KSN’S MEDIA CONFERENCE ON WARKAH UNTUK PM WEBSITE

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Thank you for coming at such short notice. We need to share with you the overwhelming public response to ‘Warkah Untuk PM’ or the PM’s website. The bulk of messages of which are related to public delivery of services, which is my direct purview.

2. To date we have received close to 2500 messages on the website, indicative of a vibrant and enthusiastic public who is equally engrossed in improving the management of the public delivery system, if not the public service itself, among other things.

3. Some of these messages no doubt, are reminiscent of past complaints lodged by the public, which in essence seek redress and our attention to help initiate improvement and more improvements. However, there are others that take the form of insightful ideas and suggestions, which we welcome as they are workable and are worthy of implementation.

4. Allow me to share with you some breakdown of these feedbacks;-

As of 3rd March emails to PM came from:
• Malays – 1056
• Chinese – 815
• Indian – 294
Of which,
76.93% are deemed positive;
12.43% are negative; and 227 messages were neutral.

Email senders range from :-
• students to senior citizens
• government servants
• Malaysians living abroad
• NGO,
• Expatriate
• Companies – local and foreign
How we will respond

Depending on nature of messages there will be a few levels of response:-

• Prime Minister’s Office

• The office of KSN ; and

• full time secretariat will be in place in JPM

Issues relating to the following will be dealt with urgency:-
I. Crime
II. Rising prices
III. Immigration
IV. Education

The Inspector General of Police, the Secretary General of KPDNHEP, DG of Immigration, Secretaries General of Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education have been tasked to act immediately.

Senders of message will be notified of:
I. Progress made
II. Outcome of action

The progress of warkahuntukpm.com.my will be made via frequent media announcements, once a month at least.

5. The nature of feedback we have received to date can be broken down into the following groups:

a. Improved service delivery at local councils;

b. Improving front line agencies;

c. Customer focused public officials;

d. Accountability in Public Service;

e. Rethinking e- processes to make them more user friendly; and

f. Rethinking some processes that may not work for the times to better business environment

These are indeed, also areas of our focus in Public Service commitment of 2008 which was announced on 16 January 2008

6. The Prime Minister has taken cognizance on these valuable suggestions, put them through the analysis cycle and given them due deliberation as promised. Responses have been drafted and they are to go out to the senders as soon as this conference is over. The listening and delivering cycle then becomes complete. You may ask, how is this different from PEMUDAH?

7. As PEMUDAH, is a collaboration between public and private sector initiated by the Prime Minister to boost ease of doing business in Malaysia, Warkah Untuk PM. Com is a collaboration between 7 NGOs to promote a PEMUDAH-type task force which will be announced by the Prime Minister soon to ensure a platform of flourishing culture of responsiveness to and from the civil society in our country.
8. As announced by our Deputy Prime Minister over the weekend Warkah untuk PM.com is a collaboration of 7 NGOs namely:-

• Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia,
• Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association (FOMCA),
• Kongres Kesatuan Pekerja-Pekerja Dalam Perkhidmatan Awam (CUEPACS),
• National Council of Women’s Organisations (NCWO),
• Tabung Amanah Muhibah (TAMU)
• Yayasan Kajian dan Strategi Melayu (YKSM); and
• Yayasan Pekerja Malaysia

9. My intention this afternoon is to share with you the follow-up action taken by the Prime Minister with regard to these issues. It is also important that we establish the fact that the PM has taken ownership of this website and welcomes all messages be it a comment, suggestion, viewpoint or even constructive criticism. The important thing is the website is as much the people’s website as it is the government’s, as it is aimed to perform as a two-way channel for the government and the people to get connected, bound by a mission to continually improve the delivery of public services and the quality of life for all Malaysians.

10. Allow me to now give you some information on the cases, which have been given due attention and input from all relevant parties, and finally the appropriate coordinated response.

• Where it affects a resident complaints – Head of Local Authorities have been directed to address the complaints immediately and take the necessary private sector, if any, to task should they have been involved in the cause of the complaints;

• Where it affects pensions and tax matters – Pensions Department and LHDN are in touch with the complainants directly;

• Where it is students and parents, Ministry of Higher Education and Education are tasked to address this with immediate effect;

• On crime matters, PDRM has launched many new “Balai Polis” to ensure the public have access to police at all times;

• What is essential ultimately is that we receive your complaints, comments and feedbacks in order for us to address the issues of concern effectively;

11. These are some examples and the Public Service has been addressing these issues directly with the media and the people and we will continue to strengthen this engagement culture as we need your feedback to enhance our service delivery.

12. With that I thank you again for being here and am happy to take any questions that you may have.

Thank you.