PM: M'sia must transform or risk becoming a failed state

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia must transform or risk becoming a failed state, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Transformation could only happen when three things were in place, Najib said when delivering his inaugural Razak Lecture,

"The active participation and input of all stakeholders, an environment in which key players are ready and able to take on the challenge and the readiness to embrace the culture of always reaching far above and beyond.

"It is no longer affordable or intelligent for us to be satisfied with the way things are," he said.

Earlier, the prime minister had launched the Razak School of Government (RSOG) at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here.

Also present was Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, who is also the chairman of RSOG's Board of Trustees.

Najib said an institutional and structural change could only happen when leaders not only understood what needed to be done but have the integrity, humility and determination to take the nation to the next level.

He said a world class leadership was not merely there to lead but to inspire others to follow.

"It requires the capability of making the right decision with fully informed reasoning, seamless execution and outcome-driven mentality.

"To do this, we need to cultivate a knowledge-based public service. Thus, our immediate challenge is how to ensure that talented and knowledgeable Malaysians out there will contribute towards the nation becoming a better country to live in.

"The establishment of institutions like RSOG, I believe is to pre-empt, react and to respond to these questions. The School was founded on two main thrusts -- leadership and knowledge," he said.

The prime minister said transformational leadership coupled with knowledge, capacity and capability was the golden formula for creating an environment that was conducive to effective problem-solving and innovation.

Najib said it was vital that institutional and structural transformation was guided by a clear, comprehensive and commonly accepted vision of the fundamental principles that should shape the new public service.

"By working in partnership across government agencies, the public service creates a networked governance environment whose aim is the delivery of public value.

"The creation of a people-centred and people-driven public service is a must if we want to see the structural change happen," he said.

Meanwhile, when launching the RSOG, Najib said the setting up of RSOG was a great honour to him and his family because it was named after his father, the late Tun Abdul Razak, who was Malaysia's second prime minister.

The RSOG is envisioned to be a catalyst for intellectual and professional grooming of the nation's future leaders across all service sectors.

RSOG's vision is to be a global institution engaging in cutting edge research, teaching and training in public leadership, public policy and public service in Malaysia as well as internationally.

It has a mission to train high-potential public leaders in coming up with innovative solutions to the most pressing public problems in Malaysia and the region. - Bernama

Changing for the better

from the STAR Online; Sunday August 15, 2010


MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s address to the Prime Minister and guests at the opening of the party’s Chinese Economic Congress yesterday.

WELCOME to the “Chinese Economic Congress” with the theme “Role of the Chinese community in achieving the NEM and 10th Malaysia Plan targets”.

The NEM and the 10MP are two of the four pillars of national transformation that will enable Malaysia to achieve the goals of Vision 2020, that is, to be a high-income economy and developed nation by 2020. The other pillars are the 1Malaysia concept and the Government Transformation Programme.
Keynote speech: Dr Chua delivering his address at the Chinese Economic Congress yesterday.

Much thought and effort has gone into crafting the NEM and 10MP, and, of course, far more work needs to be done for the actual implementation.

Let us bear in mind that these are national plans, and not just the Government’s plans. This means the nation as a whole has to come together and pull in the same direction in order for the NEM and the 10MP to succeed. Our immediate priority is to jointly grow the economic pie, instead of noisily debating over which slice we deserve. Make no mistake, failure is not an option.

We are here to ensure the transformation is successful and the targets for both the NEM and the 10MP are met.

> Liberalisation of economy

For a country to achieve accelerated growth, one needs to liberalise the economy. One of the better examples of sectors is the liberalisation of the oil and gas sector which encompasses areas as such shipping, distribution of gas, petrochemicals, education and vocational/technical training, and so on.

Our oil and gas sector has reached a stage in which we are already an established player in the global stage. Yet the opportunities for the SMEs are still small compared to other countries including non-oil producing nations like Singapore. Therefore, given the maturity of the sector, the opening up of the sector will boost the country’s GDP by many folds.

As such, sir, I sincerely urge you (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) to consider liberalising Malaysia’s oil and gas sector, and allow many more of our non-bumiputra investors to be joint-venture partners, contractors and sub-contractors in areas such as exploration, platform constructions, logistics, deep-sea operations and others.

Another area that needs to be liberalised is the telecommunication sector. With the full opening of the sector, increased competition actually augurs well for both the operators and the consumers.

With protectionism, rates of telecommunication services offered are high. Thus the country’s broadband usage is less than desired. We are hardly touching the 40% penetration rate as compared to the higher levels achieved by other countries.

> The Role of GLCs in the NEM

The GLCs make up nearly 40% of the value of the Bursa and there is no denying that they dominate the private sector in the economy in terms of their assets and capitalisation. GLCs have been instrumental in helping the bumiputra business community to flourish – to give them a head start to form a core cluster of bumi entrepreneurs to mentor and nurture others to be equally competitive and to be confident in the global stage.

But at the same time, it must be recognised that Malaysia is just a small market with 26 million people. As such, GLCs must take the bold step to venture regionally and/or globally like CIMB Bank. CIMB has expanded its financial wings to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and is doing very well in South-East Asia.

However, to be regionally and globally competitive, we need to make sure that the best talent remains in our shores. I encourage more GLCs to open up their board of directors to include more non-bumiputras as well as international expertise. It is important also that GLCs open up their procurement system to include competitive SMEs based on the quality of their service and products that they offer, rather than based on race or equity requirement.

> Open Tender System

Likewise, we call for greater transparency in our tendering process. Closed tender systems have always been associated with corruption and kickbacks. Quality of projects will also be compromised. This does not go down well with the good governance which the Government is trying to project. The open tender system not only removes accusations and talk of corrupted administration but also lowers the cost of projects.

We hold the opinion that all the public procurement should be open to all local SMEs, provided with equal access and opportunities. Under the 9th Malaysia Plan, over RM1bil was allocated for SME development alone. Bank Negara estimated the number of SMEs in the country at about 600,000.

The importance of the SMEs is recognised by the Government. The NEAC report stated that SMEs currently make up 35% of Malaysia’s GDP and 20% of its exports. If the future procurements were to be opened to the SMEs, the SMEs would account for much more than the current 35% of the GDP. If the value of the SMEs were to double, they will account for over 50% of the country’s GDP.

Following the decision to relax the 30% bumiputra equity requirement for IPOs as well as the liberalisation of the 27 services sub-sectors I urge you, sir, to similarly consider being flexible in implementing the 30% bumiputra equity in other sectors.

Rather than enforcing the 30% bumi equity requirement across the board, a more flexible system in the form of a Margin of Preference system should be implemented on a sector-by-sector basis.

In the days of traditional economic structure, when capital and land were the major economic input, we could insist upon a certain percentage of equity distribution and still be fairly successful.

But we are now in the age of knowledge economy, where brain power in the form of innovation and creativity is the major (if not sole) requirement. If a talented investor, whether local or foreign, wants to start a new venture to design and manufacture a product based on his innovation for the new IT generation consumers in Malaysia, we cannot insist that he shares 30% of his creativity with us.

He is talented and can go to any other part of the world to pursue his dreams. Instead we should offer him all the assistance he needs so that he can come to Malaysia, create high-paying jobs and help propel us to being a high-income economy.

> Merit–based and Needs–based System

Fundamentally, the Malaysian Chinese have been and still are very understanding and loyal citizens. Globalisation has presented Malaysians many opportunities but it has also forced us to continue to be a competitive nation. Malaysians cannot remain globally competitive unless we go to a merit-based system.

On the other hand, we must inculcate a caring society in which the poor must be looked after. The NEM has pointed out that the bottom 40% of households earn less than RM1,500 per month. Thus, it is clear that preferential treatment must be given according to needs rather than race.

> Retaining and Attracting Talent

To achieve a high-income nation status, the NEM sets out a couple of primary thrust and enablers to move the economy up the value chain and also to address the persistent socio-economic inequalities. Amongst the enablers are developing a quality workforce and reducing dependence on foreign labour. In order to retain our talent pool in the country, we must recognise their contribution to the nation – to make sure that they are rewarded according to their merits.

Therefore, at this juncture, I would like to applaud YAB Datuk Seri’s recent decision to offer scholarships to all students, regardless of race, who scored 9A+ in their SPM examinations. This is truly in the 1Malaysia spirit.

This shows the Government’s efforts to develop human capital. Don’t forget high achievers are in fact hidden talents and assets to a nation. Elevating and improving the level of education in the country also mean paying more attention to vernacular schools.

Approximately 20% of Malaysia’s total trade over the last couple of years is with countries that adopt Mandarin as their main language. Total trade of the primary countries that use Mandarin as their mother tongue has been estimated at over US$2.5 trillion per annum. Malaysia’s trade with these countries in turn accounts for only 2% of their total trade. Given our multi-lingual and multi-cultural society, we believe Malaysia has yet to tap into the full potential of these trading nations.

The great strategist Sun Tzu has been frequently quoted on this where he said that whoever is first in the battlefield and awaits the coming of the “competitors” will be fresh for the fight. Whoever trails behind in the field will arrive exhausted, having to hasten to battle.

Thus, with more schools, we would be able to produce more students from these vernacular schools. Only then can we generate a workforce conversant in Mandarin in order to be able to seize the opportunities offered in the global markets.

Not only are additional schools required to cater for future demand and population growth but more importantly to ease the current overcrowding problem.

To add to the problem, the number of students in Chinese schools is expected to increase by an additional 65,000 over the next five years.

> Rationalisation of Subsidy, Minimum Wage and Skilled Workers

In Malaysia, only 23% of workers (11 million) are skilled workers, including those with higher education degrees. We are one of the countries with the least qualified workers in the region. Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have about 40% skilled workers. Lack of skilled and qualified workers in Malaysia is impeding economic progress.

Malaysia is addicted to cheap foreign workers. Studies by the Human Resources Ministry show that 34% of our 1.3 million workers earn less than RM700 per month, below the poverty line of RM720 per month.

What is worrying is the World Bank study on wage trend which showed that Malaysia recorded only an annual 2.6% growth during the last 10 years. The influx of foreign workers depresses the wage increase of local workers.

MCA calls for the execution of a minimum wage policy on a sectoral and regional basis. Over 90% of the countries in the world already have legislations in place on minimum wage.

The setting up of a minimal wage system is in line with MCA’s calls for rationalisation of subsidy. Subsidy cut is a must to prevent distortion in the allocations of the country. Implementation of subsidy reduction schemes cannot stand alone as it needs to be complemented with a minimum wage system to offset negative impact of the reduction in subsidy.

The activation of the Minimum Wage Council now is therefore looking more and more appropriate. At this point, our businesses can no longer win market share by trying to be the cheapest producers of goods or providers of services. In a globalised world, such an edge is only fleeting.

Lasting competitive advantage today has to come from productivity-led growth and innovation. The 10MP includes Government measures to create an environment in which the creativity, energy and initiative of private enterprises can be nurtured and harnessed.

On that note, I believe the Chinese Economic Congress today is most timely. We need to ensure we know each and everyone’s role, to be able to tap into each forte to ensure the NEM and 10MP are executed efficiently to achieve the targets already set out. There is no denying the road ahead will be tough but I have full confidence that, under your leadership, we will see the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

I acknowledge that the business community has certain expectations of what the Government should and should not do.

In the overall scheme of things, 10 years is a mere blink of an eye. But for Malaysia, the next decade may well prove to be a crucial phase in our nation’s history.

Permit me to end with a couple of ancient sayings by Confucius. We should “better be a diamond with flaws rather than a pebble without”. Also, “only the wisest and stupidest of men never change” and for one “to know what is right and not to do it, is the worst type of cowardice”.

So we intend to change for the better and to do what is right. We can start off with this congress where we can brainstorm, learn our roles and how we can help in ensuring the target of becoming a high income advanced nation can be met

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.

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.

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