mean that the government is being run properly.

A: Yes. That's why we need objective measures.

You can be a populist and make people very happy over a period of time, and yet, misuse and abuse your resources. Or doing things that are not right, and yet keep people happy. For example, a very easy thing to do it is to give people money. Or to give a waiver on fines and summons; people can do what they like. But is it fair for other members of the public, if people park indiscriminately and they are not given a traffic summons? That's why we need objective measures.

Q: What is the role of Khazanah in all this?

A: Khazanah plays a very supportive role. But it's not Khazanah alone. We have within the civil service today the PSD (Public Service Department), Mampu (Malay-sian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit) and ICU (Implementation Coordination Unit). We are talking to everybody, because we would like to have a cross-fertilisation between the public and private sectors and what better group to turn to for experience?
Khazanah and Malaysia Airlines used KPIs to turn the airline around.
But I have not exhausted all the possibilities. I have yet to have a very deep conversation with Pemudah (task force to address bureaucracy issues in business-government dealings), for instance, which is a fine example of how you can get the public and private sector to work together to drive delivery.

Q: How much of the KPIs are the public going to be privy to?

A: We would like to have KPIs that are relevant, that have a direct impact and outcome on the people. There are many KPIs that are related to procedural, technical aspects, which even if you explained to the public, they won't be interested.

Q: Is a minister's performance going to be made public?

A: The public is going to be making their assessment anyway, with or without disclosure. But there are bound to be some headline KPIs. For example, if the Immigration Department had announced three years ago, before they embarked on this exercise of reducing the time it takes to make a passport, that would have been a very publicly-known, trackable KPI.

Q: KPIs are supposed to make ministers more answerable than in the past. But, like the report card system previously, no one knows what the report card reads. Surely we shouldn't have to wait five years for the elections?

A: We will make the KPIs public in less than a year. In fact, many of the KPIs will be determined by the public. For instance, the public will say it wants the crime rate to be reduced. So, what's the measure? What category of crimes are we talking about?

Q: How will you assure the people that their opinion matters outside of election time?

A: We can assure them, because the prime minister has repeatedly talked about it, we are driving it and within 30 days, we were even able to come up with the preliminary KPIs, when it would normally have taken half a year.

Q: If the public doesn't know what the preliminary KPIs are, how are they going to know whether six weeks' work is any good at all?

A: It will be judged by our final delivery. People will not want to wait for too long. So, we are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves.

Q: Everything I've heard so far are just promises. You are promising that you want to improve something. But you haven't told me what you want to improve, how it's going to be improved, and how I am supposed to know whether it's improved.

A: We would like you to tell us the five most important things that you would like us to improve.

Q: If the people want to give their feedback, how can they do that?

A: They can do that through the media.

Q: Is there a more formal channel?

A: We can do that through every ministry, if the matter is ministry-specific. They can write to the prime minister's 1Malaysia blog; they can write to me. And many of us are going to the ground, going on walkabouts.

Q: Is the feedback going to be collated properly?

A: We are setting up a system. Every ministry also has its own public clients' charter, and service information unit. We also have the Public Complaints Bureau. I can only start gauging things when we are in the thick of it. With the kind of commitment I see from the prime minister and my colleagues, the awareness, the consciousness and commitment, there will be a marked improvement in the next one to two years.

Q: Do your brother and sister ministers know what their goals are?

A: They know what the broader objectives are for their ministry. They know the programmes and the projects. But now what we are trying to do is to actually give a methodology for them to set a target within a timeframe. A target that, preferably, would be measurable and trackable and a methodology of implementation and a way of measuring it daily or weekly so that we stay focused. Every one of them is trying his best. But trying our best is not good enough. We must try our best within a certain framework, guidelines and methodology that have proven to be effective in corporate companies and even in governments. We want goals that the public can benefit from so that they can feel there is a difference. Part of driving KPIs is to look at the whole mechanism. It's not just tinkling with changes and procedure. It may involve changing the procedure itself! We are asking every minister to drive his own KPI exercise. I am only serving as a promoter and facilitator.

Q: Does every ministry have a specific section in its ministry or website that allows the public to send feedback?

A: Hopefully, within six months or so, every ministry will have a website that is interactive, that will be able to take more comments.

Q: When the exercise actually starts, what do you see your role as being?

A: The exercise has already started. I have to try to deliver this framework and guidelines, as well as supporting staff in order to drive other ministries. We will set up a new unit called Pemandu (Performance Management and Delivery Unit) which will draw upon existing units from Mampu, ICU, PSD, EPU, as well as Khazanah, to have a more focused group to support each minister and ministry in their drive. The whole KPI exercise is actually to get everybody focused and to get them to do a lot of things in their own area of responsibility, to contribute towards that goal.

Najib umum pembaharuan...bakat swasta boleh dilantik ke perkhidmatan awam

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Mohd Najib hari Selasa mencadangkan pembaharuan sektor perkhidmatan awam dengan memperkenalkan dasar terbuka dengan membenarkan jawatan-jawatan utama sektor itu dibuka kepada bakat-bakat daripada sektor swasta. Malah katanya, jawatan utama kerajaan juga harus dibuka kepada pegawai-pegawai perkhidmatan lain dan bukan hanya daripada Perkhidmatan Tadbir Diplomatik (PTD). 

“Dari segi pembaharuan structural, pertamanya saya ingin mencadangkan kaedah sistem kemasukan pelbagai peringkat’ ke dalam perkhidmatan awam. Di bawah konsep ini kita akan dapat memanfaatkan proses cross fertilization di antara bakat-bakat sektor awam dan sektor swasta,” katanya semasa berucap pada Majlis Perdana Perkhidmatan Awam Ke-10 di Putrajaya. Selain cadangan tersebut, Najib turut mengutarakan gagasan agar pegawai-pegawai awam boleh dipinjamkan ke syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC) dan pegawai GLC dipinjamkan ke sektor awam. 

"Dengan cara ini pegawai perkhidmatan awam boleh didedahkan kepada keperluan sektor swasta yang merupakan peneraju utama pertumbuhan negara," ujarnya. Beliau turut mahukan perkhidmatan awam mempunyai pelan pembangunan dan pencarian bakat kerana pengenalpastian bakat yang mantap akan menjadikan sesebuah organisasi hebat. 

Sistem tersebut kini dilaksanakan oleh PETRONAS, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) dan Bank Negara. 

Dalam ucapannya juga menggariskan empat anjakan dalam proses modenisasi paradigma perkhidmatan awam agar sektor tersebut sesuai dengan pencapaian kejayaan pada alaf baru. 

“Apa yang saya maksudkan dengan anjakan paradigma adalah pertamanya anjakan dariapda ketegaran kepada keanjalan. Anggota perkhidmatan awam seharusnya menyedari bahawa kerajaan tiak mencipta kekayaan. 

“Peranan ini dimainkan oleh sektor swasta yang mencipta kekayaan, dari kekayaan yang dicipta pihak swasta, kerajaan mempunyai saham yang dikutip di dalam bentuk cukai,” jelasnya. 

Anjakan kedua katanya, ialah beralih dariapda budaya ‘output’ dan perbelanjaan atau kesan nyata semata-mata kepada mementingkan aspek ‘outcome’ atau dampak keberhasilan secara holistik. 

Ketiganya, beliau mahu anjakan dibuat dariapda birokrasi yang menyukarkan kepaa birokrasi yang memudahkan. 

Manakala keempat pula ialah anjakan dariapda produktiviti samata-mata kepada gabungan produktiviti, kreativiti dan inovasi. Dalam ucapan sulungnya bertemu dengan pegawai-pegawai kanan perkhidmatan awam tersebut, Najib menegaskan usaha modernisasi perkhidamtan awam bukanlah usaha yang “hangat-hangat tahi ayam”. 

“Saya tidak mahu mengambil sikap hangat-hangat tahi ayam di dalam usaha pembaharuan ini. Saya mahu mengatakan kepada anggota perkhidmatan awam bahawa apa yang saya katakana hari ini, apa yang saya janjikan hari ini. akan berkesinambungan dengan tindakan susulan. “Selepas ini kita tidak mahu sekadar memanterakan slogan yang muluk-muluk tetapi kosong. Apa yang mustahak, kerja mesti dijalankan,” kata beliau. Najib juga mengingatkan kewujudan perkhidmatan awam adalah untuk berkhidmat kepada rakyat. 

“Ini kerana sebab musabab kepaa kewujudan perkhidmatan awam itu sendiri adalah untuk mengkhidmati rakyat. Kepuasan hati rakyat adalah tanda aras utama kejayaan sektor awam. “Bertoalk dari situ, pada hemat saya juga, jika kita benar-benar ingin berkhidmat untuk rakyat, kita perlu mengetahui rintihan massa. Kita eprlu fahami setiap masalah, kekangan dan kesulitan yang dihadapi oleh rakyat, barulah kita mampu untuk mengambil langkah-langkah sewajarnya bagi mengatasi masalah,” tambah beliau. – 28/4/2009

Ucapan penuh Datuk Seri Mohd Najib pada Majlis Perdana Perkhidmatan Awam : 

TEKS UCAPAN

Y.A.B. DATO’ SRI HJ. MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK

PERDANA MENTERI MALAYSIA

DI MAJLIS PERDANA PERKHIDMATAN AWAM KESEPULUH (MAPPA X)

PADA 28 APRIL 2009 (SELASA), JAM 9.30 PAGI

DI PUSAT KONVENSYEN ANTARABANGSA PUTRAJAYA

TEMA :

SATU MALAYSIA:

RAKYAT DIDAHULUKAN, PENCAPAIAN DIUTAMAKAN

Bismillahirahmanirrahim

Assalammualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh dan salam sejahtera.

Y.A.B. Tan Sri Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin,

Timbalan Perdana Menteri Malaysia,

Y.B. Menteri-Menteri, Timbalan-timbalan Menteri,

Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Mohd Sidek bin Hj. Hassan,

Ketua Setiausaha Negara,

Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Ismail Adam,

Ketua Pengarah Perkhidmatan Awam,

Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Bin Wan Abdullah

Ketua Setiausaha Perbendaharaan,

Y.Bhg. Tan Sri-Tan Sri, Dato’ Seri-Dato’ Seri,Dato’-Dato’, Datin- Datin, Dif-dif Kehormat,

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan para hadirin yang saya hormati sekalian,

1. Alhamdulillah, saya mengucapkan rasa syukur setingginya ke hadrat Allah SWT kerana dengan izin dan kurnia-Nya jua satu proses peralihan kuasa yang tertib, licin dan sempurna telah berlangsung pada 3hb April yang lalu. Terima kasih yang tidak terhingga saya rakamkan kepada YABhg Tun Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi yang telah memungkinkan peralihan tersebut berjalan dengan begitu baik. Justeru, saya berasa amat sukacita kerana inilah julung kali saya bertemu dengan tuan-tuan dan puan-puan dalam Majlis Amanat Perdana Perkhidmatan Awam (MAPPA) kali ke sepuluh atas kapasiti sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia yang baru.

2. Saya majukan ucapan terima kasih kepada Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Mohd. Sidek Hj. Hassan, Ketua Setiausaha Negara dan juga kepada Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Ismail Adam selaku Ketua Pengarah Perkhidmatan Awam dan juga kepada Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara (INTAN) atas perencanaan dan pengaturan majlis ini bagi saya menyampaikan gagasan, hasrat dan harapan secara langsung kepada tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian.

3. Kehadiran tuan-tuan dan puan-puan dari seluruh pelosok negara menjadi manifestasi komitmen dan iltizam tuan-tuan dan puan-puan kepada perkhidmatan awam yang telah lebih lima dekad menjadi tunjang dan nadi kepada pembangunan negara. Sungguhpun inilah kali pertama saya bercakap sebagai ketua kerajaan, hakikatnya saya telah lama kenal sebilangan besar tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sepanjang perjalanan kepimpinan dan politik, lebih 33 tahun.

4. Mengimbau sejarah, kira-kira empat puluh tahun yang lalu, Allahyarham ayahanda saya telah diamanahkan sebagai Pengarah MAGERAN. Pada saat dan ketika itu, perpaduan kaum ibarat retak seribu dan rakyat Malaysia sudah hampir hilang harapan. Selaku Pengarah MAGERAN, ayahanda saya telah berjaya memulihkan demokrasi serta harapan rakyat Malaysia dengan dibantu oleh anggota perkhidmatan awam yang amat berintegriti, berkebolehan, berwibawa dan berdedikasi. Pendek kata, ramai daripada pendahulu-pendahulu tuan-tuan dan puan-puan adalah mereka yang berada di barisan hadapan dan sangat instrumental dalam usaha memulihkan negara pasca episod hitam 13 Mei 1969.

5. Sekali air bah sekali pantai berubah. Salah satu hakikat zaman adalah perubahan; Untuk maju manusia perlu sentiasa berada di hadapan keluk perubahan manakala untuk kekal di hadapan manusia perlu menerajui perubahan, sebaliknya jika hanya bernostalgia dengan sejarah kejayaan lampau tanpa gigih mencari kejayaan-kejayaan baru akan menyebabkan gejala jumud dan beku membudaya. Oleh itu setiap generasi penjawat awam perlu membuktikan kerelevanan mereka kepada rakyat dengan mencipta semula peranan mereka sesuai dengan masa. Melalui kaedah ini barulah mereka boleh memainkan peranan secara berkesan sebagai pemelihara kepentingan awam.

6. Satu ketika dahulu penjawat awam Malaysia mempunyai reputasi yang amat cemerlang bukan sahaja di kalangan rakyat tempatan tetapi juga di peringkat rantau dan antarabangsa. Bukan maksud saya untuk mengatakan bahawa perkhidmatan awam Malaysia hari ini tidak secemerlang dahulu kerana telah terbukti bahawa perkhidmatan awam Malaysia telah memainkan peranan yang pro-aktif di dalam proses transformasi negara dari sebuah negara pertanian kepada sebuah negara perindustrian. Namun kayu ukur dan tanda aras hari ini telah berubah akibat proses globalisasi, ledakan maklumat dan peningkatan taraf sosio ekonomi rakyat. Sesungguhnya penambahbaikan yang ingin saya lakukan adalah satu kesinambungan kepada transformasi berterusan sektor awam yang telah dimulakan sejak lama dahulu.

PENJAWAT AWAM : DALAM KONTEKS MENDEPANI CABARAN EKONOMI

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

7. Hakikatnya, hari ini kita berhadapan dengan dua cabaran monumental. Pertamanya cabaran jangka pendek dan keduanya cabaran jangka panjang. Di bawah cabaran jangka pendek ini terdapat tiga cabaran berkaitan. Cabaran jangka pendek pertama ialah untuk memastikan negara akan mengalami impak yang seminima mungkin kesan kegawatan kewangan dan ekonomi global yang sedang berlaku. Cabaran jangka pendek kedua ialah untuk keluar dari kemelut ekonomi dan kewangan yang ada, dengan kadar paling pantas. Cabaran jangka pendek ketiga ialah untuk membantu rakyat Malaysia bagi menangani keperitan hidup yang dialami.

8. Manakala cabaran jangka panjang pula ialah untuk melakukan pembaharuan dan perubahan struktural kepada ekonomi Malaysia berasaskan kepada satu model yang baru berteraskan kreativiti dan innovasi. Di bawah model baru ekonomi ini kerajaan akan membangunkan sektor perkhidmatan bagi menjadi peneraju pertumbuhan dan pembentukan kekayaan baru pada masa yang sama menggalakkan sektor pembuatan untuk bergerak ke rantaian nilai yang lebih tinggi.

9. Langkah-langkah ini diharapkan agar dapat menyelesaikan secara tuntas kemelut yang dialami negara selama ini dari segi ekonomi iaitu “of being neither here nor there” yakni, sementara kita bukan lagi boleh dianggap sebagai pusat sektor pengeluaran berkos rendah, kita juga belum berupaya melonjakkan negara ke peringkat lebih tinggi dalam rantaian nilai sektor yang sama.

10. Model baru ekonomi ini juga diharapkan akan menjadi pemangkin kepada Malaysia untuk meningkatkan statusnya dari sebuah negara “upper middle income” kepada negara “high income” dan dalam masa terdekat meletakkan kita kembali di landasan yang betul bagi merealisasikan Wawasan 2020 untuk menjadi sebuah negara maju.

11. Saya yakin dan percaya bahawa sektor perkhidmatan awam akan terus mampu memainkan peranan bagi menangani cabaran-cabaran ini kerana sejarah telah membuktikan bahawa tuan-tuan dan puan-puan telah berjaya membantu dalam proses transformasi Malaysia daripada sebuah negara pertanian berubah menjadi sebuah negara perindustrian moden sehingga Malaysia muncul di kalangan 20 negara perdagangan terbesar di dunia.

SATU MALAYSIA

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

12. Apabila saya mengambil alih kepimpinan negara, saya telah mengutarakan konsep Satu Malaysia, rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan. Konsep ini bukanlah sesuatu yang baru. Ia sebenarnya adalah kesinambungan kepada apa yang diperjuangkan semenjak Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman. Selama ini pun, Malaysia berjaya kerana kita menjadikan kemajmukan rakyat yang ada sebagai sumber kekuatan walaupun kita telah menyaksikan banyak negara didunia telah hancur dek faktor kemajmukan. Malah kita juga telah merasai sedikit sebanyak bagaimana kemajmukan yang tidak diurus dengan betul telah hampir meranapkan negara seperti mana yang telah dialami semasa tragedi 13 Mei.

13. Maka yang demikian, suka atau tidak suka, kita mesti mengakui kemajmukan yang wujud adalah realiti yang harus di terima. Inilah merupakan teras kepada konsep Satu Malaysia, mengakui realiti yang ada dan menjadikannya sebagai platform untuk mencapai kejayaan demi kejayaan. Konsep ini tidak sekali-kali lari daripada apa yang telah dimaktub dan dimuafakatkan melalui undang-undang tertinggi negara iaitu Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan prinsip prinsip Rukun Negara.

14. Di bawah Konsep Satu Malaysia ini setiap rakyat Malaysia yang berkelayakan dan memerlukan bantuan serta pertolongan akan kita bantu. Tidak akan ada mana-mana pihak yang akan dicicirkan. Sesungguhnya lagi janganlah mana-mana pihak menganggap mereka adalah warganegara kelas dua di negara tercinta ini, kerana setiap anak Malaysia adalah potensi modal insan yang penting kepada negara, setiap mereka perlu dimanfaatkan sebaiknya.

15. Ketahuilah, setiap warganegara mempunyai hak dan tanggungjawab masing-masing sepertimana yang telah digariskan oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kewarganegaraan bukan sahaja menggariskan hak tetapi juga menuntut tanggungjawab. Janganlah mana-mana pihak terlalu taksub terhadap tuntutan hak dan melupakan tanggungjawab mereka sebagai warganegara.

16. Di bawah Konsep Satu Malaysia kita perlu memastikan tiada rakyat Malaysia yang terpinggir daripada mendapat perhatian kerajaan. Bagi kerajaan, meritokrasi bukan bermakna kesaksamaan yang membuta. Malah kesaksamaan bermaksud meletakkan sesuatu pada tempatnya yang hak. Dari itu, seorang anak yang datang dari keluarga miskin tidak kira dari bandar atau luar bandar walau dari etnik manapun, tetapi ternyata mempunyai potensi sememangnya berhak mendapat bantuan kerajaan berbanding anak-anak golongan berada yang sudah tentu mempunyai peluang pendidikan yang terbaik.

17. Maknanya, kita boleh menawarkan akses pemula dengan menyediakan datar permainan yang adil tetapi kita sebagai kerajaan tidak berkemampuan memastikan ‘outcome’ yang sama. Dalam kata lain, kerajaan tidak boleh memainkan peranan ibubapa, keluarga atau masyarakat setempat, kerajaan juga bukanlah galang yang boleh mengganti kehendak, kemahuan, usaha serta iltizam seorang pelajar atau peniaga juga usahawan untuk berjaya. Apa yang kerajaan boleh buat seperti yang saya katakan tadi, adalah menyediakan garis permulaan yang adil. Pendek kata, antara prinsip-prinsip utama yang mendasari Satu Malaysia adalah kebersamaan (togetherness) dan kekitaan (sense of belonging) dalam satu keluarga besar.

PENJAWAT AWAM : DALAM KONTEKS MENDEPANI CABARAN PENTADBIRAN

MODENISASI SEKTOR AWAM

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

18. Bagi menjayakan segala perubahan yang diperlukan negara dalam perjalanan kita untuk memastikan Malaysia terus aman, maju dan makmur pada abad ke-21, kita memerlukan sebuah persekitaran yang kondusif untuk semua rakyat Malaysia mengoptimakan potensi mereka. Di sini peranan sebuah perkhidmatan awam yang cekap, berkesan, responsif, luwes dan berani berubah adalah amat mustahak. Saya amat gembira kerana dalam melaksanakan inisiatif modernisasi ini saya telah mendapat sokongan dan kerjasama padu daripada barisan kepimpinan tertinggi perkhidmatan awam, khususnya Ketua Setiausaha Negara, Ketua Pengarah Perkhidmatan Awam dan Ketua Setiausaha Perbendaharaan. Sesungguhnya pembaharuan yang akan dilakukan ini bukanlah bersifat ‘top down’ tetapi sebaliknya melibatkan gabungjalin semua segmen perkhidmatan awam bermula dengan pimpinan atasan.

19. Usaha ini memerlukan proses modenisasi menyeluruh yang melibatkan bukan sahaja modenisasi paradigma tetapi juga struktural. Kita memerlukan perkhidmatan awam yang sesuai dengan pencapaian kejayaan pada alaf baru ini. Apa yang saya maksudkan dengan anjakan paradigma adalah pertamanya anjakan daripada ketegaran kepada keanjalan. Anggota perkhidmatan awam seharusnya menyedari bahawa kerajaan tidak mencipta kekayaan. Peranan ini dimainkan oleh sektor swasta yang mencipta kekayaan, dari kekayaan yang dicipta pihak swasta, kerajaan mempunyai saham yang dikutip di dalam bentuk cukai korporat. Hasil ini seterusnya digunakan bagi membangunkan negara dan untuk membayar gaji kakitangan awam.

20. Keanjalan ini penting bagi menghadapi cabaran untuk berjaya di dalam ekonomi baru yang ditandai oleh proses globalisasi. Kita harus mengubah kerangka minda, strategi dan kaedah bekerja jika kita ingin memanfaatkan fenomena yang ada. Sesungguhnya “extraordinary times requires extraordinary measures”. Sektor awam perlu menjadi pemudah cara kepada penciptaan kekayaan tanpa mengenepikan peranan mereka sebagai pemelihara kepentingan awam. Penjawat awam sekali-kali tidak boleh menjadi penghindar proses penciptaan kekayaan ini kerana jika mereka berbuat demikian, yang akan rugi pada analisa akhirnya adalah rakyat.

21. Anjakan paradigma kedua ialah beralih daripada budaya output dan perbelanjaan atau kesan nyata semata-mata kepada mementingkan aspek outcome atau dampak keberhasilan secara holistik. Perkhidmatan awam harus menganjak paradigma daripada menilai kejayaan yang berasaskan ‘output’ kepada kejayaan yang berasaskan ‘outcome’. Misalnya dalam bidang pelajaran, bukan sahaja jumlah sekolah atau makmal yang mencukupi harus diberi penekanan tetapi perhatian yang utama harus diberikan kepada soal kejayaan menyeluruh termasuk kebajikan dan moral pelajar. Begitu juga dalam hal menangani gejala penagihan najis dadah, perhitungan kita bukan hanya berapa kepada berapa banyak pusat serenti yang mampu dibina, akan tetapi berapa ramai penagih yang berjaya kita pulihkan. Contoh lain pula ialah penekanan kita bukan pada bilangan mesyuarat yang diadakan atau kekerapan lawatan ke luar negeri tetapi kepada apakah hasil yang tercapai daripada mesyuarat dan lawatan yang telah dibuat.

22. Anjakan paradigma ketiga adalah anjakan daripada birokrasi yang menyukarkan kepada birokrasi yang memudah cara dan menyenangkan rakyat. Kita memperakui sistem birokrasi yang ada di Malaysia telah membawa pembangunan ke seluruh penjuru negara sejak lima puluh tahun yang lalu, namun hari ini terdapat tanggapan bahawa pentadbiran awam berada di belakang keluk perubahan negara mahupun global. Jika diteliti perbelanjaan emolumen untuk pembiayaan sektor awam ianya terus meningkat saban tahun. Hakikatnya kerajaan membelanjakan satu perempat daripada perbelanjaan pengurusan setiap tahun untuk emolumen sektor awam. Pada tahun 2007 kerajaan telah mengumumkan kenaikan gaji asas kakitangan awam dari 7.5 peratus sehingga 35 peratus. Dari segi peruntukan, kerajaan telah pun membelanjakan jumlah yang besar untuk membiayai emolumen sektor awam pada tahun 2006 dengan sejumlah RM 28 billion untuk tujuan ini. Angka ini telah meningkat kepadaRM 32 billion pada tahun 2007 dan kepada RM 41 billion pada tahun 2008. Persoalannya, dibenak rakyat tertanya-tanya, adakah perbelanjaan ini berbaloi. “Are the rakyat getting value for their tax dollars?”.

23. Lantas, untuk melakukan proses anjakan dan pembaharuan, kita memerlukan sektor awam yang bukan sahaja memahami realiti semasa tetapi mempunyai kemahuan dan berani membuat perubahan. “We do not need mere seat warmers, we need actual doers”. Di sudut yang lain pula, kenapa kita harus secara operasionalnya terus-terusan mengamal tatacara kerja yang usang, menyulitkan lagi melambatkan jikalau ia dapat dilaksanakan atau disiapkan dalam masa yang cepat. Perkara ini boleh dilaksanakan jika ada kemahuan, usaha dan tekad, ia tidak mustahil. Suatu masa dahulu untuk membuat atau memperbaharui pasport antarabangsa baru mengambil jangka masa yang panjang namun kini ianya boleh disiapkan dalam masa beberapa jam sahaja.

24. Dalam konteks ini juga, salah satu perkara yang sentiasa menjadi rungutan orang ramai ialah khidmat kaunter yang lambat. Rakyat mengeluh kerana walaupun jumlah kaunter dilihat begitu banyak namun kebanyakan waktu jumlah kaunter yang dibuka pada waktu puncak tidak pada jumlah yang optima yang dapat menangani jumlah pelanggan. Begitu juga jika rakyat menelefon jabatan-jabatan kerajaan pegawai atau kakitangan tidak menjawab atau jikapun mereka menjawab mereka mengatakan tidak tahu. Walaupun bukan semua yang terbabit akan tetapi hal ini telah menyebabkan tanggapan buruk rakyat terhadap perkhidmatan awam sebagai penyusah bukannya sebagai pemudah cara. Justeru kenapa masih memegang teguh kepada birokrasi yang menyusahkan, beranjaklah kepada birokrasi yang bersifat memudah cara. Saya lihat, salah satu langkah terbaik ialah Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri dengan kaedah e-filingnya yang merupakan pendekatan yang memudahkan penuh kreativiti dan innovasi.

25. Anjakan paradigma yang keempat pula daripada produktiviti semata-mata kepada gabungan produktiviti, kreativiti dan innovasi. Kalau selama ini kita mengukur pencapaian dari segi produktiviti, hari ini ukuran ini perlu ditambah baik melalui kreativiti dan innovasi. Ukuran produktiviti secara konvensional hanya memberikan kita penambahbaikan secara bertokok (incremental), manakala jika digabungkan produktiviti dengan kreativiti dan inovasi, ia akan memberikan kita penambahbaikan secara anjakan berganda (quantum leap).

26. Jelasnya, produktiviti yang digabungkan bersama kreativiti dan innovasi mampu melonjakkan kecekapan dan keberkesanan perkhidmatan awam Malaysia. Tanggapan bahawa setiap masalah boleh diselesaikan dengan menubuhkan jabatan/agensi baru atau menambah kakitangan adalah pandangan yang tidak tepat. Dengan kemajuan teknologi maklumat produktiviti setiap pegawai dan kakitangan boleh dioptimakan. Kita perlu mengawal saiz kerajaan kerana kerajaan tidak tahu semuanya atau mempunyai penyelesaian kepada setiap permasalahan. Realitinya, era kerajaan besar dan kerajaan mengetahui segalanya sudah berakhir.

27. Semua jabatan dan agensi kerajaan harus memaksimumkan aplikasi kreativiti dan inovasi ini. Matlamat utamanya adalah untuk meningkatkan kepuasan hati klien sektor awam yang utama iaitu rakyat. Idea-idea baru tidak harus dilihat dengan penuh syak wasangka atau dibakulsampahkan hanya semata-mata ianya tidak konvensional. Untuk menjadikan perkhidmatan awam Malaysia sebagai tanda aras kecemerlangan peringkat global maka budaya pemikiran diluar kotak kebiasaan perlu menjadi norma harian dan rutin bukannya kepelikkan. Barulah nanti wujud persekitaran kerja yang dinamik lagi bertenaga dan berdaya saing.

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

28. Dari segi pembaharuan struktural, pertamanya saya ingin mencadangkan kaedah ‘sistem kemasukan pelbagai peringkat’ ke dalam perkhidmatan awam. Di bawah konsep ini kita akan akan dapat memanfaatkan proses ‘cross fertilization’ di antara bakat-bakat sektor awam dan sektor swasta. Sudah tiba masanya kini jawatan-jawatan utama sektor awam dibuka kepada bakat-bakat daripada sektor swasta dan dari perkhidmatan selain perkhidmatan tadbir dan diplomatik. Kita tidak boleh lagi terlalu dogmatik, kita perlu mendapatkan bakat yang terpilih, terbaik dan tersaring demi kepentingan rakyat.

29. Keduanya saya juga mencadangkan satu dasar pintu terbuka di mana pegawai-pegawai perkhidmatan awam boleh dipinjamkan ke syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC) dan pegawai GLC dipinjamkan pula ke perkhidmatan awam untuk saling menimba pengalaman. Dengan cara ini pegawai perkhidmatan awam boleh didedahkan kepada keperluan sektor swasta yang merupakan peneraju utama pertumbuhan negara.

30. Oleh itu ketiganya bagi mendapatkan bakat yang terbaik, perkhidmatan awam perlu mencontohi pelan pembangunan kerjaya dan pencarian bakat yang diamalkan seperti Petronas, Permodalan Nasional Berhad dan Bank Negara yang mempunyai sistem pengenalpastian bakat yang mantap serta telah menjadikan mereka organisasi yang hebat. Kita akan menghantar yang terbaik dikalangan penjawat awam untuk menimba ilmu di beberapa institusi tersohor di dunia seperti Kennedy School of Government, di Universiti Harvard, dan Wharton Business School di Universiti Pennsylvania.

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

PENCAPAIAN DIUTAMAKAN

31. Dalam menterjemahkan aspirasi ini, saya komited bagi memastikan perkhidmatan awam Malaysia akan dianggotai anak-anak Malaysia yang terbaik. Saya mencabar generasi muda yang hari ini mengkritik sektor awam untuk bersama-sama kita menambah baik sistem dari dalam. Marilah bersama menyertai perkhidmatan awam, mempersembah kudrat dan pemikiran saudara saudari demi pertiwi. Kita sedar buat masa ini kita tidak boleh menandingi kelumayanan yang ditawarkan oleh sektor swasta kepada saudara saudari tetapi apa yang kita boleh tawarkan adalah rasa kepuasan berkhidmat demi rakyat dan negara. Walau apapun, kita sedang berusaha untuk menyemak dan menambahbaik skim-skim perkhidmatan yang kritikal agar pengorbanan saudara dan saudari dihargai.

32. Di atas segalanya, saya amat maklum bahawa mengurus sebuah negara yang kompleks seperti Malaysia memerlukan kerjasama semua pihak. Paling utama harus ada kesefahaman diantara anggota pentadbiran sebagai pengubal dasar dan anggota perkhidmatan awam sebagai jentera pelaksana dasar. Ini kerana, sebaik manapun dasar yang telah digubal tanpa mekanisma pelaksanaan yang cekap maka matlamat dasar tidak akan mampu direalisasikan.

33. Lantaran itu, baru-baru ini, semasa mengumumkan anggota kabinet, saya telah menggariskan jangkaan terhadap pencapaian mereka. Saya telah mengamanahkan mereka untuk bekerja tanpa mengenal penat lelah bagi kepentingan rakyat. Sehubungan itu saya turut mengumumkan satu sistem petunjuk utama prestasi (KPI) yang akan dirangka bagi mengukur pencapaian mereka.

34. Namun, semboyan berkhidmat ini tidak terhenti setakat para anggota kabinet, anggota perkhidmatan awam adalah merupakan rakan kongsi utama kepada anggota pentadbiran untuk menunaikan komitmen kita kepada rakyat Malaysia dalam memberikan khidmat yang terbaik. Justeru, saya berdiri di sini pada hari ini, bagi mengulangi seruan kepada tuan-tuan dan puan-puan agar menumpah khidmat kepada rakyat dengan sepenuhnya.

35. Saya yakin dan percaya dengan pelaksanaan sistem pengurusan yang berteraskan pengiktirafan perkongsian antara anggota pentadbiran dan penjawat awam merupakan satu-satunya jalan untuk kita menempa kejayaan pembaharuan yang besar. Perubahan tidak datang hanya dengan pengumuman atau berucap mengenainya. Ia terhasil daripada dedikasi dan kerja keras sepasukan manusia yang diikat oleh apa yang disebut dalam istilah bahasa Arab sebagai wa’ad dan bai’ah yakni satu tautan persetiaan dan perkongsian komitmen yang padu antara penjawat awam dan pentadbiran.

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

36. Kepimpinan tidak akan bermakna jika ia tidak berpaksikan kepada pencapaian. Bila rakyat menilai kepimpinan sektor awam dan politik, apa yang ingin diukur oleh mereka ialah pencapaian. Kepimpinan berteraskan pencapaian adalah kemuncak penilaian kepada kepimpinan. Sebab itulah saya telah merangka KPI kerana piawai kepada pencapaian itu perlu ada. Ini akan membolehkan perkhidmatan awam dinilai secara holistik merangkumi penilaian kuantitatif dan kualitatif. KPI ini bukan alat atau kaedah untuk menghukum atau mendera kakitangan awam tetapi sebagai kayu ukur yang objektif terhadap tahap penyampaian. Ingatlah bahawa setiap sen dan ringgit yang kita terima akan dipertanggungjawabkan bukan sahaja didunia ini tetapi juga di akhirat.

37. Sesungguhnya, modenisasi sektor awam adalah suatu usaha murni yang besar dan berterusan. Saya tidak mahu mengambil sikap hangat-hangat tahi ayam didalam usaha pembaharuan ini. Saya mahu mengatakan kepada anggota perkhidmatan awam bahawa apa yang saya katakan hari ini, apa yang saya janjikan hari ini, akan berkesinambungan