Morshidi (right) presenting a token of appreciation to Ali.
KUCHING: The state civil service plays a major role as the principal propagator of Sarawak’s harmony by nurturing and fostering the spirit of working together and empowering one another through policies, administrative practices, initiatives and programmes that can strengthen the relationship between different communities in the state.
According to State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani, this approach has been well thought through and crafted as transformation strategy to realise the dream of a harmonious Sarawak.
“A few examples of these include induction programmes for new officers into the civil service which also comprise extensive coverage on understanding and appreciating different cultures while an additional deputy Resident post at respective offices was created with specific responsibility over social development and harmony within the residency,” he said at the Sarawak Public Sector Conference 2014 which was officiated by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa here yesterday.
Another example, he noted, was the restructuring of Ministry of Local Government to Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.
“With this initiative, the local authorities and municipal bodies have been entrusted with greater role in bringing together the different communities within their jurisdiction through programmes such as gotong-royong, social, sports and recreation, educational and religious activities that are organised and participated by members of a particular area.”
On the Sarawak Public Sector Conference 2014, Morshidi said it was a timely event for civil servants to take stock of the directions needed to further enhance the Sarawak Public Service Transformation initiatives towards achieving the state civil service’s vision to be a world class civil service by 2020.
“This year’s conference is organised to provide an avenue for public servants from both federal and state civil service to listen to prominent and distinguished speakers share their knowledge and experiences in areas concerning public sector reforms in their countries,” he added.
More than 150 civil servants comprising heads of departments and senior government officials attended the one-day conference, which was jointly organised by the Chief Minister’s Department and Razak School of Government and held in conjunction with the state’s annual Civil Service Day to enhance public sector reform at the state level.
Themed ‘Service Excellence through Competent Workforce’, the conference saw distinguished speakers from Meiji University, Japan namely Professor Emeritus Akira Nakamura, Professor Hideaki Tanaka and Professor Makoto Nagahata share on ‘Transformation of Leadership – The Six Essentials’, ‘Senior Leadership and Civil Service Reform in Japan’, and ‘Public Engagement with the Non-Government Organisation’ respectively while United Nations Development Programme director Max Everest Philip from Global Centre for Public Service Excellence, Singapore gave a talk on ‘Fostering Innovation to Drive Public Sector Transformation’.
A video conference on ‘Performance Management as a way forward in Public Sector Transformation’ with Balanced Scorecard Institute USA co-founder, president and chief executive officer Howard Rohm was held during the conference.