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ENTRUSTED TO DELIVER : I must admit, ideas do not always flow openly and
MEETING PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS smoothly, especially from bottom to top. But the
best ideas can only emerge if they are encouraged.
WITH GOOD GOVERNANCE Any good idea, no matter who it comes from: a
AND TRANSPARENCY manager or a janitor, from inside or outside the
public service, from within or beyond our borders,
should not be lost simply because we were not
open enough to listen and consider.
t gives me great pleasure to welcome my colleagues from across
the Commonwealth to the CAPAM Regional Conference held in the
Ibeautiful city of Kuching, Sarawak. We are privileged to host this also members of the citizenry, who receive services from our fellow
Regional Conference and I am honoured to address you this evening. colleagues in the civil service. We are entrusted to ensure the highest
The main objective of the CAPAM Regional Conference is to promote degree of responsibility, professionalism, usefulness, efficiency and ethics
the development and reform of public services in the Commonwealth is practised and delivered within the civil service.
countries, in tandem with changing times. CAPAM itself acts as the
best platform among members of the Commonwealth for the exchange With this in mind, as leaders, we must be prepared to make tough
of ideas and global best practices to enhance our capacity, in response decisions, if the situation so demands. We must be prepared to discard
to contemporary challenges when it comes to serving our respective lengthy bureaucratic practices. We must be prepared to do away with
citizenry. redundant units or sections that may no longer be relevant. We must be
prepared to reject complacency and not protect our comfort zones.
The theme of this Conference is “Strategic Management: Enhancing Service
Delivery through Accountable and Responsive Civil Service”. When we Instead, we must embrace new technologies, efficient systems, diversity
relate this to the Malaysian context, it is very clear that with the experiences of people and ideas, and value-added services. Only then can we truly
in the private sector and the rapid pace of technological development, call ourselves accountable. Only then can we truly be responsive to
the public’s expectations for accountability and responsiveness has contemporary demands. And only then can we truly meet the demands
heightened tremendously. Today’s increasingly educated, demanding and expectations of the public.
and highly-critical society is not just concerned with the public services
received, but more importantly, on how those services are delivered, and In Malaysia, we started our journey down this path through the various
the speed of their delivery. And this is rightly so. Transformation Programmes that the Government initiated since the year
2009 by The Honourable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak,
We must not forget that we, the civil servants and public institutions, are also Prime Minister of Malaysia, namely the Government Transformation
part of the citizenry, as are our parents, siblings, children and friends. Being Programme (GTP), the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the
accountable to the citizenry also means being accountable to ourselves Political Transformation Programme (PTP) and the Social Transformation
and those nearest and dearest to us. It is with this in mind that I introduced Programme (STP), all aimed at advancing the Government machinery to
the concept of Merakyatkan Perkhidmatan Awam in June 2012. Loosely become more efficient, dynamic, competitive and market-driven.
translated, Merakyatkan Perkhidmatan Awam means “Humanising
the Public Service”. This concept reminds us that firstly, we are public Through our National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS), we are implementing
officials who provide services to the people, and secondly, we are high impact, low cost initiatives that are rapidly executed through
48 Humanising The Public Service : A Compilation of Speeches by the Chief Secretary to the Government 49
