NOT FOR A FEW GOOD MEN – THE SYSTEM IS OURS

Keynote Address by the Chief Secretary to the Government
At The Roundtable Discussion “The Code of Public Governance”

Cluster of Governance, Law and Public Management
Majlis Profesor Negara

Bismillahir rahmaanir rahim

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh

Good morning and Salam 1Malaysia

Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob
Executive Director, Perdana Leadership Foundation

Y. Bhg. Professor Dr. Raduan Che Rose
Secretary of the Majlis Profesor Negara

YBhg. Professor Dr. Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood,
Head of Cluster, Governance, Law & Public Management
Majlis Profesor Negara

Y.Bhg Tan Sri Dato’ Setia Haji Ambrin Buang,
Auditor General, Malaysia

Y. Bhg. Dato’ Dr. Ismail Alias
Deputy Director-General
Public Service Department

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The subject of governance motivates much discourse, often concluding with profound emotions and sentiments. These arguments can surmount many opinions that culminate into disappointments and despondence. Disappointed by the system, the process, the leaders who were supposed to make it happen and most of all disappointed for losing the hope for something better. What I will not seek to do today is to provide you with a blueprint for public governance. I would be deluding myself and the audience if I even begin to offer this. I will do my humanly best to put to you the elements that often predicate strong and sustainable governance, in all sense of the word. On that note I would like to thank you for inviting me here today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

LYDIA

2. For those of you who may be familiar with the work of the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, you might know of this account. Ancient dice was made of sheep knuckles some 2,500 years ago. Herodotus disclosed that dice games were first invented in the kingdom of Lydia during a time of famine. There was continuous and severe famine in the land, such that the King of Lydia decided that they had to implement something that would distract the people from the extreme conditions of suffering which led to in-fighting.

3. A kingdom-wide policy was adopted where on one day everybody would play the dice game, and on the other, everybody would eat. The games were so absorbing and engaging that the people would forget the suffering and hunger, the pain and anguish they had to endure. On the next day they would eat and on the alternate day they would play the game again.

4. According to Herodotus they passed 18 years surviving through famine by eating on one day and playing dice games on the next. When the famine did not recede after 18 years, the King decided they would play one final dice game. He divided the entire kingdom in half. It was collectively decided that the winners of that game would leave Lydia in search of a new place to live, leaving behind just enough people to survive on the available resources.

5. Recent DNA evidence has shown that the Etruscans, who made up the ancient civilisation of Italy leading to the Roman Empire, shared the same DNA as the ancient Lydians. And so scientists have suggested that Herodotus’ seemingly wild accounts did actually happen. As outlandish as this story may sound to us today, this act probably saved a civilisation. It saved a civilisation by making everyone own the solution to a problem.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

WHOSE SYSTEM IS IT?

6. The modern world is modulated by ideological encounters. We are all involved in this, whether we decide to partake in it or be a victim of it. Thus any form of governance calls on us all, you and I, to take control and develop the system that works for all of us. When we decry that the system has failed us, is it not that we are the system? Is it not that what we condone and approve makes a system in a society?

7. The shelves of our libraries adorn numerous text books and articles on governance, we have heard great speeches delivered on the lack of it, and decrees pronounced across the world to address it. But within and without it all can we truly place our hands over our hearts and say we finally have a model that works for all times? And if not why so?

IN SEARCH OF HUMANITY OR PRODUCTIVITY?

8. Humanism and humanity each has its unique meaning even as each is derived from the common word “human”. A human is not a sum of all the different parts of his biological function as is a painting reduced to the quantity of paint used. There is more to being a human, and there is more to what makes a painting exclusive. What a place of worship stands for is not similar to what government offices represent even if both are built on bricks and mortar. Equally a dictionary filled with words is not the same as a poem which has meaning and sometimes unattainable essence.

9. I raise these comparatives to put it to you that the very essence of governance must delve deep into essence, element and substance of what makes a society. It must be rooted on the values and principles that the society aspires for. Simply put, it must respond to the society it serves and NOT to the critics who merely observe.

WHAT IS GOVERNANCE, REALLY?

10. And so we ask ourselves what is governance? What predicates it? And indeed is the ultimate goal of governance founded on progress alone? Or, must elements of humanity be the driving force of governance? Bees are probably the best example of a well organised social life in the animal kingdom. But they completely lack what we call humanism, protection of the weak, the right to life, appreciation, recognition and so forth. Bees totally discard useless members in their community by simply throwing them out of the beehive. So should governance be a protection of the productive only, or of all who make a society?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

11. Governments are to serve the needs of the public. Governance in governments is to ensure those needs are served efficiently, effectively and fairly by way of clear processes and structures. But when private corporations fail to meet shareholders’ expectations, does that become a matter of public or corporate governance? When we find large businesses floundering in standards of governance, is it true that only the business suffers? Or rather that the people and the country where the business resides bear the repercussions of the failure?

12. When the British Petroleum Oil Spill took place off the coast of Mexico, the Financial Times reported on President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. In its article of 6 January 2011, the FT quoted a damning paragraph:

“The well blew out because a number of separate risk factors, oversights, and outright mistakes combined to overwhelm the safeguards meant to prevent just such an event from happening. But most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure – a failure of management.”

13. A “single overarching failure – a failure of management” in this disaster affected the livelihood of hundreds, caused havoc to wildlife and the environment, brought into question the role of non-governmental organisations and media in their own oversights of governance in the market place, and of course brought to the fore the role of governments in monitoring businesses. Is it fair then to conclude that failures of corporations are a private matter? Equally can one argue that weak public institutions have no bearing on the competitiveness of private businesses? Is it also fair to ask if the roles of media and NGOs should start before a catastrophe, rather than simply reacting and reporting after the fact?

BENCHMARKING WHO AGAIN?

14. Given the complexities of the market place and the fast changing global demography, what are the benchmarks and governance standards that apply for today? Does a less developed nation benchmark a developed? Do emerging markets use mature markets as their yardstick? Have we a model that has saved any nation, any society, and any civilisation escape the catastrophes that governance or the lack of it can bring about? Or rather can we all, across cultures and race, nations and governments, businesses and markets share a common aspired standard of governance?

15. As the world experiences continued progress, we see a rise in psychologically less satisfied people. We have higher numbers of suicide and mental disorders today with the rise in standards of education and quality of life. When one postulates that governance is proportionate to progress, can we safely say that evidence of recent times supports this prognosis? Or, is greater progress bringing forth greater imperfections in societies and systems?
Ladies and Gentlemen,

FACE OF THE SYSTEM

16. Man is a product of his environment, as is an environment a product of society. The bearer of culture is man and the bearer of civilisation is society. It is then not wrong to conclude that our rights and wrongs, acceptance and reprieve as individuals and society maketh what we deem “THE SYSTEM”.

17. When we say that our government is inefficient, our laws are too old, our local councils have not stepped up to the plate, the internet connection is a joke or the transport system is a laugh can we also reflect our own roles in each of these situations? What have we each done about it beyond SAYING, SAYING and SAYING?

18. When we are in someone else’s country and we have to pay abominable taxes, or are told that we are not allowed to smoke or discard chewing gum in public, or speed beyond a certain limit or beat the lights or stop at pedestrian crossings or park only in certain areas, are we not willing and able to comply and relent? Why so do we allow ourselves to respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but not in our own? Yet, we indiscriminately throw rubbish and cigarettes on the road the moment we touch Malaysian soil. If we can be an involved and appreciative citizen in a foreign country, why can’t we do the same in our own?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

NOT JUST ABOUT DOING THE RIGHT THING

19. Governance in its every sense and essence is predicated on human calculation. Benchmarks and yardsticks of other societies and countries are simply that – benchmarks. They cannot be duplicated and imitated if the participants are not willing to exercise and implement the aspired standards. The often said term, “doing the right thing” is relative from person to person, society to society, culture to culture and generation to generation.

20. In the final analysis, the system of governance in a society must safeguard and preserve humanity, and sanctify shared human values that cut across ideological differences. So if we each rise to sanctify bad values, the governance in our system will preserve just that. The contrary of course is equally true.

21. The face of our public and private institutions is a reflection of what we condone or penalise as a society, and as a country. And so when we demand excellence in one part of our society, we must equally have delivered that excellence in our own business, our own lives, and our own sectors. When we seek progress in one part of our markets, in essence as commentators we are simply saying aspire to be like me, and so the ME must have delivered sustainable progress which can be mirrored.

22. As Malaysia moves to enhance its economic capacity, the Economic Transformation Programme has identified 92% of growth from the private sector, and 8% from the public sector in the next 10 years alone. Thus, the landscape of governance in our corporate boardrooms is critical in garnering a strong flow of private investment into Malaysia. The backdrop of public sector oversights must ensure that the private sector exudes unyielding accountability, transparency, innovation and expansion in our economy. Our systems must seek to strengthen where work still needs to be done, and must bring to task those who have failed.

SMALL EVENTS, BIG RETURNS

23. Often the fundamentals of governance are inculcated in the simplest of events and actions. In the book “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation”, John Carlin writes of the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted in that country following the dismantling of apartheid. While Mandela attempts to tackle the country’s largest problems — crime and unemployment — he attends a game of the Springboks, the country’s rugby union team. Mandela saw the blacks in the stadium cheering against their home squad. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year’s time, Mandela convinces a meeting of the newly-black-dominated South African Sports Committee not to change the Springboks’ name and colours but rather to ensure the same team reaches out to all South Africans.

24. As depicted in the movie “Invictus”, Mandela would argue that this one game, played by the minority could be used as a means to bringing consensus, reconciliation and pride back into South Africa. All of his aides disagreed as they felt that integration and reconciliation could only be achieved through specific policy measures. One of his aides would go so far as to tell him that it was an incorrect political calculation. Mandela would abruptly cut her off by saying its “human calculation”. Another one of his aides, Jason Tshabalala would strive to dampen Mandela’s views by saying “According to the experts, we’ll reach the quarter-finals, and no further.” To which Nelson Mandela would reply: “According to the experts, you and I should still be dead.”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

25. As tax payers in this country, we can choose to partake or be a victim of Malaysia’s destiny. Our prosperity lies in how we approach governance, and approach it meaningfully as involved citizens and not prime time commentators. The system isn’t someone else’s problem. It is ours, yours and mine. It isn’t the job of a few good men, but the work of all good men and women.

26. This is the critical message that should feature in the discussions for the development of a Code of Public Governance. After all, any public governance code would have to mirror all aspects of the prevailing societal culture in articulating expectations about trust, transparency, accountability and integrity. As an instrument that expresses a vision of excellence and idealism, such a code should enhance our appreciation of the underlying values that will serve the interests of society and the nation.

27. If the makings of our prosperity involve playing dice games as the Lydians did, that would be our collective choice but a choice we set for ourselves as parents, leaders and tax payers as WE ARE THE SYSTEM. In the words of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India:

“If a country is to be corruption-free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher”.

I would add just three more – you, and me and all of us.

28. On that note I wish for a meaningful and fruitful discussion in today’s session that will bring forth implementable solutions for all of us.

Thank you.
Wabillahittaufiq wal hidayah
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabaratuh.