THERE IS NO SPOON! FLAWED IN OUR WORLD VIEW?

KEY NOTE ADDRESS BY YBHG TAN SRI SIDEK HASSAN
CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT

PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM – BEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP BY
THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL (NEAC)

THERE IS NO SPOON! FLAWED IN OUR WORLD VIEW?

27TH JANUARY 2011 (THURSDAY), 9.00 – 9.30 A.M
KL CONVENTION CENTRE

Bismillahir rahmaanir rahim

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh

A very good morning and Salam 1Malaysia

YB Senator Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz
Chairman of NEAC

His Excellency Mr. Miles Kupa Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia

Mr. Stephen Sedgwick
Public Service Commissioner, Australian Public Service Commission

Mr. Ian Buchanan
Chair of the Crawford Advisory, Crawford School of Economics & Government,
Australian National University

Secretaries-General

Heads of Departments

Members of the NEAC

Distinguished Speakers

Ladies and Gentlemen.

NEW YEAR, OLD PROBLEMS

Happy New Year and I am indeed delighted to be here today. As we are greeted by a 2011 that is seeing severe weather conditions from Australia to Europe and the USA, 2010 left us with many firsts both in its problems and the named solutions. The free market, touted the most stable form of economy in the era of capitalism, saw darts of doubts thrown at it from all corners. With several shaken economies in Europe, and a barely recovering US economy, on the back of a rising China, heat is placed on what the “correct” value of currency at any particular point in global economy should be. How can we all price prosperity fairly for all?

2. It is often said, if war is God’s way of teaching mankind geography, recession is His way of teaching us economy. 2010 also saw dire performance from teams with international stars like England and Brazil in the World Cup. This said, Australia seems to be doing well in the 2011 Ashes Series as this speech was prepared. Well, it takes cricket to play cricket!

3. Many of the world’s crisis tell a story. In the words of Mark Twain, “The past does not repeat itself but it rhymes”. The events of the last two years are not altogether new. They are just the same old events drawn IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT now dressed by internet, securitisation, globalisation, and technology. A servant of King Solomon would repeatedly say to the King during good as well as bad times, “This too shall pass”. It was his way of keeping the King grounded, knowing that history always moved in spirals. Consequently ignoring history condemns one to repeating it again, albeit in a different time and space.

FLAWED WORLD VIEW

4. The truth that rears at every crisis which hit the shores of our lands in whatever form or fashion, name or rhyme is that when it does happen, (crisis that is), our realities can no longer be the same again. We can no longer return to “The good old days”. Our normals are forcibly re-defined. Our constants become so nebulous that we are pressed, voluntarily or otherwise, to seek new definitions of our new status and realities.

5. By way of example is the now well publicised and remarkable remarks by the former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, before the House Committee on Oversight and Governance Reform in 2008, post the Lehman Brothers’ collapse and the foreclosures. In a long and lauded tenure at the Federal Reserve — some nineteen years — Greenspan became an acclaimed free market card holder. He staunchly rooted for free market and has often been quoted saying that free markets lead to the best solutions and any constraints would lead to disastrous effects to capitalism.

6. But on 23 October of 2008, one saw a pale and pained Greenspan saying, “I found a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works, so to speak. I was shocked because I had been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”

7. The “flaw” was not the result of tardy data, nor can one argue like Naseem Taleb would in his book “The Black Swan” — no one saw it coming as it were. The “flaw” was due to a warped world view of organised market in an increasingly unorganised world. It was led by a “GIGO” — “garbage in garbage out” argument where the model was just fine, but the data and assumption of how the world worked was not.

8. NO matter our ascendency and experience, NO matter the breadth of our vision and designs, NO matter the mind-blowing theories we forge as the new mantra, none would see its rightful effect, if our own world view remained in a bottled time and space. Poignant in any crisis is that the thinking that landed us into the problem cannot be the one that will get us out of it.

9. The “flaw” as described by Greenspan reminds us that only when tragedy strikes our own homes and families in the form of illness, job loss, bankruptcy and foreclosures do we wonder if we have been drinking from a poisoned chalice of warped world view. Are everything we once believed in or taught to believe in, are what we should also believe in now? Or rather is that today’s reality?

10. As painful and soul wrenching some of these questions can be to governments and businesses, they are questions that deserve attendance, warrant attention even if they do not reach their concluding answers. Left unattended would and could unleash condemnation of history again.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

GROUNDHOG DAY

11. In 1993, Bill Murray starred in the well known movie titled the Groundhog Day. Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric TV weatherman who grudgingly covers the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney. According to folklore, it’s the day that would signify whether winter would end depending on the alignment of the cloud and the sun.

12. The plot of the movie revolves on how Phil Connors would wake to the same day, again and again and again. The town remains the same, the people identical to the day before. The strain would drive him to numerous suicide attempts until one day he decides to wake up to re-examine his life and priorities. The movie unveils how Phil struggles to find meaning and purpose in his life as he learns what works and what does not work. He placed all attention in altering his view of the world based on his own personal reality, as his external reality is fixed. He transforms his thoughts and values. He transforms what was the worst day of his life into his best day. The only thing that changed in this transformation was his thinking and his actions.

NOT A SPOON

13. There is a similar analogy in the science fiction movie “The Matrix” when Keannu Reeves, a computer programmer who moonlights as the hacker Neo would have the following conversation with Spoon Boy, a child he meets in his journey of self search.

Spoon Boy would say: Do not try to bend the spoon. That’s impossible.
Instead, only try to realise the truth.

Keanu would say: What truth?

And the Spoon Boy responds: There is no spoon. Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends. It is only yourself.

14. The spoon is used as a metaphor for our fixed views of ‘reality’. Rarely do we observe the world for what it is. It is much simpler to build a perceived order, load our preconceptions and baggage onto them to the point that they are heavy, rigid and unbendable. Reality, like the spoon, is not permanent. It is not immoveable. When we become fixated on a certain world view, we literally fence ourselves from the million experiences one can get from the brilliant shades of grey.

Colleagues,

15. By not bending the spoon, but by bending oneself instead, we see the new Immigration, Talent Corporation, the new Inland Revenue, 1 day land registration, OSC and others. Can we see a comprehensively improved land administration, further improvements in services of local authorities? Can we see Malaysia top in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business?

Ladies and Gentleman,

HIGH INCOME FOR WHO?

16. In our every quest to great change, we must not miss the small but important determinants that would manifest change in its every element. As Malaysia prepares towards becoming a high income economy, our focus must reach out to the seemingly peripheral determinants for sustainability of that Vision. Whilst the resounding determinant of high income is gross national income (GNI), and all of us must contribute and be religious to that in our action, we must not lose sight of the people who will make and sustain that GNI. High income does not relate only to leather office occupants, nor Ivy League graduates. It must apply to “every man and his dog” as is said in the colloquial English term.

17. What does high income really mean to the trader at Chow Kit, or the technology gizmo at Low Yat Plaza or my brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces in Cherok Paloh? What will it mean to the waiter at the Marriott or the one at the stalls? Do we increase the pay of one league and not the other? Will the janitor be able to afford a better education for his children? Indeed will his own children have a better future than his own?

REFORM LANDSCAPE

18. Reform agendas of any kind must address the subliminal structural issues. Whether in public or private sectors, media, non-governmental organisations and even the public, we all touch lives. Governments alone cannot save the world. Businesses, all kinds in the real economy, cannot take the view that their actions do not affect the world. Or that only government actions or inactions matter to our country’s global competitiveness. And so what are the subliminal issues?

19. Hans Rosling, a Swedish medical doctor and the co-founder of Gapminder Foundation in his presentation “Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries and 200 Years” described how countries once grouped down a low income and low life expectancy column in 1810 saw a change when the industrial revolution kicked in the early 20th century. The West became healthier, not least richer even as the rest of the world in Asia, Africa, and Americas trailed.

20. But all changed over the last few decades. The social structure of the world transformed. Asia and Latin America caught up with Europe and the US. Countries like China, India, Singapore and some in the Middle East, once placed within the low-income low-expectancy cluster, have risen to the top end of the chart of high-expectancy high-income cluster.

21. Whilst this convergence rallies great news, the change in global structure took a blow on human psychology especially in the once developed countries who today rank on par with, if not trail the once impoverished nations. The human effects of recession and losing competitiveness are seen in the USA, Japan and Europe.

22. The rise of many of the Asian, Latin American and Middle East countries is often attributed to the growth in their middle class. In 2000, the World Bank classified 430 million people as middle class. By 2030, there will be about 1.5 billion. But the rise in middle class also echo shift in global and local value system. Middle-class parents have fewer kids. They spend more time and money cultivating each one. They hold dear to such values like prudence, ambition, justice, freedom, order, moderation and continual self-improvement for instance. And, these we must address!

MAP COMPORTING REALITY

23. This evolution in global landscape is affecting the larger horizons of how countries are run to the more localised of how people behave. In our reform agenda, the subtle and subliminal effects of human psychology are often grossly missed. If the Map of Reform does not comport ground realities, we can be straddled by the perfect storm by way of market failures and human catastrophes.

24. The world is remodelling itself back to pre-industrialised times where we are seeing closer correlation between output and size of population. The USA deemed the largest consumer market and Asia the production hub, is experiencing role reversals. With the rise of China and India and over 590 million people now residing in ASEAN alone, we have more than half the population of the world residing in Asia today. It is thus not wrong to conclude that Asia could now be the consumer market and USA and Europe the production houses, with their high unemployment rates.

25. In this renewed world order, countries with larger population could wield the greater power simply because they own the consuming ability. The West’s monopoly of capital and technology is now shifting to Asia. China, once known as the imitation country, is clocking large patents and is fast becoming the innovation country. Consumers in the West, traditionally known for their spending are saving and we are seeing the reverse in Asia. Asians are spending more than they used to! Yes, even in Japan.

Colleagues,

ONE HIT WONDERS

26. These are mammoth changes of trends and lifestyles. They are changes that will have a resultant effect on human psychology and society development. I raise these points to put it to you that our every solution and service can no longer be a one hit wonder. It must be comprehensive enough to serve the times, to serve the complex demography, and to serve the global intricacies of trade and industry. We often content ourselves by seeing success in one segment of our business when there are numerous areas crying out for change and simplicity.

27. Artists like Beatles, Pavarotti, Michael Jackson, P. Ramlee and Sudirman were able to transcend generations and localities even with the rise of new entrants. Why? Because they made music that resonated with people of all times. Why do we still listen to music made some 30, 40, 50 years ago and call them “Evergreens”? Because, they still move us even as we may have long moved on from the ground realities of the 30 years. Because the lyrics and the rhythms still hit a chord in today’s realities. The same goes for movies. The same for good books. They were not the one hit wonders who served a moment in time, or even a generation. They served many generations. They filled our purpose beyond just a moment, nurtured us through many of life’s phases.

28. The service we offer needs to do the same. We cannot gloat of victory when we simplify one aspect of our service or one part of our organisation. The transformation of the Malaysian Public Service requires all Ministries and Departments, at all levels: Federal, State, local to move in tandem and in concert. The global competitiveness of our country, Malaysia can only happen when both the public and private sectors reorganise correspondingly. In the final analysis, there cannot be any modernisation and progress in a market if only parts of it embrace reform. We cannot experience sustainable competitiveness if only one constituent is called to be accountable for that competitiveness. Every part, every member, everybody who makes a society must take responsibility for reform and must bear pride in the country’s success. Hence why the New Economic Model is ours!

29. The success and failures of our reforms are rooted in our world views. It is anchored in how open we are to drastically changing our ways for the times. It resides in our abilities and preparedness in the public and private sectors to move pass limiting agendas of “bottom line” or “for profit only”, to the larger social and development order. To move pass confined realities to understanding the larger impact of our actions, every action to generations that will succeed us.

GREAT MEN, GREAT FAILURES

Ladies and Gentlemen,

30. Great men have been greeted by great failures when they allow the “Groundhog Day” syndrome into their lives. Great nations have seen staggering failures when they are stifled by “The Spoon” mindset. No team can enjoy continual success, if they keep playing the same game for a different time. The 2010 World Cup gave us some good insights on this. Greatness of any action, any society and any country, I am persuaded, is made by the humility of seeing the world for what it is and steering the sails to suit, even if at times, even if at times, we may be sailing into the winds.

31. Niccolo Machiavelli puts it succinctly in his book “The Prince”, and I quote:

“For although these men were singular and extraordinary, after all they were but men, not one of whom had so great an opportunity as now presents itself to you. For their undertakings were not more just than this, nor more easy, nor God more their friend than yours”. (End quote.)

Colleagues,

32. The opportunity and the undertaking are ours. Fortune more often favours the bold. The one who has enough courage and humility to say – – my model and assumptions no longer works, we need to simply work with new ones.

I thank you for your patience.

I thank you for embracing and helping to realise the GTP, the ETP, the NEM, the 10th Malaysia Plan.

I thank you for endeavouring to continually be ahead of the curve.

Above all, I thank you for working to realise the dream of making Malaysia’s Public Service the Benchmark of the World, Insya Allah.

Wabillahittaufik walhidayah
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh.