Page 54 - KSN English Final

service will facilitate effective implementation of policies and strategies;
which will in turn raise our level of competitiveness; and bring us closer
towards achieving a high-income nation by the year 2020, with world-
class service, Insha-Allah.
Over the years, the Malaysian Government has instituted a variety of
measures aimed at reforming, and revitalising the public sector. They
have done so as a response to the demands brought by the forces of
globalisation and liberalisation, and a citizenry armed with more and
better information who are demanding higher standards of ethics,
transparency and accountability from the Government.
As the country advances technologically, economically and socially,
expectations from the general public towards the public service rise,
mirroring the development we are experiencing. People’s demands are
no longer confined to the tangible. Today, people do not ask for a road to
be built. They instead ask how this road was built, how much did it cost,
and who got the contract.
We also cannot deny that the public sector occasionally comes under
heavy scrutiny. I am not just referring to the laments of red tape, but
critical incidents such as evidence of excessive spending, corruption
and controversial interrogations. It is therefore clear that reform and
revitalisation must continue until all kinks have been ironed out.
The various Transformation Programmes that have been initiated by
the Government, namely the Government Transformation Programme
(GTP), the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the Political
Transformation Programme (PTP) and latest Social Transformation
Programme (STP), aim to advance the Government machinery to
become more efficient, dynamic, competitive and market-driven. Under
the National Transformation Agenda, we are constantly renewing our
commitment to serve the people better by improving the quality of service,
by adapting to changing needs through innovation, and to increase inter-
agency collaboration leveraging on the National Blue Ocean Strategy
(NBOS).
We have thus far initiated various NBOS programmes, which collectively
focus on improving public safety and security, enhancing the quality of
life of people in rural areas, and improving the well-being of the citizens.
Examples include the collaboration between the Royal Malaysian
Police and the Armed Forces, the establishment of Rural and Urban
44 Humanising The Public Service : A Compilation of Speeches by the Chief Secretary to the Government
Transformation Centres (RTCs and UTCs), 1Malaysia One Call Centre
(1MOCC) and 1Malaysia For Youth (1M4U).
As part of our commitment towards transforming the Government, and
to regain public confidence in enforcement agencies, compliance units
were created in each of these agencies: the Ministry of Education, the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Royal Malaysian Police, the
Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the Road Transport Department,
the Immigration Department, and the Public-Private Partnership Unit
(UKAS), Prime Minister’s Department. The compliance units will ensure
that officers are monitored for adherence to the ethical procedures in the
performance of their duties, reducing opportunities for abuse of power.
The success and impact of these compliance units thus far have been
encouraging. In fact, to further enhance integrity in the public service,
the Government has introduced a new initiative of establishing Integrity
Units in all Government agencies at the Federal and State levels. Toward
this, a circular was issued with effect from 1 August 2013 as a directive
for setting up the units. The unit will form a central and dedicated entity
tasked with the responsibility of managing integrity in each agency.
To establish greater transparency and reduce leakages in the area of
Government procurement, the MyProcurement information portal was
launched in 2010 under the GTP 1.0 roadmap. It has quickly become
evident that more could be done to further enhance transparency in the
Government. The GTP 2.0 roadmap will see new initiatives to further
enhance the MyProcurement portal, which include efforts to harmonise
all Government procurement portals and the disclosure of certain details
of Government contracts awarded on open tender, such as the value of
the contract and the successful vendor.
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