PEMANDU's pre-emptive move for relevance

Gravity is market friendly, meritocratic and neo-liberal Oxford PPE graduate consultant

For want of the apparatus of propositional functions, many logicians have been driven to the conclusion that there are unreal objects.

Bertrand Russell

Philosopher, Mathematician, and Historian

What the hell was Bertrand Russell saying?

One can only simply interpret that the yearning to propose their ideas and suggestion and consequently, to see it through, made many create non existence stuff.

It reminded us of quantum mechanics and the theory on the existence of electrons moving according to probability in s, p dan d orbitals.

In the perspective of current political affairs, it reminded us of PEMANDU, the Performance Delivery and Management Unit under the Prime Minister's Department. If one have government Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Commissions, GLCs et al, why the need for PEMANDU?

And, if PEMANDU driven and derived economic policies and programs are working and should continue as claimed by The Choice [read here], why the need to seek for public feedback on Government policies and programs now?

Dato Omar Ong may have been too arrogant to hear and be sensitive to the lesser beings not students of Oxford's PPE, thus he may have ignored public feedback before implementation and consequently, the policy, program and himself have become political liabilities.

Driving Transformation

PEMANDU was assigned to supposedly look into the TRANSFORMATION or different mechanics in the workings of economy and government.

These time tellers of your watch had gone beyond doing macro and strategic work, but managing the transformation and latest heard, maybe doing a lab to justify their existence.

Does that means PEMANDU have gone irrelevant and will be but another politician's off the cuff reaction? 

The existense PEMANDU had been  a sore point among the civil servants that saw their roles and functions in the administration being taken away by corporate men and business consultants.

Their reaction was reflected by Tengku Dato Adnan's almost frightening prospect to losing his Parliamentary seat in Putrajaya.

He will publicly and privately deny it. But, he cried privately to the prospect of losing to Dato Husam Musa after a week of unproductive conventional style campaigning.

In their website here, PEMANDU's main role and objective was stated to oversee the implementation, and  assess the progress of government policies and programs.

It also serve to facilitate and support the delivery and drive the progress of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

This is the part that gave the impression that PEMANDU imposed on government servants their own conceived changes on the working of government and economic management.  

After GTP and ETP, then comes the other acronyms of plans like NKRA, MKRA, and NKEA.

Out-sourcing Government

Since PEMANDU had acted beyond it's role to monitor performance delivery, they literally replaced government servants to manage performance using the excuse to help "facilitate, support and drive the delivery and progress of delivery."

Move over are government servants and age tested procedures and manuals or procedures. In comes the PEMANDUs.

The PEMANDUs are mandated to catalyse bold changes in public and private sector delivery, support the ministries in the delivery planning process and provide an independent view of performance and progress to the PM and ministers.

But that mandate was given to professional consultants.

Both PEMANDU and consultants are young, newly employed, urban particularly in the confine of Bangsar, Damansara and the furthest, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, global thinking, foreign educated, worldly traveled, multiracial and handsomely paid.

Sounds impressive?

Yes but when one should be reminded that they are not involved in a business entity but administration of a large public entity called government. For them to be given such a big mandate?

Imagine these young urban executives whose never seen a padi stalk in their life but trying to reform the agriculture sector. Make one want to throw a bundle of hay on them.

Much to the chagrin of government, these consultants impress the power-at-be by being effective in their art in which one of the trick to remain as "apparatus of propositional function" is to conjure up "unreal objects."

How many of the rakyat could comprehend what is ETP, GTP, NKRA, MKRA, NKEA, and there is more, EPP and BO?

The could not comprehend but the rakyat can feel that the government is administering or addressing issues wholesomely because of the focuses and emphasis.

When criticised, they will say that all their suggestions, plans, etc, are not based on any person's study or thought but derived from the finding of social labs.

It is what the people want, they claim.

Of course, all those involved, from lab rats to the information gatherer, not excluding the urban and affluent consultants will not be mentioned.

That way the man with the agenda like Dato Omar Ong, his consultant firm Ethos Consulting, and his associates, McKenzie & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, and most recent Frost & Sullivan does not have to surface and take responsibilities.

Even though they pre-prepared the outcome of the lab from their own study, solution template, and along their neo-liberal agenda, the selective participants were quoted to justify for them.

They do not have to but it is Dato Idris Jala that will face the public with his powerpoint presentations. And there is politician on the demise, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to help them wiggle their way out of a difficult political situation.

With all that sophistication, the only effective outcome from PEMANDU that helped the ruling government maintain power was only BR1M. Do one need consultants to think of BR1M?

Realising that hundred of millions, if not billion in the total, spent for consultants fees since the days of sleepy, the people are questioning why are we keeping these Consultant-Advisers that have delivered nothing worthy.

Survival

Tun Daim's call to Dato Najib to sack all his advisers will have political ramification at the grassroots. Under pressure, PEMANDU had called a group of people to compile their views on current government policies and programs, and what need to be done.

One can call it as mini-lab to get feedback. One can suspect it to be not just merely to get views but something more sinister. And, one can suspect it to be about politics to get back support to BN. 

It is speculative. One is supposed to take it in good faith that PEMANDU is serious to compile public view on government program and policy. But, our trusted instinct tells us that it is merely an effort to sustain their existence.

Since sold to many of Omar Ong's ideas and suggestions, Najib has put aside his qualitative ability in decision making. He has grown more American to want to see numbers, statistics, ratings, ratios, KPIs, and stuff before he decides.

This mini-lab will generate the numbers and massage it to justify their existence. The views of those that participated will be made into questionnaire's questions for favoured lab participants. The outcome can only be favourably anticipated.

Those invited to give their views was heard to be Stephen Hagger, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Dato Yong Pok Kon, and many others.

Stephen Hagger is the Managing Director and Head of Equities at Credit Suisse, Malaysia. He has been around in Malaysia since 1992 and jumping from one firm to another.

This Mat Salleh has some education and made the foray abroad to the Far East. If he had not been in Malaysia, he is probably working at some farm in Scotland.

One wonders what can he contribute to understand what the Malaysian public want or vote-getting expectations for the BN government.

Never trust a broker talking about corruption, cronyism and nepotism. They strive on know who and has no bound on ethics in their business affair.

Mat Salleh does not wish to understand the local tradition, thinking and psyche. They only want to promote their degenerate liberal ideas.

Tan Sri Tony Fernandez is our dear friend Tony F.

Just cannot imagine Tony F understanding what the public wants. Otherwise, we would not be operating his Airline like a teksi prebet sapu. Who does not know of his conniving wants?

Is there integrity in his ideas towards nation building when he is a neo-liberal, corrupt, and discriminatory on application by Malay for cabin crew? Maybe he disagree with Article 153 on special constitutional rights of Malays. 

With the recent episode between his Air Asia X CEO, Azran Osman Rani and Utusan Malaysia, does his organisation has sympathy for the BN cause?

When Tony F yells for the sacking of MAHB's Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad and KLIA2, he has DAP's Tony P or Tony Pua echoing him openly and it should be for their common interest.

And, Omar Ong is on the Board of Directors of Tony F's Air Asia X ...

Tan Sri Dato Yong Poh Kon is the owner of Selangor Pewter.

In a recent close door discussion, he blasted the government servants and call for the immediate signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.

He thinks that opening up the economy will bring more prosperity to his pewter business and enter into US government procurement business.

When asked if he knows that American federal government procurement gives 90% contracts to American company and 10% to European companies, he does not.

He probably did not know no Asian can get much chance to participate American procurement because the bulk of federal government (not state spending) is military. He probably did not know that TPPA is not just about trade with Americans.

And he probably wanted to open up trade because he hated Dr Mahathir and likely to be an anti-Mahathir for playing delay tactics in trade agreements. He does not know the FTAs are full with manouvres. If he made so much noise for signing of TPPA, maybe he should know more of the FTAs with EU countries.

Only few FTAs are signed but most are an endless game of negotiations that will perpetually not agree to anything. 

Hmmm ... pro-western, conniving and corrupted, anti-Article 153, neo-liberal, anti-Mahathir and most likely anti-UMNO to advice PM. Is that where the agenda Omar Ong is carrying the PM to?

From Syed Akbar's posting here on rumoured talks amongst powerful Power Rangers, PEMANDU is on course to look into Political Transformation with Omar Ong assigned to look into transforming BN into a single party.

Thought they would look into Social Transformation and political funding reform first then becoming a bigger political liability.