I AM sure the Youth and Sports Ministry, in particular its minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, must be pleased to hear from the chief secretary to the government that the post of secretary-general of the National Sports Council has now been made open, meaning that appointment to the post can either be from the civil service or from outside.
When a post is closed, it can only be filled by a civil servant appointed by the Public Service Department (PSD).
With the new change, the ministry has more flexibility to look for the right person to take up the challenging job of leading sports development in the country.
I salute the chief secretary for his broad-minded approach in public service appointments and encourage him to do more. As we all know, the Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu), a unit in the Prime Minister’s Department, was created by recruiting experienced executives from the private sector and top graduates, as well as Malaysian expatriates coming home to look for an exciting experience in government service.
The healthy mix of contract appointments from outside and long-serving government servants has proven to be successful in creating a formidable team, advising the government on various transformation and reform programmes.
The successful experience with Pemandu should be replicated across the public sector to realise the objective of bringing meritocracy and professional skills into the civil service. A good mix of skills from the private sector to complement the experience of career civil servants can be helpful in producing new ideas for change.
I would like to see the posts of mayor of Kuala Lumpur, as well as other large local authorities, be made open so that there is a wider list of candidates to choose from.
There are many capable people who have spent their lives in the private sector and, after rising to the top, are willing to give up their career for a stint in public service, even at a lower salary and for a limited period.
Such individuals should be given an opportunity to compete for the posts of mayor and council presidents so that the federal territories minister and the state menteris besar can have a wider choice of candidates instead of depending entirely on PSD.
Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, Kuala Lumpur