letter to the new PM

Dear (new) Mr. Prime Minister,

1. Malaysia is a blessed country. Despite it all, we have managed to live quite happily, peacefully, decently and if I may also say, without much hardship. But Malaysia needs a radical change and Malaysians are ready for this change. The “rakyat” demands this change as a matter of fact. What I mean by change is not necessarily a change of government but most importantly, a change in how the government is run and managed.  This challenge as the new Prime Minister is indeed a very big and responsible one for you. You must be our PM regardless of race, religion and party. Give politics a rest because it is not getting us anywhere in fact, it is regressing us.  We are politicizing everything and the culture and structure is such. We need to change this. As our new PM,  I hope and pray that when you assume office, you will focus on us the rakyat, in making these radical changes to “change” the way Malaysia has been governed in the last 52 years.  Change for the better. We need to transform Malaysia and you need to show us that you mean business. Not politics.

2. One good way to restore confidence in the rakyat is to focus clearly on what you want to achieve as our new PM. Let us in on your master plan for the country – short term, medium term and long term.  Tell us what your dreams and aspirations are and why it will be a dream that we can make our own. Your communication strategy is key and you must be able to make us work with you to bring Malaysia to the greatest height yet.  We want to be responsible and accountable just like you in this pursuit. It is time for a strong and willful action plan that will be executed in utmost transparency and accountability.  May I also add, to be executed in a creative win-win manner.  You must get the rakyat involved in your premiership. This is the only way you will get everyone regardless of political affiliation to support you. There is no reason not to.

3. Change the way your cabinet is structured and how it functions. Your appointed ministers are more often than not NOT professionals who are experts or knowledgeable in their own ministries. Lets call a spade a spade. I strongly suggest you create a private sector exco committee employed for every ministry comprising of reputable field experts and industry captains that will co-manage these ministries as if they were world class companies and organizations.  You need to energize government administration and get the civil service excited about this proposition.  Appoint a professional CEO representing the exco that will work with the Minister on the day to day operations. The Secretary General shall remain for the sake of the civil service.

4. Increase the salaries of Ministers to RM5-10 million per term of 5 years.  Give them a life that will make them more than comfortable and not seek opportunities for corrupt practices. It is far cheaper to pay the cabinet ministers 5m each or even 10m compared to all the money we could have saved from bad deals, bad decisions  and corrupt practices in the past. As crazy as this may sound, please see the merit of it.  Watch them (the ministers) like a hawk and there must be a special body that audits the KPIs of ministers and ministry performance. If they are found guilty of corruption, send them to jail. No compassion or political protection.  This would apply even to the Prime Minister himself.  Abolish the posts of Deputy Ministers. This is not the time to reward politicians with positions that does not carry any REAL power but instead, focus on bringing on board the best brains related to any particular Ministry. You must show the rakyat that you are a PM of change and the change is for Malaysia. These aspiring politicians must get back to basics in wanting to serve the rakyat without expecting any reward of perceived importance and power.   The more posts you have of perceived importance, the more intense the politics would be hence contributing to money politics.  Similarly, reduce the posts in the party and reduce the supreme council seats. The rakyat will support you because we can’t afford anymore financial leakages and sub-standard governance.  Yes I know this is too idealistic but the point is clear – leadership is by example and the cabinet leads by this principle.

5. Limit the tenure of every minister to 5 years only (1 election term) unless he or she is able to sustain the top 5 position in their respective parties then they can remain a cabinet minister.  With the role of a professional exco team in each ministry, there is less impact on the arrival or departures of ministers. The policies must be somewhat independent of the ministers and be more relevant to the objective of the ministry. We need to put a stop to this extreme change of regime (business, contracts, service provider etc) every time a ministry has a new minister. It is bad for business and overall stability.  Every politician’s main ambition is to rise to be a member of the cabinet. This way, many more will get the chance to become a minister in your cabinet and prove their worth. in the  time that they get.  Personally I feel this will help eradicate money politics in some way because merit will be judged and merit will always prevail. You can change the ministers every 5 years without the sensitivity of keeping any outdated cabinet member who has expired his or her benefit for the rakyat. The senior ministers shall be retained if they continue to be in the top 5 positions as decided by the respective political parties.  This will create a senior cabinet portfolio.  There is no substitute for MERIT.  It should be the thrust “branding” of your executive administration.

6. Create a shadow government for the Opposition. They may have contributions that your government can benefit from and this will create the biggest confidence in the rakyat. Why battle like small children when both parties can actually work together where applicable. They have good people too.  By doing this, you are also giving them a sense of importance which otherwise they will fight you for it.  Its just a shadow cabinet without any powers and we must never be afraid of our shadows.

7. Race unity is not very healthy currently. How do you address this issue so that we don’t see the bad of each race and instead work with the good of each race harmoniously? Does racial based politics help or make it worse? Are we ready for Barisan Nasional (or Barisan Rakyat for that matter) to be a single political party? If addressed properly I am sure a formula can be worked out.  Such a move will not alienate the need to protect or improve any particular race but more so, the betterment of all Malaysians. The individual parties within BN can still champion the goals and desires of their race, religion and culture in a subset form which is part of the bigger formula – A Bangsa Malaysia.  The Malays need not worry because UMNO will continue to fight and protect the Malay Supremacy. But the Malays must also showcase such “Supremacy”.  If either “Barisan” can successfully achieve this, then this would be the political platform Malaysians would go for.  Yes radical times call for radical measures.

8. Revamp the education system in entirety. We seriously worry for the future of our children in facing the global world if we do not prepare them for it now.  Where does our syllabus stand in competition with 1st world countries? How can we assess the current state of affairs? Our schools are in bad shape physically and such an environment will never promote a healthy growth of the mind. We even lack basic requirements that should make a school an education playground.  How many schools are equipped with a proper library or computers? How do we implement ICT in schools independent of supply contracts etc? The quality of teachers today are more that of administrators (and even politicians) as compared to before where teachers were a unique group of committed and dedicated individuals passionate in providing knowledge and wisdom.  You should extend the retirement of teachers to age 65 because they still have plenty in them to dispense beyond the current retirement age. Call back the older teachers who I believe are still from the “old school” of education as compared to the younger timid ones who treat it merely as a paying job. Perhaps the interaction between the 60’s year old teachers and these young 20-30’s year old rookies will create an overlap of style and wisdom. It is not too late. I left school about 20 years ago and my teachers then are very different from the teachers now.  Likewise the teachers during your time would be superior and different from my time.  But the point is that the quality is sliding downwards and we need to stop it.  A period of 20 years is not that long and we can still bridge the gap. Principals of great schools should not be administratively driven civil servants from the Ministry. In fact for selected schools, it would be wise to let an old boy or old girl to be the principal of their Alma Mater if they qualify.  This will ensure a continuous style of tradition that makes a good school a great school. My earlier article about the concept of a semi-private education system should also be considered seriously as this will elevate the standards of selected schools and give parents a choice. The issue about language should be addressed once and for all.  Lets not get emotional about national language but lets be practical about the childrens’ future.  If the world accepts English as a common language platform, then lets go for it!  How do we improve the standard of English in all schools in Malaysia? Employ up to 20,000 Indian nationals who master English as a language and make them English teachers in the rural schools.  This is a cheaper task compared to dreaming and waiting for our own TESL graduates (majority of them) to learn and be comfortable with the English language.  The syllabus and teaching system overhaul needs an independent commission to look at its new objectives.  We need to benchmark with proven success.  If foreign help is required, let’s get them too.  Lets not take this subject of education lightly because in this rapid world of change and globalization, we cannot afford to see our children the future generation left behind.  Currently, we seriously risk that.

9. Improve healthcare. I am not a doctor so I will not say much on this topic. But suffice to say that our public hospitals must start looking like a place where wellness is the paramount objective.  A 1st world country must have 1st world healthcare services and policies. Where are we with regards to this?  Please devise and revise a national healthcare policy for both the public and private sectors. Have a common insurance panel platform for economies of scale and efficiency.  Let us share this benefit so that as a big group, we reduce the burden of quality personal healthcare.  The government should also go into joint ventures with private sectors to build new and co-manage government hospitals.  We need smaller hospitals in more places.  “Budget” hospital proposals by the private sector should be greatly encouraged by the government and free land should be allocated for it.

10. As the new PM, you should take the bold step of completely changing the way the government spends its annual budget.  This is the most important aspect of change that you can bring about. We should not be adding a subtracting from a standard template anymore. Ask the rakyat what the priorities are?  Access current priorities without any bias.  Have independent consultation on this matter and make it transparent. A new Prime Minister must have different “wallet habits” from his or her predecessors.  Why follow what has been practiced in the past?  Be radical and show us that money will be well spent creatively, wisely and prudently.  We need better schools and hospitals instead of new palaces or new planes. Public facilities and infrastructure which benefits public directly like transportation must be improved.  We are not spending enough on public infrastructure.  Tax payers money must be spent on public benefit first. Government can work with private sectors even in areas that were predominantly the domain of government administration. My earlier article on a National Scholarship Fund is an example of this.

11. Revolutionize tender policies that can help to curb corruption by creating a “mothership” concept when allocating mega projects and even small tenders. Create a central National Project Management Unit (NPMU)  with sub-units focusing on below RM100m, 100-500m, 500-1b and above 1b projects awarded  regardless if direct tender or concession/PFI.  The government must be in its own right, an efficient project manager to avoid all the hazards of wasting money through improper awarding of projects and the implementation of it. The “mothership” concept promotes a joint effort turnkey implementation decided upfront which structures the many levels of service and product providers and with individual scope of work clearly spelled out. Direct contract awards are then given to each individual level of provider. Not forgetting NPMU must obtain the “best prices” for every job with a structured audit policy of quality and time performance. The NPMU must set clear criteria for all levels of contracts and manage the panel registration of ALL providers of service and products.  The NPMU must be a key corporatised  and independent government organization that will monitor all the government contracts regardless of the ministries it is awarded by. Award contracts, concession ideas, privatization ideas in a structured manner.  Make it clear what the different roles are between the promoter, expertise provider, financier and organizational partnership models.  Why should an individual promoter individual or company get the majority stake in major government contract awards?  Make it compulsory for promoters and expert partners to work in equity collaboration with a Government linked company, a recognized foundation and even a charity organization.  We are killing 2 birds with one stone here. Yes another crazy idea but if it works why not.

12. Key social and nation growth areas such as the arts, sports, heritage and culture should be independently run from the civil service. We are destroying these important nation building aspects by letting civil servants run their programs.  Each of this important pillars of nation building must be governed by an independent foundation assisted by government funds and subsidy.  Let passionate and knowledgeable personalities manage this organizations.  Government can provide special tax rebates to private sector companies that support these foundations in excess of a certain amount. Selected companies can also be asked to “adopt” a particular area of sports for example and if they can commit money to this particular sport and nurture its growth, the government should give them a tax deduction for the entire amount committed.  It is still tax payer’s money but because it is funded directly, chances are there will be more transparency in execution.  CIMB is a good example of being focused in supporting a particular sport like Squash.  But their commitment to the sport can go beyond what they are currently doing if there is a structured policy on this which supports it.  Likewise heritage preservation and the arts, it can be severely detrimental to let civil servants decide its overall policies.  Our National Art Gallery is a fine example of this lack of proper guidance and management.  It takes a different breed of people to run such organizations.  Even the National Art Gallery board is not representative of the desired group which one would expect to see.  Another example – The KLPac was founded and initiated by YTL and championed by 2 talented and passionate individuals  who have demonstrated what divine greatness private sector participation and guided passion can do.  If your win-win policy encourages YTL to do more for the arts than what it can afford to do now purely as a CSR project, then I am sure we can see success in these few areas thus realizing a hope in creating world class talents for Malaysia to showcase to the world.  Sometimes we need to address this “Ketuanan Malaysia” issue first.

13.  Create world class brands that compete globally.  Retail brands are often the benchmark of a nation’s  perceived success and consumer sophistication.  We must have our own Samsungs and Sonys if we want Malaysia to be a force in the consumer world market.  There are companies that have reached the level of success locally and government must devise an investment policy to take these companies out of Malaysia.  The Government should invest in the locally successful Secret Recipe or Habib Jewels and take them globally! If not, others will and there goes another Jimmy Choo that we can only talk about but not benefit from.  Khazanah, please take note.

To be continued in part 2.

shaik rizal sulaiman

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