Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Datuk Normah Md YusofMODERNISING is a journey with no end. Each era, each year,something new becomes vogue. Expectations rise. This then,becomes a demand to supply towards. This cycle is no different in anybusiness, no less the service industry.For the public service of Malaysia, the journey began from the onset of ourindependence in 1957. It has been tasked with different roles throughout theseyears in meeting the evolution of customer needs and demands of the day.This has included administering and providing essential public services andsafeguarding national security in the 1960s; planning and implementing socioeconomicprogrammes designed to support the New Economic Policy in the1970s; and facilitating and regulatingeconomic activities during the years of rapidindustrialisation in the 1990s. In modernisingfor the 20th century, the public sector rode We are faced with a wholethe quality wave of 1980s and 1990s.new generation, one thatToday, the public sector finds that it has is socially heterogeneousto re-invent itself yet again for a globalisedand less tolerant of theworld market, through competitiveness,high value, creativity and innovation. Given one-size-fits-all stereotypethe modernisation demands of the 21stof public service delivery.century, business can no longer be as usual.It is no more a supplier-dominated era, butof demand instead.Even as the single largest provider of goods and services, the public sector canno longer dictate the terms and parameters of service to citizens and consumersalike.We are faced with a whole new generation, one that is socially heterogeneous andless tolerant of the one-size-fits-all stereotype of public service delivery.Central to this also is the keenness amongst public sector officials to get offthe verandah to engage the thinking and changing demography. Our citizens andcustomers demand quality without mediocrity, both in terms of service renderedand of the officials serving them. They demand integrity and transparency indecision-making.They seek fast, responsive and efficient service. Today, they demand more than justservice. They seek the right to service with a personal touch. They expect resultsand insist that policies and programmes translate into tangible outcomes. This isthe new reality of a public sector in the 21st century. Mampu, as a central agency89