MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER’S SPEECH DURING THE
OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY OF THE COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 2016 (CAPAM 2016 BIENNIAL
CONFERENCE), 18 AUGUST 2016, PUTRAJAYA
Ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be with you this
morning at the Biennial Conference of the Commonwealth Association of Public
Administration and Management 2016.
To the heads of public service, leaders in
government agencies and ministries, delegates and speakers who have travelled
from across the Commonwealth to be here, I welcome you all to Putrajaya, the
seat of administration in Malaysia.
We are honoured that Malaysia has been selected
to host this Conference twice in a row. I remember the 2014 conference, which
had as its theme “Public Service Transformation”. Malaysia was indeed an
appropriate location, as we were then – and still are – in a process of ongoing
and comprehensive transformation throughout the public sector.
This year’s theme is “Innovation: a Public
Service Imperative”, and that too is a subject familiar to us in Malaysia.
Indeed, we are taking a systematic approach to creating an infrastructure of
innovation in government.
Innovation is an imperative, as the public sector
is charged with delivering a wide range of services that meet the needs of
sometimes very diverse populations.
It must do so within the confines of fiscal
constraints and finite budgets, and in an age when the expectations of our
citizens are growing. There is an obvious demand for speed and
user-friendliness, and an insistence on a clear public service ethos that
places the people first, regardless of whether that means abandoning old habits
and practices.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Some of you may have seen the classic British
television series “Yes Minister”. I have to admit that it is one of my
favourites! In that show the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby,
represents a civil service that fears change and being held responsible for
anything.
Let me give you an example of that attitude by
quoting from the show. In one episode, the new Minister, Jim Hacker, asked
Bernard Woolley, one of Sir Humphrey’s civil servants, what is going to be done
with all the letters he had received. Bernard told him that they can draft
official replies saying “The matter is under consideration”, or that it is
“Under ACTIVE consideration”. The Minister asked what the difference is.
Bernard replied: “'Under consideration' means
we've lost the file; 'Under ACTIVE consideration' means we're trying to find
it”.
Well, the time for the Sir Humphreys of the civil
service is long past, I’m sure we all agree!
Unlike Sir Humphrey, the Malaysian civil service
deserves recognition. And in particular, I must commend Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa,
the Chief Secretary to our Government, who is also the President of CAPAM, for
humanising the public service, and for the people-centric outlook he has so
fervently championed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Just this week we held the International
Conference on Blue Ocean Strategy. It was all about innovation. Some of you may
have been there when I outlined how we have rolled out programmes with high
impact that can be felt immediately by the people, and at the lowest cost
possible.
By encouraging public servants to break free of
conventional thinking, we have broken down silos, we have thought out-of-the
box in order to come up with creative new solutions – and we have made huge
savings as well.
Notable examples include the new one-stop centres
for all frontline services that operate seven days a week, and are located in
convenient urban as well as rural areas.
Consider this – the first Urban Transformation
Centre opened only six weeks after the idea was presented, and we have managed
to save RM 100 million on each of the 15 UTCs established so far by using
existing underutilised buildings rather than constructing anew.
We have also pooled resources among the police
and armed forces, not just to tackle crime, but also to make efficiencies in
the use of training facilities.
The police and other departments have
collaborated to put thousands of more officers on the streets, while their desk
jobs are being filled by personnel from departments that were being
streamlined.
We have produced new services, better services,
and put the people’s money to better use. And all this stems from our emphasis
on a culture of innovation and embracing change.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This is a conference of the Commonwealth, an
association of 53 countries spanning Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and the
Pacific – and representing 2.2 billion citizens. That’s around 30 percent of
the world’s population.
So it is appropriate when we talk about
innovation in public service that we also consider that aspect of national
public service that governs how countries get along with each other – our
foreign relations.
Here too, the approach of my government has been
driven by innovation. For while Malaysians are warm, approachable and
collaboration-orientated people, for decades we had a leader who adopted
intentionally confrontational foreign policy positions, perhaps for personal
popularity.
But when I became Prime Minister, I chose to be
different, and make a clear break with past approaches. Because I believe
Malaysia’s foreign policy should be about building partnerships that benefit
the country and the people.
No more insisting on awakening old quarrels or
harping on old slights that everyone else had forgotten.
Instead, I decided that the national interest
should always come before personal political interest. That developing
relations and economic partnerships with other nations is what promotes peace,
security and prosperity for our peoples.
That has been our approach – and we have seen the
benefits. I have worked to deal with legacy issues with Singapore, for example,
and our resolution of the Points of Agreement in 2010 after a 20 year deadlock
is a good case in point.
This is just one example of how we chose to move
forward in a spirit of friendship and mutual benefit and put a long-standing
stumbling block behind us.
We are now going to build a high speed railway
between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to enhance connectivity, economic
opportunities and people-to-people contact.
Just last month, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong and I witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, and a
bilateral agreement should be ready before the end of the year.
Once the railway is finished, the journey will
only take 90 minutes. You will be able to have breakfast in Kuala Lumpur, lunch
in Singapore and be back in time for dinner in Kuala Lumpur. Imagine the impact
this will have on our economies. It will be a game changer for both our
peoples, and is an instance of the concrete rewards that come from improving
relations.
In the Philippines, Malaysia facilitated the
negotiations to resolve Asia’s longest running insurgency.
I was delighted that representatives from the
Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front met here in
Kuala Lumpur last weekend to formally re-launch the Implementing Phase of the
Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
Peace is an end in itself, and if we can help
bring to a close a dispute that has cost tens of thousands of lives and
displaced over one hundred thousand people, we would be honoured to do so.
But stability will also allow the region to
prosper, and make the seas safer. To that end, we have also decided to set up
joint patrols with neighbours to tackle piracy and kidnapping groups.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Last year, Malaysia worked with Indonesia,
Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh to address the issue of migrants at sea. Over
the years, we have taken in hundreds of thousands seeking refuge from war and
persecution.
Now, we have agreed to accept 3,000 Syrian
migrants whom we will welcome over the next two years, and we remain committed
to playing a responsible role in assisting in the alleviation of humanitarian
crises near and far.
Also last year, Malaysia chaired ASEAN, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. All ten member states came together for
the Declaration of the ASEAN Community, which was a milestone in our nearly 50
year history. We were proud that so momentous a step took place here in Kuala
Lumpur.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our desire to build bridges is not confined just
to Southeast Asia. We believe in open regionalism and expanding free trade. We
have signed 13 free trade agreements with other countries, and we have built
stronger ties around the world: with China, India, Russia, the US, Japan and
the EU, among many others.
Indeed, Malaysian relations with our friends
across the continents have never been so warm. And these relationships have
borne tangible results.
Since 2009, for instance, trade between Malaysia
and China has been growing at over ten percent a year, and our many joint
ventures – both those that are already underway and those we have planned –
will play a huge part in Malaysia’s continued development.
Malaysia is also a signatory to the Trans-Pacific
Partnership. We joined on our terms, without sacrificing the national interest.
Indeed, the Bumiputera policy is now enshrined in an international treaty. This
is a significant achievement in itself. It will safeguard the interests of
generations to come, and would not have been possible with the old foreign
policy based on confrontation.
And if the TPP goes ahead as planned,
PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted it would lead Malaysia’s GDP to increase
by up to USD211 billion between 2018 and 2027, and would bring additional
investment of up to USD239 billion.
These are not just figures. Trade and investment
bring jobs. Foreign Direct Investment in Malaysia’s manufacturing sector in
2015 is expected to lead to the creation of 66,000 new employment
opportunities, while FDI in services will create a further 112,000 jobs.
So that is why we believe that transforming our
economies, and making sure that our foreign policy is based on increasing trade
and ties with each other, is a path to peace, security and growth for all. It
will lead to a future that is based on cooperation, and not dispute.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I said earlier, we decided that our foreign
relations would no more be characterised by caustic words and barbed comments.
Instead, the approach we have taken is one of moderation.
This will allow us to reclaim the centre and
promote mutual understanding. It is a priority at the national, regional and
international levels.
I am pleased that ASEAN adopted this concept last
year in the Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates, and we
call for its adoption at the wider global level.
For us, a country of diverse faiths and
ethnicities, moderation is essential – and the success of this approach is
shown by the fact that Malaysia continues to post levels of growth far higher
than the global average.
This has not happened by chance. I was aware when
I took office that maybe my biggest challenge was how Malaysia could overcome
the middle income trap. We didn’t want linear growth, but an advanced economy;
one that was socially just, and which emphasised not just high income but also
public happiness.
Our low cost, high impact, rapid execution
strategy has brought results.
In the last few years 1.8 million jobs have been
created, our Gross National Income has increased by nearly 50 percent, and
absolute poverty has been virtually eradicated.
We in Malaysia also safeguard our vision and
practice of moderation by playing a leading role in combating extremism and
radicalism, both at home and abroad.
We recently launched the Regional Digital Centre
for Counter-Messaging Communication in Kuala Lumpur, which will fight the
propaganda of Daesh and other terrorists by exposing falsehoods and
misinformation, and spearhead this important work in the region and beyond.
Malaysia will be a partner to anyone that needs
help in the fight against the scourge of terrorism. A scourge that has brought
death and destruction to so many countries – amongst them, Commonwealth states
– and which has cast the shadow of its blight here as well.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Some innovative ideas are actually timeless
concepts that have been forgotten or cast aside. Moderation, for instance, is
mandated by the Holy Quran, and is a virtue celebrated by philosophers and
theologians through the centuries.
So sometimes innovation in public service means
remembering precepts we once knew so well. In the introduction to the
Commonwealth Charter, for instance, it states that it is “a voluntary
association of independent and equal sovereign states, each responsible for its
own policies” and “bound together by respect for all states and peoples.”
It continues: “the Commonwealth way is to seek
consensus through consultation and the sharing of experience, especially
through practical cooperation.”
This is a good model, and one that all our
countries agree upon. But it would be an innovation – a welcome innovation – in
some countries that do not act as though they share our belief that sovereign
states are each responsible for themselves.
We in Malaysia believe in reaching out to other
states, regardless of political ideology and system, while maintaining an
independent, non-aligned and principled stance in regional and international
affairs.
But we do not believe in foreign intervention in
the domestic affairs of other countries. We are firm that the days of imperial
powers could tell others how to behave, whether politically, economically or
culturally, are over.
It is for nations to govern themselves, and for
peoples to give governments their democratic mandate. We in the Commonwealth –
many of us from states that were once colonies – should recognise that while
larger powers may seek to push us to act as they wish, it is our peoples’ right
to choose our own path. So I make no apology for defending the sovereignty of
Malaysia and the interests of our people.
There are some who did not want me to go to Gaza
in 2013, for instance. But what right did anyone have to tell a
democratically-elected Muslim leader not to pay a humanitarian visit to his
Palestinian brothers and sisters?
Again, if I had not forged an independent,
neutral path, I would not have been able to reach out to the rebels in Ukraine,
secure the wreckage and black boxes of flight MH17 that was shot down in 2014,
and retrieve the bodies of those who tragically were lost.
And when we faced the tragic disappearance of
Flight MH370, we would not have been able to bring 28 countries together in an
unprecedented coalition, with huge help from some of our partners, unless we
had pursued a policy of being open and friendly to all.
So, ladies and gentlemen,
Innovation is, yes, truly the path. It is the
path that has brought resilience, growth and an inclusive and sustainable model
for our economy in Malaysia.
It is the path that has enabled us to come up
with creative, new solutions that will drive us towards our goal of becoming a
high income status nation by 2020, and one where we continue to prize and
protect our diversity and harmony.
But it is also the path that has led us to reset
our foreign relations in a way that has led to tremendous gains for Malaysians
in terms of jobs, diplomatic leverage and future prospects – and also great
gains for our friends.
We do not wish for hostility with anyone. But
neither will we sacrifice our self-respect and our democratic process to
satisfy countries that seem to have forgotten that we now live in a multi polar
world.
We live in an age of a new equality between
nations. And innovation, both in the public service and across our societies,
is the key to unlocking the potential that countries across the Commonwealth
possess in abundance.
I am confident that this gathering of public
administrators and experts will, once again, in the spirit of CAPAM, bring
fresh and inventive solutions for the reinvention of the public sectors of our
nations – making them better for citizens, businesses, and society as a whole.
Your deliberations will be invaluable, and I do
hope you enjoy your time here in Malaysia.
On that note, I have great pleasure in declaring
the CAPAM Biennial Conference formally open.
Thank you.
