2001 : New Millennium, New Year, New Workforce and New Challenges

At last the 21st century has finally arrived. It is not unusual for some of us to start pondering and reflecting upon our past successes and achievements. While others may be unhappy for not achieving what they dream and aspire for in life, we in the public sector must forge ahead making sure that we continuously upgrade ourselves and our service delivery for the betterment of our people and country.

The public will demand for more and better public goods. Their expectations for better service delivery will be rising . The Government who are elected by the electorates - namely the public - will introduce new programme and projects, to satisfy the needs and aspirations of the people. And it goes without saying that most elected representatives depend very much on efficiency, effectiveness and professionalism of the bureaucrats who offer them policy-useful advice. Such advice is given based on the unmatched reservoir of skills, expertise and knowledge inherent in the modern bureaucracy.

The bureaucracy has survived the test of time. It is also one of the “oldest” professions to be still around in this new century. Despite challenges like “dismantling the government,” managerialism and globalisation, the bureaucracy is still alive and kicking. Such success can be attributed to the ability of the bureaucracy to “transform” or “reinvent” itself into the “New Civil Service” - at least in the Sarawak context.

Sarawak’s New Civil Service has made giant strides especially in the last decade. As one of the visionary mandarins who emerged in this metamorphic stage, Y. B. Datuk Haji Abdul Aziz Haji Husain, our new State Secretary, has already set his eyes on a series of challenging issues - the war against corruption (as evident in this month’s issue of RAKAN), the “four pillars” of quality, total wellness, competencies, values and principles. Other challenges include the commitment towards volunteerism and the need to be ICT savvy.

Public sector managers must be wary of these emphases as spelt out by the State Secretary. There is the need to take pertinent action in redressing them. There is the need to drive home values like integrity, quality-focused, customer-oriented and continuous improvement to your staff. Some of these values are captured very well in this issue of RAKAN. We promise to give you more in the future issues.

The new year, like in the past years, will always bring new things and new surprises. We will need a new workforce to meet the new challenges.

After what has been said and done, the new millennium, new century, new decade and new year are but numerical phenomena, reckonings and happenings. As curious creatures man is always fascinated by numbers, the game of numbers and numerology. In the context of loyalty, service delivery and being apolitical, the State Civil Service must aim for only one number numero uno - Number One!