Enhancing Delivery at the District Level



Dato Ghani Ariffin, Deputy DG of ICU presenting certificates

 Federal government agencies operate at three levels. At the Federal level it is policy focused, at the state it is coordination and at the district it is direct delivery to the ordinary people. Therefore in enhancing delivery which will have a direct impact on ordinary people, SITF established six district level Taskforce teams in cooperation with eleven federal agencies.

The six districts are the places where the Program Mesra Rakyat was held namely at

• Perai in Penang
• Kulim in Kedah
• Kuala Kangsar in Perak
• Kuala Selangor in Selangor
• Sepang in Selangor
• Segamat in Johore

The eleven agencies are:-

• Department of Social Welfare
• Department of Registration
• Sosco
• Jobs Malaysia
• AIM
• Tekun
• Public Complaints Bureau
• Police
• Department of Youths & Sports
• Industrial Training Institute (ILP)
• ICU (ekasih registration)

SITF hosted a three day workshop from Dec 7 to 9, 2010 at the Institute Sosial Malaysia in order to enhance cooperation and partnership through the sponsorship of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

In addition to public sector officials SITF also invited community leaders and volunteers from the six districts including representatives from YSS, MIC women, youth, putera and puteri wings. A total of about 90 people gathered and deliberated on how to enhance effective delivery drawing up strategic proposals for 2011.



Dato Dr Ismail Alias, Deputy Director, Public Service Dept (JPA)


Seven resource persons shared on various themes such as:-

• Dato Dr Ismail Alias(JPA) on counseling principles
• Mr Anis Yusoff (KITA-UKM) on delivery which transcends ethnicity and focuses on quality of life of all Malaysians
• Dato Siva Subramanium on understanding the Indian community and challenges
• Dato Salleh Yaakub (ICU) on effective coordination at the district level
• Dr Vijay Shanmugam (Former Consultant) understanding the Pintas social management system
• Mrs Jasmine Adaickalam (Pemandu) understanding the national key result area of low income households.

These sessions were informative and eye opener for all as it provided further input on the Federal government initiatives in enhancing delivery which will have a personal touch with ordinary people at the grassroots.

The SITF Chairman, Datuk Dr Subramanian officiated the opening on Dec 8, 2010 at 11.30am. He thanked the officers for their cooperation and assistance. The closing speech and certificates were presented by Dato Ghani Ariffin, the Deputy Director General of ICU on the last day on Dec 9, 2010 at 12.30pm. Dato Ghani in his speech drew references from his experience as a District Officer and encouraged the district level officers to serve the community effectively.

A number of participants especially from the community indicated that this was the first time they had the opportunity to send three days with officials from their own district and this encounter has enhanced relationship which will have an impact on effective cooperation and partnership.

Participants at the SITF workshop (Dec 7 to 9, 2010)

SITF plans to enlarge the district level outreach from the current six districts to another 24 to expand to at least 30 districts by mid 2011. This enlargement to districts with high Indian population and targeting on the bottom 40 % will definitely have an impact on the quality of life of people at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.