\’I Am Local Actor 21\’

Last week I attended the inaugural Chief Secretary Forum organised by the Razak School of Government (RSG), jointly with Intan and others at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

Mohd Sidek Hassan (left) , the chief secretary to the government, almost addressed the question I have asked him all these years: Why do civil servants need to sign off with ‘Saya yang menurut perintah’ ?  

The answer came from Singapore’s Head of Civil Service Peter Ong Boon Kwee to a question about the ‘neutrality of the public services’ and ‘professionalism in decision-making of public servants’.

Mr Chief Secretary, I remain unconvinced but thanks all the same for recognising and acknowledging the question and my issue of concern.  

I heard on the radio that Cuepacs is protesting a move to appoint non-public servants to the most senior public service posts. I am not really sure of the real issues for the protest, although I’ve heard some mumbling and grumbling among senior public servants that the two-year contract appointment scheme is simply a new way to place more politically leaning agents in public service roles.

Regardless of the specifics, let me try and reframe a similar set of issues in yet another way, using the logic of the 2012 Earth Summit to be held again in Rio again as ‘Rio plus 20\’, following the last such summit in 1995. It is based on a multi-stakeholder analysis model to protect and preserve the public interest.  

The concept of sustainable development dates a long way back. It was at the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm 1972) that the international community met for the first time to consider global environment and development needs together.

In Rio 10 years later, the world agreed to the 21st century imperative of the need for new worldview related to man and nature. We  called it Local Agenda for the 21st Century (LA21). Here too was born the tagline ‘Think Global, Act Local’.

According to the Earth Summit website: ‘The 20th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. The UN Conference on Environment and Development, the ‘Earth Summit’, agreed to Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration.

‘These documents outlined key policies for achieving sustainable development that meets the needs of the poor and recognises the limits of development to meet global needs. ‘Needs’ were therefore interpreted not solely in terms of economic interests but also as the prerequisites for a fully functional, harmonious, global system that incorporates both people and ecosystems.

‘The Summit brought environment and development issues firmly into the public arena. Along with the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 it led to agreement on two legally binding conventions: the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also produced a Statement of Forest Principles.’

Consequently and globally, signatories rolled out many LA21 programmes. Malaysia rolled out pilot projects in five local authorities, with MBPJ being the most prominent of these.  

But it was all more rhetoric than reality.  Either we do not understand the real meaning of LA21 or it was typical civil service lip service with little or no intent to translate into reality. I am prepared to make my case to the Housing and Local Government Ministry. Local agents are never good enough, we need local actors who are responsible and accountable in a very transparent way.

Lip service to innovation

In conjunction with Rio + 20, I would like to propose a project called IMLA21 for adoption by civil society, to help Malaysians to integrate with LA21 integrity.

IMLA 21 was originally a proposal that the former NITC Secretariat Team made to the Swiss Development Authority for improved local governance vide integrated modules for Local Agenda 21 projects.

These electronic modules could be implemented within any local authority, and included even a customer complaints forum for 21st century consultation with feedback and real life engagement with third parties.

But alas, both in Malaysia and in Switzerland, such innovative ideas that challenge the existing paradigm appeared unacceptable.

The Selangor government, then under BN leadership, was to have adopted the agenda for full-fledged rollout, but such ideas remain as dreams. The net result is that the BN lost the state government.

What is even worse is that, even after two full presentations to Pakatan Rakyat state exco member Ronnie Liu, nothing has changed much. There is still a lot of lip service.

Therefore my conclusion is that we need a new kind of LA21 spirit which cannot rely on a ruling party to implement. It requires civil society to become the responsible actors and therefore agents for LA21.

I will call this the IMLA21 or ‘I Am Local Actor 21\’. What do I mean? It is much like a Mission Impossible agency; we need special agents called 21, and they must choose to become (voluntary) actors for LA21.

I would like to call this the ‘yellow spirit’ of the new LA21. In the ordinary meaning, to be yellow would mean ‘to be scared’. But, in our wonderful country called Malaysia, yellow is now a dirty word.

Therefore, we in civil society must take charge of this royal colour and make it mean green for us, and make it a good word and colour. It can become our proxy for the Green Agenda of the Earth Summit.

God created the colour yellow, as he did green. Anyone who bans God’s yellow colour needs their heads examined. Moreover, in Malaysia, yellow is the colour reserved for royalty.  Does the ban mean that they too cannot wear yellow? One can easily understand why and how such stupidity can reach impossible levels.

Therefore, to idiocratic ministers and equally idiocratic public servants, we the civil society say we are the part of yellow Malaysia movement and we are the people who want to vote yellow in the next general election. We will wear yellow to the polling booths; why not try to stop us entering polling stations by banning the colour yellow?

IMLA21 will stand for local agents of all colours, shapes and ethnicity who will choose to wear yellow every Saturday in protest of uncivilised laws and rules that ban peaceful assemblies by creating a police oversight over ordinary issues of life.

We are the people who want to see change and will wear yellow until change becomes our reality! May God bless Malaysia.