The Sarawak Civil Service’s (SCS) efforts to “humanise” its services to the Rakyat will require a greater understanding of the people’s needs at all levels of society, but especially so at the grassroots level.
As such, the process of consultation with the people must continue to be expanded and deepened; to arm the SCS with a greater understanding of the people’s desire for improvements, which could be achieved through Government policies.
It is also important for the SCS to have in place a system that can gauge the feelings of the people on the ground, in order to find out how the sentiments apply to the cross-section of the society.
This was the observation made by the Chief Minister, YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud when officiating at the State Civil Service Day 2012 celebrations in Kuching.
He pointed out that although the issues brought up at the grassroots level were very diverse, they also tend to be localised.
“Therefore, the Government thinks that it is better for us to tackle that level of consultation and interaction between the people, the policy-makers and the administration,” said the Chief Minister, who added that this could be achieved through a slight and gradual reform in the local government.
At the grassroots level, people were generally more knowledgeable about their environment at the local level, compared to their knowledge of issues at the State or Federal level.
However, with the greater mobility of the people at State-level, the Chief Minister also pointed out that a cross-current of ideas was now operating at this level far more than just at the local level or the Federal level.
“This is the picture that we have to recognise; it is a trend that will grow and it is a trend that we must face and try to live with as we develop a strategy whereby we make it part of our process of interaction (and) part of our process of implementing things according to what the people wish.”
The Chief Minister also explained that the current situation – where more and more people want to have a say in the way the Government is run – should be viewed as a healthy sign.
The issue now though is the cleavage between rural and urban opinions is beginning to sharpen much more than before.
“But we cannot brush aside all these developments as being fully satisfied. In fact, I have a feeling that the people will want more consultation and will want more say, not only in what we ought to do, but later on, how we ought to do it, because they have got a relationship with their immediate environment and position in their own locality.
“What is good in Kuching may not be accepted very well in Belaga, so we have got to understand all this.”
YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib believed that ‘Merakyatkan Perkhidmatan Awam’ (Humanising the Civil Service) was a good idea, but conceded that it would take some time for the SCS to implement it fully, and that it would also be a process that will change over time.
For civil servants, this meant that although they have to do their best to understand the wants and needs of the people, they must also always be guided by the government policy they are trying to implement.
As for senior government officers, it meant that they will be expected to advise the ministers on policy matters, especially in terms of pointing out any weaknesses that may exist in the policies.
“We are an elected government; we are quite amenable to changes and to adjust ourselves.
“And because of this therefore, the humanising of our services in the government will continue to be better and better for the future.”
The Chief Minister also explained that humanising the civil service would entail displaying: “sympathy with what is achievable to bring about social justice.”
However, he added that efforts to humanise the civil service must not be achieved at the cost of giving up the principles of orderly administration.
“While we must be sympathetic, we must not sacrifice what is proper and what is legal.”
Apart from that, the civil service has a wider room to do good for the people, compared to the restrictions on the civil service that are more often talked about.
“And therefore, you don’t have to be strict all the time; probably you can accommodate people’s wishes because most of it will be allowable within our existing policies, which have been developed over the years to accommodate more and more of our people’s interest.”
