ADIBAH NOOR - MINISTRY OF HOUSING LOCAL GOVERNMENT'S AMBASSADOR

28 August 2008 - Actress and singer Adibah Noor Mohd Omar has been appointed the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s ambassador and will be involved in promoting the ministry’s activities and programmes such as World Habitat Day Celebration 2008 -"Harmonious Cities" and World Town Planning Day 2008 - Planning for Sustainability. CONGRATULATION TO ADIBAH NOOR.

EFFICIENCY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT OR EFFICIENT URBAN GOVERNANCE....?

“Efficiency” is defined as achieving the same outputs for less resource or additional outputs for the same resource. Consequently, an action that fully or partially alleviates a cost pressure is countable as a cash-releasing efficiency, but an action that frees up cash at the expense of the overall effectiveness of service delivery is not an efficiency gain. Efficiency, improvement and service transformation go hand in hand. Without the ability to continually modernise and become more productive, councils put existing service quality at risk. Sometimes these efficiencies will come from better implementation of tried and tested practices such as strengthening project management or closer scrutiny of expenditure, but innovation must take a more important role as the scale of the challenge increases. Therefore EFFICIENCY– achieving more for the same or less resource – is a vital aspect of service delivery. By getting lower prices for products, automating processes, reducing errors, and removing duplication, councils are able to hold down council tax and drive improvement where it matters most.

Sustainable efficiency means ensuring that members, managers and staff (whether engaged in operational service delivery or business support) have continuous improvement in value for money as core to their roles. Increasingly they will require knowledge and skills to utilise routinely the wide range of business improvement tools and customer-need analyses available to support effective decision making.Many local authorities already have sound foundations in place for effective improvement: an organisational culture that sets a high priority on value for money; access to good customer information and diagnostic tools to identify what needs to be done; and the leadership and skills needed to make it happen. For the efficiency challenge to be met, these strengths must be promoted more widely.

SOURCE : REGIONAL CENTER OF EXCELLENT AND DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, UNITED KINGDOM, 2003

THESIS PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

In second semester session 2008/2009 of study in UKM, I gave a opportunity and honour to present my thesis proposal on 27 August 2008 to faculty's lecturers and other postgradute students. Thank you to my core supervisor, Assoc. Prof Dr Hamzah Jusoh and second supervisor Dr Jalaluddin Abdul Malek for your encouragement and guidance. I just walked through my first door before I can reach to peak of my phd research...I received good inputs and feedback from lecturers and Professors. Still long way to go. Still many things to search. Below some samples of thesis proposal..

A REVIEW OF DATO' SERI ABDULLAH BADAWI'S ON GOVERNANCE

Under the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the past three years, there have been some concerns and challenges just as there have been many success stories. It is only natural for a nation that is undergoing the long and laborious process of development to face obstacles and speed bumps along the way. However, it is with great perseverance that Malaysia must continue to overcome any barriers that can and will obstruct the process.

On a positive note, greater emphasis has been given to the need for transparency and accountability, cutting across the public and private sectors. We see the active promotion and implementation of key performance indicators that keep government-linked companies in check. There is greater fiscal discipine in the country’s budget. Finally, it is evident that we have witnessed a slow but gradual opening up of society; one that is increasingly more willing to engage in public discussion of issues that were previously considered threatening to the very fabric of our culture and our individual well being. Malaysians are now less constrained to express their criticism. But they are still under the fear of the ISA and often use it as an excuse not to see or say or hear anything. They are the so-called silent majority who want others to stand up and see if they are being chopped down! To me, they are our national liabilities and cannot contribute effectively to influencing the formation of new strategies for survival and progress!

However, the pledge of openness has also apparently indicated to certain quarters that they are given a free reign to make unnecessary and antagonistic statements. That society is given a license to air views and opinions does not translate into a license for open racialistic sentiment. I cannot stress more that with a culture of openness should come the equal responsibility to manage and handle this openness in a prudent and mature manner. Do we have the self-discipline and maturity to maintain the right balance? In fact, some of our leaders to whom we should look up, have failed miserably and have caused despondency in the strategic outlook for our future prospects.

The deeper problem for Malaysians today is that we have not the historical advantage of having cultivated a culture of open discussion, dialogue and debate in the most basic of institutions: the education system. Malaysia has in fact inherited a system of democracy without necessarily having developed simultaneously a discourse in democracy. It is akin to having a basic structure that propels Malaysia towards achieving a developed nation, but not having answered questions like “What it means to be Malaysian” foremost, and “What it means to be a developed Malaysian nation” – not just in its socio-economic statistical sense, but in philosophy and spirit. What is the driving force that really maintains the Malaysian society as it is today, and will this change in the near future?

We might say that the concept of the Malaysian nation and Malaysianness is based on the so-called “Social Contract”. However, this Social Contract, which is envisaged in the constitution, the Rukun Negara, the NEP, and Vision 2020 has been often badly breached in the implementation of sound policies! The underlying consideration of the basic right of fairness has been undermined, income gaps have widened, large numbers of the poor are still not enjoying their basic needs and human rights of access to drinkable water, decent housing, transport, healthcare, electricity and a clean and safe environment. This is unacceptable in Malaysia where we are blessed with God-given rich resources of arable land, water, good climate and commodities like tin, rubber, palm oil, timber, petroleum and gas etc. Why is this? What is happening to Malaysia?

E-GOVERNMENT IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES TOWARDS ENHANCING URBAN GOVERNANCE EFFICIENCY

Since Malaysia implemented the first computer system in 1966, the Government has introduced various initiatives to facilitate the greater integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve capacities in every area of life, including the enhancement of education and training programmes. Malaysia saw the advent of the digital revolution from quite early on. We recognised the enormous potential of ICT. For improving our economic and social status, we embarked on the multimedia super corridor (MSC) project in 1996 to help Malaysia leapfrog into the information age. The MSC was envisioned as a global test bed for local and foreign companies to push the limits of multimedia. The MSC's intent was to create a cutting-edge environment to attract foreign businesses, while nurturing and developing local IT Champions at the same time . The MSC would then act as a catalyst for the adoption of ICT throughout the nation, eventually raising national productivity and making Malaysia excellence in ICT.

In 1997, the Malaysian Government launched the Electronic Government (e-Government) initiative to reinvent itself to lead the country into the Information Age. The implementation of e-Government in Malaysia heralds the beginning of a journey of reinventing the government by transforming the way it operates, modernising and enhancing its service delivery. E-Government seeks to enhance the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with the public and businesses at large. Citizens and businesses are also able to transact with the government anywhere and anytime at their convenience. The main goals of e-government are to improve the quality of public services and the efficiency of administrative work. However, it does not allow citizen participation in local government administration such as policy making and implementation processes using ICT.

Currently, Malaysia is making every effort to steer the economy towards a knowledge-based one. In July 2001, Malaysia launched K-Economy Master Plan was in the final stages of formulation. Furthermore, “Vision 2020”, Malaysia's long-term vision, calls for sustained, productivity-driven growth, possible only with a technologically literate, critically thinking workforce, prepared to participate fully in the global economy of the 21st century. Malaysia is on the right path and working to develop policies that align with international standards of intellectual property rights, and international standards or equipment. Malaysia has seen a tremendous increase in the adoption of advanced technologies, particularly relating to online service delivery channels, whether business to business (B to B), business to consumer (B to C), government to business (G to B), or government to citizen (G to C). In the case of the public sector, it is imperative that we keep pace with the technological advancements in ICT. We need to push forward to create and harness technological innovations in order to meet the needs of our citizens for faster, more convenient and more efficient means of interacting with the government. Globally, many governments have adopted high-end technology to implement their own vision for electronic service delivery, with varying degrees of success.

There is a growing recognition that e-government is not just about technology but about harnessing technology and making services available anytime and anywhere. Technology is only one aspect of e-government transformation. Other aspects such as redesigning government processes, systems, structures and developing new skills are equally important. Government has begun to recognise the opportunity cost of separate systems and processes that duplicate information gathering, as well as the high costs involved in providing multiple entry-points for online services. In view of this, it is high time that our public sector agencies realise and appreciate that delivering connected government online services requires multiple agency cooperation and collaboration. Public confidence in online service delivery will be a key factor in the success of e-government. Currently, e-government initiatives have started to articulate key priorities for cross-agency teamwork rather than leaving agencies to determine their own online presence. Government has begun to recognise the opportunity cost of separate systems and processes that duplicate information gathering, as well as the high costs involved in providing multiple entry-points for online services. In view of this, it is high time that our public sector agencies realise and appreciate that delivering connected government online service requires multiple agency cooperation and collaboration. Public confidence in online services delivery will be a key factor in the success of e-government.