The Malaysian civil service used to be better and was one of the best in the region. We need to revive its past glory and facilitate its reform. Pakatan Harapan is preparing a White Paper on this subject so that the civil service will be able to unleash its full potential as one of the important sectors on the journey to build a better Malaysia.

This was my message as a discussant on the paper titled Evolution of the Malaysian Civil Service by Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, former Treasury secretary-general and a member of the civil society group G25, at a Malaysian Economic Association forum on Feb 13.

According to Noore Alam Siddiquee, editor of the book, Public Management and Governance in Malaysia: Trends and Transformations, there have been major transformation and developments in various areas of Malaysia’s public administration during the past 25 years, with the objective of improving the quality of governance and public services.  There have been some positive impacts, but these were marginal or modest.  There are still many issues:

•     The system remains highly centralised, with federal ministries and agencies playing pre-eminent roles in policymaking and management.

•     Top-down decision-making is prevalent, with little or no attempt to delegate power at the lower levels.

•     The system is elitist, with generalist officers (not experts) holding key positions. They dominate the highest policymaking positions.

•     Although the government presents the administrative system as highly capable and efficient, it has failed to meet the rising expectations of the people.

•     Corruption figures prominently.

•     The bureaucracy does not mirror the ethnic composition of society. The Malays disproportionately control the public service, especially at the higher levels.

•     Politicisation of the administration.

These issues arise partly because the administrative system is limited by many constraints and problems — some of which have to do with the politico-administrative culture — that are beyond the discretion of the civil servants.

The federal government has not shown a willingness to change the politico-administrative culture and is plagued by corruption. Perhaps one way forward is to change the government in order to bring about a mature and stable democracy, complemented by an improved administrative system. What is needed is a holistic and integrated reform agenda for the civil service,  starting with overcoming the abovementioned constraints and problems:

•     Politics: Work for a mature and stable democracy, reform the three branches of government (reform the Dewan Negara, make the Dewan Rakyat more people-

oriented, reduce the Cabinet and have an independent judiciary), and replace the politics of race with centripetalism (multiracial, centrist, moderate and progressive).

•     Improve federalism: Implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 for Sabah and Sarawak, opt for decentralisation and restore local government elections.

•     Stop the politicisation of the administration: Politicians and administrators should be more policy-oriented and “work with” each other.  Politicians shouldn’t be in areas like government-linked companies.

The most appropriate model is a new governance framework, based on a partnership between the three major stakeholders (state, business and civil society) in collective decision-making structures and processes that observe the principles of participatory democracy. Under this model, we should:

•     Establish consultative platforms in every ministry and agency at all levels (especially at the state and local governments).

•     Implement new approaches: For example, an open government partnership (OPG) to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.  

Prerequisites for successful implementation OPG are fiscal transparency, access to information, income and asset declaration, and citizen engagement.

•     Improve the quality of civil servants through merit-based recruitment, training, appraisal, scheme of service and exit policy. Nurture experts of various disciplines and indigenous knowledge, and apply knowledge management.

•     Restructure the civil service to an optimal size  with balanced, fair and painless measures.

•     Reduce the number of foreign consultants and avoid parallel systems that demotivate civil servants.

•     Fully implement integrity principles (for example, a national integrity plan) and anti-corruption technologies (e-procurement and e-bidding, public declaration of assets and a political financing law).

•       Have independent experts evaluate the whole process of planning and implementation, benchmarked against international standards and made public.

•     End the culture of fear due to the tyranny of bosses and small bosses.

•     Use state-of-the-art technologies to improve the whole system — to do actual work and not just for for communication.  This includes the delivery systems (including complaint apps) and consultation processes (on social media: formal and informal).

•     Have a moratorium or impose strict rules on appointing retired civil servants to company boards.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah is chief secretary of Pakatan Harapan and director (strategic and social development) of Institut Darul Ehsan. He is active on twitter: @saifuddinabd.

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