The CM of Penang recently announced an Integrity Award for public officials who are \”truth-speakers and seekers,\” or \”whistle-blowers,\” or to those who give feedback that leads to reduction and the revelation of obvious corruption within their jurisdictions.

The CM needs all our sincere support, accolade and advice on how to make this work!

While I served at INTAN, as part of the teaching faculty, I once revealed \”wrong-doing wherein a boss took payments for a job which was part and parcel of his normal duty of teaching!\”

I was severely reprimanded by that boss and later he \”marked down my evaluation\” under the disguised false agenda of \”promoting Malay public servants ahead of non-Malays.\”

I even missed my \”excellence award\” that year though I had met all the conditions required for introducing a new course on \”productivity measurement in the public services.\”

So much for the subjective applications of KPI and performance evaluation!

Years later in 1986, at the launch of the National Productivity Measurement Programme by the then deputy finance minister, we also inserted a ‘new idea\’ that teams of public servants who ‘save the government large sums of money through productivity and efficiency efforts,\” can and should be rewarded 10 percent of the savings to be used for the improvement of their office environment.\”

That idea too was shot down. Many such ideas for innovation and creativity somehow have no traction within bureaucracies!

Good ideas seem only to be born in the West!

Therefore it is very interesting and telling for me to read that the Chief Secretary to the Government reminding civil servants to remain \”neutral and professional in the exercise of their duties,\” without additional conditionality\’s in matters where they apply discretion.\”

It is the lack of integrity in our evaluation, promotion and decision-making systems that have seriously contributed to our inability to achieve a culture of excellence based on truth.

Politically correct answers rewarded

Politically correct answers were rewarded and often truth was sacrificed for expediency in implementation of projects.

One was never promoted for integrity and awards were given mainly for blindly supporting mainstream views on most matters.

Most of my family of 5 siblings and 5 in-laws have served or are still serving in the public service.

And that too, all of us did without having had the benefit of any government scholarships during our undergraduate years.

My only \”scholarship\” was the 4 years of excellent character development training we had at the Royal Military College (RMC).

RMC was then the best multi-ethnic fully residential school in the nation, without any doubt.

Moreover my extended family happens to come from that generation of parents who highly valued public service-type jobs and the related security it offered.

Serving in the public services was a calling. But such a value in public services seems to be no more.

The new CM of Penang is therefore promoting their CAT philosophy or the competence, accountability and transparency agenda because the newer world order of internet-worked life and living requires it.

Under this order most technology and communication systems do not allow systems that are not open, transparent and accountable.

For example, even before one finishes a press conference, both information and disinformation from the text has travelled at the speed of light and is being reproduced for the rest of the world to read, see and evaluate with literally no recourse for the communicator to review and correct the wrong signals which have gone out.

That was how the new CM was almost put on a clash course with the Federal Government over the NEP issue immediately on taking office.

Twisting the facts

The then unfriendly mainstream media twisted his truth seeking stance on the NEP issue and placed him on the crash course.

Now, everybody, including the chief secretary to the government, seem to be fully aware that we must all support truth and honesty in all matters and move to remove all hindrances that will affect meritocracy and good performance.

Therefore, integration with integrity is the most important value for work and life today; whether for large systems or small systems; whether for families or communities or for the individual.

Why else would a stadium built and named as a symbol to our King, who remains our umbrella for authority, responsibility and accountability for the nation, collapse in the great state of Trenggannu?

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Obviously, our problem with construction of mega projects , whether its the MRR2 or the Stadium, is that even large systems and players are just as corrupt and decayed as the management and operations of small systems like the so-called Class F contractors.

So, my dear minister of works, please review all your works, reworks and non-works; for they are all corrupt to the core.

The Malaysian construction industry is corrupt to the core and unless we start with a brand new design of CAT systems, we are doomed to see more failures of existing physical monuments to that will advertise our modern skill, efficiency and prowess and decadence.

Frankly, to my mind the modern worldview itself is collapsing. That is what we see already happening in the US. Who would have ever thought or imagined that the great GM would ever go under?

It has now.

Henry Ford once said, what is good for Ford is good for America; I believe this worldview does not hold true anymore.

The model of the older captain in the calm ocean-going vessel no longer exists.

Today, leadership involves white-water rafting down a river full of rapids, and the skill of leadership is not centred on the captain\’s white cap.

But rather it is based on his skills in communication, vision-casting and using influence rather than power and authority to get people to define their leadership

The word I received from the ground is that the new government in Penang is doing some things right.

They are successfully mobilizing the third sector of national governance, which I call the civil society and community groups, into the Good Governance agenda.

Positive vibes in Penang

I hear civil society groups are now participating and involved in the governance of the Penang state libraries.

I even heard of the story of how one community group is participating in the renewal and refurbishment of one such library.

New leadership styles and models are needed and are being deployed to improve the performance of the Penang state governance.The chief minister is promoting the entire concept of real partnerships in the development of a new Penang community and seems to be receiving positive vibes from the people.

I also hear that the promotion of the new state chief financial officer was based on a high integrity and performance perspective which is the beginning of the new CAT philosophy in application and reward.

The introduction of the Integrity Award for such public service officers, without favour or fear, and based entirely on performance, is a real feather in the cap of the new CM and his CAT.

Now that the PM is also at least talking about such a \”cat theology\” of performance, meritocracy and colour-blindness, we may be starting to move in the right direction, but there is a need to move fast enough before the pessimists recoil and strike back.

I hope that the chief secretary and the chief minister of Penang can set the stage for a real 1Malaysia through agreement and implementation of this Integrity Award culture.