Sharing Malaysia's Public Administration Experience

By Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- His hair was neatly groomed. He was wearing a black suit, complete with a matching tie. He was in full control of his body language and posture. He was firm and clear in his words, but was genial in nature. This is the personality of the nation's former top bureaucrat Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, 73, observed by this writer during a recently interview. Ahmad Sarji joined the civil service in 1961 during the days of the nation's first Chief Minister Abdul Rahman as an administrative officer and retired in 1996 as the chief secretary to the government during the tenure of the fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed. He is presently the chairman of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), and during his days with the civil service he was considered a distinguished bureaucrat and the brains behind many of the transformation in the civil service. Ahmad Sarji's immense contributions within and without the country in public administration was given due recognition. He was even appointed as the first vice president (1994-1996) and later the president (1996-1998) of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM). "I believe that I was not chosen because of my personality only, but more because of the steps adopted by the government to improve the public services system. "It is surprising that the 3,000 delegates made up of prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, ministers and head of public services chose me. So, there had to be something inherently good of the civil service in Malaysia that they elected me", he said. MALAYSIA'S CIVIL SERVICE The Tapah, Perak born administrator said though he had lost touch with the workings of the civil service as he had left the service about two decades ago, he strongly believes that the Malaysian public service still holds firmly to its strong fundamentals. The fundamentals are; neutrality without being under the influence of any political parties and only serve the ruling party; good institutional support from the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity; the appropriate laws; and highly qualified public servants. "The only thing that we need now is to look for ways to improve and strengthen our ethical base, the normative base of the civil service, and instill the values of accountability, transparency, integrity and for those who believe in religion, the fear of god", he said. He also opined that the one who is really qualified to evaluate the efficiency and the effectiveness of the public services are its customers - the private sector and most importantly the people. KNOWLEDGE AND INTEGRITY In the efforts to strengthen the civil service, Ahmad Sarji stressed on the importance of proper knowledge and training, and integrity. "My emphasis has always been on a knowledge-based civil service. The government of the day has got ambitious development plans, whether it's economic transformation or social transformation. Malaysia has excellent development policies, but to what extent the civil service can rise to the challenge? He also outlined on the ways to get feedback on the civil service. This include holding discussions with the elected representatives of the Parliament and State Assemblies, the relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the Public Complaints Bureau. "Every public servant, including senior officers, have to listen to the voice of the people. This include what is discussed by the Parliamentarians, and in the meetings. "If there is a unit that could list the complaints from the people and customers, we will soon be able to overcome the problems", he said. CAPAM Therefore, in conjunction with CAPAM 2014 Biennial conference from 19 to 21 Oct in Putrajaya, Ahmad Sarji hoped that the Malaysian delegation would take the opportunity to introduce to the Commonwealth members the many efforts taken by the Malaysian public sector in further improving the public services. He said this is in line with the spirit of CAPAM, to exchange and adopt ideas in public administration that suits other Commonwealth members. "What is important is that, being the host we can introduce many of the efforts that we have taken, including the good practices in the civil service, so that we can get their feedback to make further improvements", he said. The event to be attended by more than 1,000 participants made up of senior civil servants and politicians, will take place at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre with the theme "Public Service Transformation; Shaping the Future Together Towards a Better Future & Building Global Resilience". -- BERNAMA