Obviously, the State government has been making continuous efforts to upgrade services for the people. Land and Survey department has been computerized and works are in progress to restructure JKR and Agriculture departments, the fundamental organisations in the State Civil service. As a consequence, most of the systems can operate to suit the local environment and settings and engage with the world outside.
Undoubtedly, the exercise to restructure or re-organize government departments or agencies that entails the setting up of a city hall, upgrading major local councils to become municipal councils and development of new growth centres, each with the potential to become a secondary town in the next 20 years, has helped to tackle problems of urbanization and those relating to social adjustments.
This is understandable as the State has a total land size of more than 125,000 square KMs with the population spreading over a wide area in more than 5,000 settlements comprising of traditional kampongs, longhouses and towns. The demographic pattern represents a huge challenge to the development and administrative machinery.
Undoubtedly, the Civil Service has learnt to adjust with the time and been able to find ways and means to overcome problems, some being created by changes and others by people who do not work within the system. But the Civil Service has been making conscientious efforts to adjust to the new situation by inventing new ways of tackling problems.
It has started by improvising systems how to get members to work within the system and how to deliver good services to the people at large. It is forever mindful of the fact that, as the government administrative and development machinery, it cannot deliver the benefits of development to the people unless they can respond positively towards it and adjust to the environment of change.
But the challenges ahead, with the people getting more literate and easily accessible to the Internet that tends to give misleading information, can be more sophisticated. Hence, a more effective channel of communication with people has to be enforced in order to keep them more focused in whatever they need to do to uplift their socio-economic status.
Obviously, the module for the first hand interaction with the people on the ground must be made as part of the system in the process of development, which is expected to be more sophisticated, towards the year 2020 and beyond.
Understandably, the State government is taking appropriate steps to re-organise the functions of local councils in order to make them the machinery to interact with the people. The system of consultation with the people should be made a way to implement economic programs on the ground from now onward.
The local authorities, once re-organized and strengthened in the next five years, should be able to undertake not only the services in their respective localities but have the machinery for consultations with people on development. More importantly, they will be able to make the people on the ground to feel that they have healthier and better interaction with the government machinery.
Undoubtedly, the module for interaction and consultation will be consistent with the policy to empower civil servants at the lower ranks in the process of development. That will come about with good machinery that has a clear path and in-depth knowledge of what the people want in the process of development.
Generally, political leaders and civil servants must continue to have common approach, as in the past, in serving the people. All must anticipate that the day will come when people will need more input on ways of governing and want better services to improve their way of life. Sarawak has learnt to do a lot of things in the past and should be able to undertake more innovations in their services in future.
For example, the State is knowledgeable of the fact that some countries in Europe, which have been paying very high for public services, are having troubles because they do not know when to stop subsidizing such services. Obviously, it has become too late for them to realize their own responsibilities to such an extent that no amount of demonstrations or violence can change the situation for the better for them. Even the Civil Service, which has been getting more instructions, finds it harder to achieve the objectives of providing stability and better services for the people.
Obviously, the government must ensure a balance in the working of its machinery, provide sufficient freedom for the people to be creative and take initiatives to meet the need of the people. The ultimate goal is to maintain a balanced democracy or a working democracy and not the shouting democracy toward the year 2020 and beyond.
Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during a gathering to mark civil service days, believe that members of the Civil Service, who have shown that they have the capability, dedication and loyalty to duty will be able to overcome the changes and challenges ahead. They will remain able to measure up to the demands of their services.
Undoubtedly, the State Civil Service has been able to excel in the services of the people and the country as the members have been focusing their attention and efforts wholeheartedly in doing their jobs. Their achievements are really numerous and quite laudable.
He says the State Civil Service is inheriting some systems that have come out as the result of the close bond between the political leaders of and its members that can back to the period immediately after Merdeka. For example, all the speeches and movements of earlier leaders clearly showed that they cared for the people; it was something really typical of the spirit of local leaders in serving the people.
All earlier political leaders worked very hard to get the people to co-operate among them and adopt a more compromising attitude to strengthen their unity and solidarity. Their compromising attitude has produced what today amounts to, at least among the Bumiputras, a very high degree of solidarity.
Besides, other leaders like the late Datuk Amar Ling Beng Siew, the late Datuk Amar James Wong, Datuk Patinggi Dr. Wong Soon Kai, the late Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui, the Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Yong all helped to contribute towards the goodwill and harmonious relationship among the people. All them had made great contribution to the unity and solidarity of the Rakyat through the political system.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the spirit of service of the previous leaders was more than just carrying out their duty. For example, to facilitate the introduction of compulsory education in Sarawak, the people started by building classrooms with branches of trees, nipah leaves and humble shacks. The schools were served by teachers, who had been trained in basic of education, in improving the rural areas. They had so much love for their jobs as they knew that they were doing something for the people for the rural communities in particular.
Besides, a lot parents were prepared to ply back and forth from longhouses to schools with their children to make it possible for education to touch the life of young children in the first 20 years of Merdeka. Then the drive for education was only supported by a small staff of education and resident offices; the care of schools was left to the local councils. It was ramshackle and does it yourself arrangement but has been able to produce a lot of good people to serve the community.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says when he first came back to become the Chief Minister, the red book system, which was very well managed in Peninsular Malaysia, was too slow to make any impact to the people on the ground. Obviously, the development of the state based on the strategy to create economic opportunities to exploit market potentials was not suitable to push it forward.
Therefore, after taking into consideration the local peculiarities, the State Government under him had to adjust and change the strategy. It introduced the Politics of Development as the philosophy of development with the realization that the State must create many pockets of market for the goods and services to be able to use market forces to make Sarawak, then in the backwater lane of development, to become more prosperous. Therefore, the State government since 1985 had been building critical mass in various parts of the state. The main emphasis was to get the people to work together in order to create a market system in the development of the economy.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib recalls that initially even the main trunk road from Sematan to Merapok in Lawas did not help to change the life of the people for the better. Undoubtedly, the implementation of the concept of critical mass helped some areas with big population to come up very fast. Now they are become the main focus in opening up huge tracts of land mainly for oil palm plantations.
Obviously, Sarawak has the tradition of working to solve problems rather than just following instructions to give services as required by the people. Therefore, the State government has to design a kind of partnership between politicians and the civil service primarily to help politicians to understand its mechanism and how they can support its operations for a more effective engagement with the people.
benuasains
*Photos Source:
Penerengan photo
sarawak.gov.my
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