Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:01:40.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - The public bureaucracy's role in policy implementation in Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

By
Nik Rosnah Wan Abdullah
Edited by
Jon S. T. Quah
Nik Rosnah Wan Abdullah
Affiliation:
University Abdul Razak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Jon S. T. Quah
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The Malaysian public service plays a significant role in the country's economic and social development. More importantly, it has been instrumental in initiating the country's transformational efforts towards a high income nation. This chapter analyses the role of the public service in policy implementation in Malaysia, and assesses its effectiveness in implementing these two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreements: (1) the Agreement on the ASEAN Harmonized Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme, or the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive (ACD), which Malaysia signed together with the other ASEAN countries at the 35th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Cambodia in September 2003; and (2) combating transnational crime, as agreed under the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC) and the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC).

This chapter begins by describing Malaysia's policy context, followed by an analysis of the public bureaucracy's profile and its role in policy formulation. The implementation of the ACD and AMMTC/SOMTC is then analysed in depth before concluding the chapter with a summary of the major findings.

Malaysia's policy context

This section describes Malaysia's policy context in terms of its geography, formative historical experiences, economy, demography and political system as these factors affect the public bureaucracy's effectiveness in policy implementation.

Geography

Malaysia has a total land area of 332, 665 sq. km (The Economist 2013: 178) and consists of thirteen states, with eleven states located in Peninsular Malaysia, and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. These two states have a higher degree of local government and legislative autonomy than the West Malaysian states. Sabah and Sarawak have separate laws regulating the entry of citizens from other states in Malaysia, whereas, in Peninsular Malaysia, there are no restrictions on inter-state travel or migration, including visitors from East Malaysia. There are also separate land laws governing Sabah and Sarawak, as opposed to the National Land Code, which governs Peninsular Malaysia. The three main land laws are: (1) National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) implemented in all states in Peninsular Malaysia; (2) Sarawak Land Code (Cap 81) implemented for Sarawak only; and (3) Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap 68) implemented for Sabah only.

Formative historical experiences

The Federation of Malaya was granted independence from Great Britain on 31 August 1957 with a relatively peaceful period of transition that was largely achieved by the granting of concessions to the main ethnic groups in Malaya, …

Type
Chapter
Information
The Role of the Public Bureaucracy in Policy Implementation in Five ASEAN Countries , pp. 171 - 232
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ali, M. 2013. ‘Efficiency, Wages, Public Service Motivation and Effort in Malaysia: An Empirical Case Study of Universiti Sains Malaysia’, PhD thesis, Murdoch University.
Bedi, Rashvinjeet S. 2011. ‘Drugs Still the No. 1 Enemy’, The Star, 15 May.
Bradbury, M. and Kellogh, J. E. 2011. ‘Representative Bureaucracy: Assessing the Evidence on Active Representation’, American Review of Public Administration, 41(2): 157–67.Google Scholar
Crouch, H. A. 1996. Government and Society in Malaysia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Department of Statistics, Malaysia 2011. (Putrajaya) Population and Housing Census, Malaysia 2010, available at: https://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php?option=com_content&id=350 (accessed 30 December 2014).
Department of Statistics, Malaysia 2012. (Putrajaya) Population Projections, Malaysia 2010–2040. (Putrajaya) available at: https://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/download_Population/files/population_projections/Population_Projection_2010–2040.pdf (accessed 30 December 2014).
Economic Planning Unit 2013. (Putrajaya)‘Household Income and Poverty, Table 6: Incidence of Poverty by Ethnicity, Strata and State, Malaysia, 1970–2012’, available at: www.epu.gov.my/documents/10124/669145a4-1b34-4f04-9043-31b24d1c3442 (accessed 30 December 2014).
The Economist 2013. Pocket World in Figures, 2014 Edition. London: Profile Books.
Fernando, J. M. 2013. ‘The Urban Drift in Kuala Lumpur in the 2008 General Election: A Return to the Old Ways?’, Malaysian Journal of Democracy and Election Studies, 1(1): 24–41.Google Scholar
Gomez, E. T. and Jomo, K. S. 1999. Malaysia's Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gomez, E. T. and Saravanamuttu, J. (eds) 2013. The New Economic Policy in Malaysia: Affirmative Action, Ethnic Inequalities and Social Justice. Singapore: NUS Press and ISEAS Publishing.
Gomez, E. T., Saravanamuttu, J. and Maznah, M. 2013. ‘Malaysia's New Economic Policy: Resolving Horizon Inequalities, Creating Inequities?’ In Gomez, E. T. and Saravanamuttu, J. (eds) 2013. The New Economic Policy in Malaysia: Affirmative Action, Ethnic Inequalities and Social Justice. Singapore: NUS Press and ISEAS Publishing, pp. 1–28.
Hardoon, D. and Heinrich, F. 2013. Global Corruption Barometer 2013. Berlin: Transparency International.
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2011. World Economic Outlook (WEO) Tensions from the Two-speed Recovery: Unemployment, Commodities, and Capital Flows. Washington, DC: IMF.
Jomo, K. S. and Wee, C. H. 2002. The Political Economy of Malaysian Federalism: Economic Development, Public Policy and Conflict Containment. Helsinki: United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research.
Khoo, B. T. 2005. Ethnic Structure, Inequality and Governance in the Public Sector: Malaysian Experiences. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
Lee, H. G. 2005. ‘Affirmative Action in Malaysia’. Southeast Asian Affairs 2005, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 211–28.
Lee, K. H. and Tan, C. B. (eds) 2000. The Chinese in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Lijphart, A. 1977. Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Lim, H. H. 2013. ‘The Public Service and Ethnic Restructuring under the New Economic Policy: The New Challenge of Correcting Selectivity and Excess’. In Gomez, E. T. and Saravanamuttu, J. (eds) 2013. The New Economic Policy in Malaysia: Affirmative Action, Ethnic Inequalities and Social Justice. Singapore: NUS Press and ISEAS Publishing, pp. 175–203.
Loh, K. W. 2010. ‘Restructuring Federal–State Relations in Malaysia: From Centralised to Co-operative Federalism?’, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 99(407): 131–40.Google Scholar
Malaysia 2010a. Tenth Malaysia Plan, 2010–2015. Kuala Lumpur: National Printing Department.
Malaysia 2010b. New Economic Model for Malaysia, Part 1. Putrajaya: National Economic Advisory Council.
Marican, Y. M. 1979. ‘Public Personnel Administration in Malaysia’. Research Notes and Discussions Paper No. 12, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
Means, G. P. 1972. ‘Special Rights as a Strategy for Development’, Comparative Politics, 5(1): 29–61.Google Scholar
Means, G. P. 1975. ‘Malaysia’. In Kearney, R. N. (ed.) Politics and Modernization in South and Southeast Asia. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman, pp. 153–213.
Means, G. P. 1998. ‘Soft Authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore’. In Diamond, L. and Plattner, M. F. (eds), Democracy in East Asia. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 96–112.
Meerman, J. 2008. ‘The Malaysian Success Story, the Public Sector and Inter-Ethnic Inequality’. In Nelson, J. M., Meerman, J. and Embong, A. R. (eds), Globalization and National Autonomy: The Experience of Malaysia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 76–115.
Mohd Nasir, M. A. 2010. ‘A New Breed of Civil Servants’, The Star, 14 August 2010.
mysinchew.com 2010. ‘Malaysia Rises to Tier 2 of Trafficking in Persons Report’, mysinchew.com, 14 June, available at: www.mysinchew.com/node/40378 (accessed 30 December 2014).
MYsinchew.com 2012. ‘889 Malaysians Detained Abroad in Past 10 Years for Drugs’, mysinchew.com, 30 March, available at: www.mysinchew/node/71944 (accessed 30 December 2014).
National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) 2014a. (Petaling Jaya) ‘About the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau’, available at: http://portal.bpfk.gov.my/index.cfm?&menuid=4 (accessed 30 December 2014).
National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) 2014b. (Petaling Jaya) ‘The Malaysian GLP Monitoring Authority’, available at: http://portal.bpfk.gov.my/index.cfm?&menuid=65 (accessed 30 December 2014).
National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) 2014c. (Petaling Jaya) ‘Cancellation of Notification of Cosmetic Products’, available at: http://portal.bpfk.gov.my/index.cfm?&menuid=118&parentid=116 (accessed 30 December 2014).
Ragayah, M. Z. 1988. ‘A General Equilibrium Approach to Fiscal Incidence and Redistribution Policies in West Malaysia’, PhD thesis, Vanderbilt University.
Ragayah, M. Z. 2014. ‘Malaysian Development Experience: Lessons for Developing Countries’, Institutions and Economies, 6(1): 17–56.Google Scholar
Ramakrishna, K. 2005. ‘The Southeast Asian Approach to Counter-Terrorism: Learning from Indonesia and Malaysia’, Journal of Conflict Studies, 25(1): 27–47.Google Scholar
Sarji, A. 1996. The Chief Secretary to the Government. Kuala Lumpur: MPH Publishing.
Sanusi, A., Mansor, N. and Kuddus, A. 2003. The Malaysian Bureaucracy: Four Decades of Development. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Schwab, K. (ed.) 2014. The Global Competitiveness Report, 2014–2015. Geneva: World Economic Forum.
Shafii, Z., Abidin, N. Z. and Ahmad, A. R. 2009. ‘Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Malaysian Economy: A Special Reference to the Ethnic Group Participation in Financial Planning Activities’, Utuslararasi Sosyal Ara Tirmalar Dergisi (Journal of International Social Research), 2(8): 394–401.Google Scholar
Shamsul, A. B. 1996. ‘The Construction and Transformation of a Social Identity: Malayness and Bumiputraness Re-examined’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, 52: 15–33.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, D. R. 2002. ‘Economic Growth and Income Inequality: The Malaysian Experience’. In Asher, M. G., Newman, D. and Snyder, T. P. (eds), Public Policy in Asia: Implications for Business and Government. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, pp. 11–31.
The Star 2012. ‘Hishammuddin: 10,500 Drug Traffickers Detained since 2009’, 19 March.
The Star 2013. ‘Big Drop in Poverty Rate’, 28 March.
Transparency International 2014. (Berlin) ‘Corruption Perceptions Index, 1996–2014’, available at: www.transparency.org (accessed 30 December 2014).
Van Meter, D. S. and Van Horn, C. E. 1975. ‘The Policy Implementation Process: A Conceptual Framework’, Administration and Society, 6(4): 445–88.Google Scholar
Watts, R. L. 1999. Comparing Federal Systems,. Ontario: McGill-Queens University Press.
World Bank 2014a. (Washington, DC) ‘Data: GDP per capita (current US$)’, available at: data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD (accessed 30 December 2014).
World Bank 2014b. (Washington, DC) ‘Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2013’, available at: www.info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports (accessed 30 December 2014).
Yatim, R. 2006. Cabinet Government in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: DTP Enterprise.
Zarina, O. 2006. ‘Human (In)security, Human Trafficking and Security in Malaysia’. In Beeks, K. and Amir, D. (eds), Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 47–60.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×