Ooops Sikap, not Ops Sikap

At the UCSI Faculty of Economics and Policy Science, we teach how to analyse policies and make public policy recommendations. Two weekends ago, we had more than 80 young participants in the first Malaysia Public Policy Competition.

This initiative belongs to some of the Malaysians scholars (not necessarily PSD scholarship holders) at LSE, Imperial College and King’s College, who came up with the competition idea after they had participated in one conducted in London by the Singapore government to recruit its public servants.

In Malaysia, we usually wait for national scholars who want to apply for public service to knock at our door or beg for a job. We do not get the brightest and best.

I was most encouraged by these young people. They gathered on Saturday, developed friendships, organised themselves, played word games and learnt how to develop policies during a two-hour lecture entitled ‘Public Policy 101\’ by my colleague Ong Kian Ming (left) . The honest teams won because we redefined what winning is. 

In the afternoon, they regrouped to plan their strategies for the contest; and they listened to two hours of briefings about the theme of the contest and learnt realities of the subject from practitioners from MACC, IIM, TI-M, ex-public servants and private sector think-tanks.

Then they were mentored or had most if not all their questions answered by the faculty and adjunct Staff and had dinner  before returning to their hotel for overnight stay and preparation. This was a residential contest. I’m not sure they even got to use their beds!

By 7am the next day, they submitted their presentations and at 9am, they met their semi-final judges (three in each room). Each team had 20 minutes to make a sales pitch about a policy problem, their analysis and the way forward.

I was more than impressed. I did not realise how smart this generation of younger people can be. They blew away my scepticism about their generation, which is often tainted by the image of Mat Rempit or the London Raiders, who I call the Lepak Generation.

This set of women and men were outstanding, given their limitations and time frame for the contest. And the very best did win – the team from UiTM. Personally speaking, that was unexpected.

I always knew UiTM was  good (I had two of the best working for me in the 1980s) but did not know that they – or, at least, the law students – are still so good. My friend, Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi (left) , should be really proud of these students and the entire Law Faculty should celebrate this victory because they were the best of the best.

Meanwhile, in the real world, we were breaking another ‘record’ – The Sun reported 289 deaths over the Hari Raya balik kampung travel, and the worst ever statistics of Ops Sikap!

Now, could we have given this as the policy problem to the students and could they have come out with a grand and credible solution?  I think they could.

Why is it that, every year, we see such carnage on the roads? There is no national outrage but when one student in London or a journalist is in the wrong place at the wrong time, we make such a big deal of it.

Weak policy formulation

Why is public policy formulation in the government so weak that, after so many years of Ops Sikap, it is Ooops Sikap? I think we may have a systemic failure of basic public policy analysis capability. Let me show you what I mean.

What is the real problem with traffic accidents and fatalities every Hari Raya and Chinese New Year holidays? What are the root problems or issues, as opposed to the symptoms?

Next, what is one’s hypothesis or any plausible explanation of all the theories and actors which explain the problem issue or concern? And what do the facts and figures tell us? Has anyone done such an analysis?  If not, why not?

I know my good friend Suret Singh of the Road Safety Council is now retired. But surely together we can all develop a better solution without getting distracted by high-profile but individual deaths and ignore the many low-profile deaths which are a yearly recurrence. Or, take boats to Palestine, as another form of escape?

If we systemically apply the rational model of analysis, and do research for facts and figures that tell the real story, surely public policy can quite easily address this problem. In fact, at our faculty, we have the staff and adjunct with all requisite skills and competence to quite help resolve this problem. But, so far no one has asked us. The PSD does not send us students either.

Let me give a hint that we are only dealing with symptoms and not the real problem. When it is only the police chief who reports statistics and explains the problem, we have a most serious issue of policy formulation; the tail cannot wag the dog! The police are only there after the fact; the real problem is deeper and more fundamental – the lack of the good road discipline and defensive driving capabilites.

We can of course debate and analyse the root causes more, but soon the Chinese New Year will be here and again the police will report record-breaking figures. The police are merely the enforcement authority which is useful in a non-chaotic situation.

I now redirect this column to the transport minister. Sir, firstly I hope you read Malaysiakini . Secondly, can you promise the nation that you will, before Chinese New Year, come up with a policy proposal that will drastically reduce the number of tragic road deaths, or resign as minister if you fail and let someone more capable get the job done?

Public policy is about how we manage the public spaces of life and opportunities for life, within our short lifespan. If we do not manage this responsibility well, it will give rise to many unnecessary and untimely deaths. But, maybe the Malaysian attitude is “matilah… saya tak kira” .

May God bless this nation to become more responsible and accountable for every death, because we have the option to save lives. And may the Good Lord hold us responsible and accountable.