Remote Service from the Civil Service

We do hope this is not another motherhood statement. As the saying goes," If wishes were horses, beggars will ride them".

According to the Chief Secretary,the government is working on several initiatives to make public service delivery accessible and mobile for the people.

These include the e-Land system, Local Authority System (ePBT), AgriBazaar, e-Syariah and school management system and many more initiatives which extend into the various sectors -- economic, social, infrastructure and security.

“Mobile government means customers can transact with the government from where they are, not where we, the provider, are,” he said.

“Hence the need for a new kind of technology understanding. A technology and an innovation that can be so simple that people do not even notice they have been served. That, to me, is the ultimate service.”

“It is about getting done what you need done in the simplest, shortest and most efficient manner,” he added.

“If we can do that, at all and every level of our internal and external transactions, using the best that technology and innovation combined can bring, we would have taken public service delivery to a whole new level altogether, not only in Malaysia, but globally setting new benchmarks.”

Sidek said the government has earmarked e-Government as one of the seven flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor and the use of technology has seeped into among others, human resource management,electronic procurement,bill payment to licence applications and project monitoring system.

He said with increasing cyber attacks and security fears, another entrapment of technology is the rise of protectionism and firewalls.

“As a result, we fall back yet again into the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’. Rampant e-mail bouncing, servers reject mails, legal addresses are seen as spam,” he said.

“All these affect the very thing technology is supposed to effuse which is speed, ease, accessibility and connectivity.”

Sidek said businesses and governments need to face some fundamental questions relating to speed, access, security and privacy as they invest more and more into digitising service, raising access to information and broadening connectivity of societies and communities.

Well,well, well, I think all of these are great but at the same time,let us not forget too the value of a smile when we have to do some counter service. So, those manning these counters must have a ' quick to smile' attitude, don't you agree?

Organics: Are We taken for a Ride?

Consumers who opt for organic foods often believe they are improving their health but there is currently no strong evidence that organics bring nutrition-related health benefits, a new research review finds.

A “disappointingly small” number of well-designed studies have looked at whether organic foods may have health benefits beyond their conventional counterparts, according to the review by researchers with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Health in Britain.

Moreover, they found, what studies have been done have largely focused on short-term effects of organic eating — mainly antioxidant activity in the body — rather than longer-term health outcomes.

Most of the antioxidant studies failed to find differences between organic and conventional diets. The review, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adds to findings reported last year by the same research team.

In that study, the researchers combed through 162 articles published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, and found no evidence that organic and conventional foods differ significantly in their nutrient content. For the current review, the researchers were able to find only 12 published studies that met their criteria for evaluating the health effects of organic foods.

“A surprising and important finding of this review is the extremely limited nature of the evidence base on this subject, both in terms of the number and quality of studies,” wrote Dr Alan Dangour and his colleagues.
Research in the area does appear to be increasing, Dangour’s team noted, with 4 of the 12 studies they reviewed published in 2008 or 2009. But in the future, the researchers add, studies -- both in humans and animals — need to be better-designed.

Of the 12 studies the researchers identified, 6 were short-term clinical trials that looked at whether specific organic foods changed markers of antioxidant activity in participants’ blood.

Those trials showed no strong evidence that organic eating boosted antioxidant activity, but the studies were also very limited in scope as they were small — with the largest including 43 men — and lasted no longer than a few weeks. Out of the other 6 studies, one found an association between organic foods and a lower risk of the allergic skin condition eczema among nearly 2,800 Dutch children age 2 or younger.

In that study, parents were surveyed several times about their children’s diet and any episodes of eczema over the first two years of life. Researchers found that children who consumed strictly organic dairy products showed a lower risk of eczema than those consumed conventional dairy foods. However, the study had several key limitations, including its reliance on parents’ reports of eczema and the basic design of the study does not allow for any conclusions about whether children’s consumption of organic dairy was the reason for the lower eczema risk.

While questions remain as to whether organic foods have any extra nutritional value, people buy organic for a number of other reasons as well.

Organic foods are made without the use of conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics or hormones — which could potentially reap benefits for people’s health and the environment.

The current review, Dangour and his colleagues point out, did not look for studies on the possible health benefits of reduced exposure to those substances nor did it address the environmental impact of organic food production. — Reuters

Conversations on Competitiveness

Let us read this discourse in mysinchemw.com yesterday. It gives us an idea what competitiveness is, how to be so and what is a competitiveness ranking actually would mean to a nation and its people.

MAY 24 —  Dear Tay, 
 
It is said that Malaysia has been ranked 10th place in a world’s competitiveness report.
I would like to ask how many countries have been included in the list. Are there more than 10 countries? 

Perhaps, it is a conspiracy of foreigners to make us feel “Malaysia Boleh”? 

And what is actually the so-called competitiveness?
Regards, 

Reader Ah Bang

Dear Ah Bang,

First of all, I think you are spoiling the joy!

Malaysia has not been receiving good news for long. Even the 2010 Thomas Cup cheered us for only one day.

But now, we have been ranked among the top 10 most competitive countries in the world. Oh, this is not a corruption, largest rice dumpling or longest sarong ranking. Instead, it is a competitiveness ranking!

And certainly, more than 10 countries have been assessed. In fact, I have checked the data and found a total of 58 countries and regions have been assessed. The ranking is limited to “top students” only!

Malaysia can actually be ranked among the top 10 countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Canada and Taiwan. Even though we are ranked the bottom in the top 10 list, we are still in the “gifted class”! Have you been in a gifted class before?

Moreover, the ranking was conducted by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), an internationally-renowned management institution.

I do not think it is a conspiracy either as IMD does not receive money.

Okay, I do agree that I am not sure why Malaysia is competitive and how it can be ranked among the top 10 competitive countries.

However, I have read a book, a very thick book, written by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter. He pointed out a few concepts in the book.

1. Do what you know how to do and what you can do well. That is what we called competitive advantage;
2. Open up, so that talents, capital and information will come to you;
3. Innovate, keep reforming and developing to stay ahead;
4. The government, as well as the people must be efficient.

Porter’s competitiveness theory used to be popular in the world. Many countries invited him to be their honoured national advisor by offering him a minimum pay of millions of dollars.

However, he stopped making new arguments later. His market and status dropped and recently, he was paid US$250,000 (RM800,000) to give a talk in Taiwan. It was only an ordinary talk on the co-operation between China and Taiwan.

He himself has actually portrayed the competitiveness concept, namely one will fall behind if he does not move forward. Malaysia is ranked among the top 10 today but how about next year and the year after next?

The initial purpose of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is to help us understand how a country could enhance its social progress by using its overall resources and competitive conditions.
The question is, what kind of progress do we need?

Some countries need to get rid of poverty while some countries that have already gotten rid of poverty are facing the pain of growing gap between rich and poor, as well as unfairness and injustice in the society.
To be honest, I am really happy to see Malaysia being ranked among the top 10.

It shows that we have our merits. However, we must be careful as we may fall from the gifted class to the low-grade class if we excessively indulge in the competitiveness ranking while ignoring and not improving problems that we have been facing for long.

So, are we more enlightened now?

Humanity and the Law

I think we must practice humanity in whatever we do. As such laws, particularly statutory law should reflect such values as it shows truly a society that is civilized, matured and developed.

The Bar Council' request for  witnesses  to be accorded the same rights as the accused is worthy of mention and the MACC's directive that investigations be carried only during office hours is i nth right direction.

Let us read the following news item.

"The Bar Council has called on the Government to give witnesses the same rights as accused persons.
Its chairman Ragunath Kesavan said witnesses who help enforcement agencies in investigations should be given the same protection and rights as the accused.

“Those accused have the right to be allowed adequate rest which is guaranteed by Rule 20 of the Lockup Rules 1953,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Ragunath was commenting on the recent Federal Court decision in the Tan Boon Wah case where it was held that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) could continue to interrogate witnesses beyond office hours.

Ragunath said the decision bore testament that the courts had failed in playing their role as the arbiter of disputes between individuals and the state while serving as a checks-and-balance mechanism.

He added that the decision permitted the MACC to compel witnesses to be questioned, including for long periods of time, with no option for them to decline.

He urged the Government to take immediate steps to protect the rights of witnesses and promote transparent and accountable investigations.

Meanwhile, he welcomed MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed’s statement that MACC officers had been directed to conduct their investigations during office hours."

A big salute to the Bar Council and MACC.

It was also stated that the officers would have to provide justification for “taking evidence after office hours”.

Spain Goes under IMF's Scrutiny

Well it looks like the focus is on Spain next.

According to the IMF,Spain must make far-reaching, comprehensive reforms, including labour market reforms, and its economic recovery remains fragile.

“The challenges are severe: a dysfunctional labor market, the deflating property bubble, a large fiscal deficit, heavy private sector and external indebtedness, anemic productivity growth, weak competitiveness, and a banking sector with pockets of weakness,” the IMF said in a report following a regular review of Spain’s economy.

“This needs to be complemented with growth-enhancing structural reforms, building on the progress made on product markets and the housing sector, especially overhauling the labour market,” it said.

After a weak and fragile recovery the economy would grow by 1.5-2.0 per cent in the medium term, it said.
“Our central scenario is one of continued adjustment of the various imbalances with growth rising gradually to 1.5-2 per cent in the medium term,” the report said.

The report was released as Spain struggles to cut a large budget deficit and convince investors it will face no Greek-style debt crisis.

The IMF said in April it sees Spain’s economy contracting 0.4 per cent in 2010 from a year earlier and growing 0.9 per cent in 2011, more pessimistic than the government’s own forecasts of a 0.3 per cent contraction in 2010 and 1.8 per cent growth in 2011.

Stronger export growth would help offset a slow recovery in domestic demand. It said private demand was weighed down by uncertainty and the need to reduce indebtedness, the IMF said.

Other factors weighing on potential growth and underlining the importance of growth-enhancing structural reforms included slowing population growth, high unemployment and weak investment.

KrissAssets: On a Mall Acquisition Trail

KrissAssets Holdings Bhd, operator of The MidValley Megamall, will set aside up to RM2 billion to acquire foreign retail malls in the UK and the US.

Its group managing director, Robert Tan Chung Meng, said this was necessary as the mall has reached its maximum capacity and the contracts of some anchor tenants would be ending within two years.

"Even though the mall is doing positively year by year, we need to improve our revenue. We cannot increase the size of the mall as it will affect other tenants, that's why we have to resort to acquisitions," he told a media briefing after the company's annual group meeting here today.

Tan said the main attractions would be in New York, Chicago, California or even Florida," he said.
Its pre-tax for financial year ending Dec 31, 2009 rose 56.5 per cent to RM180.5 million from RM115.3 million in the same period last year.

Revenue rose to RM227.9 million from RM216.6 million previously.

Things are definitely looking good for KrissAssets as it goes global.

Subsidising Malaysians

The Government is going back to the people on its plan to cut subsidies, which ballooned to a staggering RM74bil last year.

Malaysians will have a chance to have their say in an open day organised by the Government this Thursday to gather feedback on the inevitable reduction in subsidies on items including sugar and petrol.

The open day on subsidy rationalisation will be held at Hall 4 and 5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 9am to 2pm.

Subsidies - the total of which averages RM12,900 per household every year - will have to be gradually cut beginning this year, which is then expected to affect the prices of petrol, natural gas, food, medication, toll and healthcare.

The huge sum in subsidies has resulted in Malaysia having cheaper cooking oil, flour and sugar than Singa-pore, Indonesia and Thailand.

The open day is similar to the ones held last year for the Government Transformation Plan.

“Cutting subsidies is a foregone conclusion. The question is not about the amount of reduction, but the technique of reducing,” said a high-ranking official.

Recommendations from the Perfor-mance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) subsidy rationalisation lab will be publicly displayed during the open day.

The lab will then re-examine the findings based on the feedback before making a final recommendation to the Prime Minister.

An analysis from the lab, made available to The Star, stated that it was important to act immediately if the country were to reduce the subsidies gradually.

Otherwise, it said, the Government might end up having to remove subsidies in bigger increments as Treasury reserves ran lower. It also argued that the current mechanism of subsidising was no longer sustainable as government debt was at RM362bil last year or 54% of the GDP.

That is much higher than Indonesia's 28%, and is approaching The Philippines' at 62%.

“In five years, we may reach 100% if no changes are implemented,” said a source familiar with the issue.
There is no need to panic, however, as the Government will continue to provide assistance in critical fields such as education, agriculture and fisheries, healthcare and welfare.

The main aim is to reduce wastage or abuse, mainly due to the subsidies being passed on to the wrong beneficiaries or over-consumption.

“Why should the people in Sabah and Sarawak subsidise for toll that is mainly used by people in the Klang Valley? Also, foreigners are enjoying the RM1 consultation fee at government clinics. That has to be addressed,” said the same source.

It is understood that one of the lab's proposals is to raise medical consultation from RM1 to RM3, thus keeping the fee affordable to all.