It is no longer ‘business as usual’ for the average public servant as Mampu tries to break new ground in delivering world-class services based on eight core values.

Wars change, warriors don’t. Public servants don’t go to war in the literal sense but each of us struggle every day to defend our purpose and to justify our raison-d’être.

While we represent the values of our society, we must also be governed by the public service ethos.

The core values of the public service have been a critical factor in our achievements thus far.

History will reveal how the Malaysian public service rose to the challenge, having been entrusted to shoulder the responsibility of socio-economic reform since the era of post-independence.

Malaysia ranked 16th in the IMD World Competitiveness Index 2011 and 18th out of 183 economies in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index 2012. These achievements are testimony to a culture of excellence that has stood the test of time.

The landscape and challenges facing the public service have evolved. Today, 60% of public sector personnel are aged from 21 to 40, portraying a changing of the guard in the public service.

Technology, meanwhile, has permeated all facets of service delivery and internal government operations.

In terms of strategic direction, the pace of change in the implementation of policies and programmes by the public sector has accelerated tangibly since 2009.

The GTP, with its seven National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) and eight Strategic Reform Initiatives of the New Economic Model, provides for the strategic framework and a new ecosystem for the Public Service.

Taking cognisance of the centrality of an ethos for the public service, eight core values have been identified.

They are integrity, sense of urgency, citizen focus, collaboration, innovation and creativity, consultation and engagement, value of complaints, and knowledge and skills.

These are the core values that Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan consistently advocates as being vital to the public service as a higher calling.

Integrity forms the basis of ethical behaviour in the public service.

The NKRA on Reducing Corruption identifies the need to improve public perception on the incidence of corruption and to enhance the people’s confidence in regulatory and enforcement bodies.

Speed is the essence of service delivery. Hence the adoption of sense of urgency as a value that is inculcated through the rigour of adherence to timeline, deadlines and client charters.

The long-term benefit of internalising this value would be a disdain for tardiness and procrastination, highlighting instead the quest to act immediately on any application or request for information and services.

Public sector agencies can no longer operate on the belief that they know best and thus design compartmentalised service offerings.

Instead, consultation and engagement would enable feedback for effective policy development and appropriate service provision en route to raising national competitiveness.

Pemudah, through its strong consultative framework, has allowed for faster clearance of exports and imports, improvements in tax administration, registration of property, facilitating e-payments and improving processing time.

Our agencies no longer work in silos where the scope of services moves beyond organisational boundaries. Collaboration is gaining credence given the scarcity of resources and paucity of expertise and intelligence across agencies.

Local authorities, for instance, have to collaborate with government and non-government entities in providing a variety of end-to-end urban services.

Safety and crime prevention is yet another area of a collaborative network between the police, armed forces and prisons department.

Citizen-focused service is central in the present era of service delivery.

Levels of service, which a decade ago would have been considered exceptional, are now rated acceptable, at best.

Even services rendered by professionals are not spared. The “doctor knows best” deference has been replaced with “can I have a second opinion?”

Hence, the appreciation of the customer-focus value is essential in realising the Government’s people first commitment.

Innovation and creativity allow for simple yet out-of-the-box ideas that challenge the status quo.

It is no longer “business as usual” for the average public servant as we try to break new ground in delivering world-class services.

Innovative methods to simplify work processes, update regulations and eliminate red tape are among the steps taken.

There have been several breakthrough achievements in this respect: one-day approval to start a business, one-day company name approval, one-day registration of property titles, one-hour issuance of passports, one-day transfer of land title to name but a few.

These are real evidence where the mantra of speed in execution is translated into real implementation which brings results that people can feel on their skin.

Complaints and feedback from the customer are invaluable.

Every complaint must be viewed as a gift that will spur not just corrective action but becomes the seed for further improvement in the services proffered.

Finally, public servants must appreciate the need to continuously upgrade their knowledge and skills.

They must have a drive to acquire treasure of knowledge that will impact positively on their performance.

This passion of continuously “sharpening their saw” must be imbued as a key attribute of the public service ethos.

For these eight core values of the ethos to be synonymous with the Malaysian public service, partnership amongst our agencies is essential.

The Public Service Depart­ment and Mampu (Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit) as well as training institutions such as Intan and key agencies such as the Integrity Institute of Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission have prominent roles in the continuous efforts to embed these values.

Ultimately, an ethos is all about maintaining a culture of par excellence.

For the public service in Malaysia, we will need to nourish and cultivate the eight values that make up our public service ethos.

After all, a public service ethos is only as good as the service it delivers.

> Datuk Mohamad Zabidi Zainal is the director-general of Mampu and welcomes comments to his e-mail.

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