HISTORY OF CHAPTE
DEVELOPMENT R3
ADMINISTRATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able
to:
1. Distinguish different phases of Malaysian
experience in development administration.
2. Discuss the impact of different phases of
Malaysian experience in development
administration.
HISTORY OF D.A IN MALAYSIA
The Colonial Period (Before Independence)
Maintenance Administration : maintaining the welfare, security, and peaceful
life of the people.
There were no serious efforts to develop the people and the nation at that time.
The Post Colonial Period (After Independence)
Development Administration – A reform in the administration.
There were serious and rapid efforts to develop the people and the nation.
Planning prudentially for the overall development of Malaysia in the sphere of
economy, social, culture, politics and environment.
THE EVOLUTION OF
DEVELOPMENT
ADMINISTRATION IN
MALAYSIA
1.The early year of 1950s: The Instillation/imitation of the Western
management techniques
2.Phase I: Political Modernisation, Institution building and
3.Phase II: Administrative reform
4.Phase III: Project planning, Privatisation, Public Enterprise
5.Phase IV: The year of Millennium and beyond - Development
Management – quality management, civil society
THE EARLY YEARS OF 1950
Development Administration proponents focused on importing western public
management techniques into the developing nations.
Main theme: The imitation of western management
techniques
The goal of this instillation was to establish a bureaucracy that is rational, free from political
interference, efficient and following the ideal-type Weberian tradition (Rondinelli, 1983).
Based on Weberian Tradition - Principles introduced by a famous German sociologist, Max Weber (1864 – 1920):
Positions are determined by hierarchy.
Positions are filled in based on merit, candidates are
Appointed not elected.
Staff are paid with substantial wages and with provision of pension scheme
Staff are subjected to and control and systematic discipline as long as they are in service.
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PHASE I
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PHASE I
Most scholars reviewed back the indoctrination of public
administration following the Weberian tradition.
Several themes/approaches have been developed to
further strengthen the public sectors such as:
1. Theme I: Political modernisation
2. Theme II: Institution building
THEME 1: POLITICAL
MODERNISATION
Problems occurred in 1960s:
1.Countries were vastly ruled and administered by political elite – e.g.
the Malay and Chinese elites
2.Political democracy is available but controlled by the ruling elite.
3.No distinction between policy formulation and implementation
which is against the dichotomy of policy and administration.
4.Even though democratic political culture had flourished, political
participation was still controlled and in some places suppressed by the
government.
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THE PROCESS OF POLITICAL
MODERNISATION
1. Differentiation – It was one aspect of development. Western scholar believed that to
modernise the underdeveloped society must differentiate. That means, ‘certain structures
emerge which have a functional distinctiveness’ – e.g. Function of Minister must be
differentiated from function of deputy minister.
2. Secularisation – The action of govt was considered rational and highly secularised. For
instance, the reason govt focused more on rural development was because there were
many rural poor who were obviously in need – not mainly bcos there were many Malays
2. Achievement oriented – recruitment based on achievement and not cronyism/relative
relations/nepotism. For example, in the civil service, promotion by seniority may
sometimes be a line of less resistance than promotion by merit. H/ever, to modernise, the
promotion must be based on merits and qualifications.
(Source: Milne, 1969)
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THEME II : INSTITUTION BUILDING
In the context of development administration, institution
can be defined as
“organizations such as government agencies, public
enterprises, banks, the arm forces and hospitals”
(Van Arkardie, 1990; Van Rennin and Waisfisz, 1988).
Milton Esman (1972) defines institution building as
“the planning, structuring, and guidance of new or reconstituted [reconstructed]
organizations’
In Malaysia, the institution building can be described as planning that includes macro and
micro level institutions:
Macro level institution – federal govt
Micro level institution – state/local govt/agencies/departments
For instance, at a federal level, govt has introduced NEP. In order to ensure the smooth
implementation of NEP, govt has also introduced several agencies to assist in reducing
poverty especially in rural areas. Such agencies such as FELDA, FELCRA, RISDA are
considered as a micro-level institution that responsible to build basic infrastructures in rural
areas.
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PHASE II:
ADMINISTRATIVE
REFORM
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM
Administrative reform was defined ‘as a state of change, responding,
adjusting, and proacting to the demands of the environment’ (Othman,
1987)
In Malaysia, rigorous reform was made due to two important factors:
1.Modernisation – needed bcos the roles of govt have changed from one
of regulatory to national planning and development administration. So
the restructuring and transformation were undertaken to ensure continued
national progress and equitable development. E.g. poverty eradication
and proposed programmes
2.Economy – the global economic downturn and financial constraints
have forced many govts to take a closer look at the functions of govt,
such as reduce the burden of public expenditure and etc.
The reform was made with a purpose to solve numerous problems within
the nation’s public administration especially to expedite the
implementation of development programs such as rapid socio-economic
growth
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The urgency to undertake comprehensive economic development planning
and implementation created the awareness of the need to reform the
inherited bureaucracy from colonial British.
So, the administrative reform and modernisation were considered deemed
important prerequisites toward satisfactory delivery services of
development programmes.
1.The first effort at administrative reform was initiated in 1965 –
Montgomery and Esman report on ‘Development administration in
Malaysia Report’ – they suggested the establishment of Development
Administration Unit (DAU) with the function of planning and guiding the
major programmes in administrative improvements, they proposed govt’s
education and training programmes and many more (find the information)
2. Due to criticisms of red tape and inefficiency in civil service, the
civil service launched the Excellence in the Civil Service
Programme – which established a code of ethics for the civil
service. This was important to create a civil service with the right
attitudes and good work ethics.
E.g. Concern on Accountability, Clean, Efficient and
Trustworthy Administration,
3. To ensure efficiency and effectiveness of civil service, the govt
had instilled pro-service and positive attitude among civil servant.
E.g. leadership by example, friendly and courteous service and
total training.
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PHASE III
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PHASE III
Institution Building & Project Planning were picked as
strategies to further guide the govt. of developing countries
during the 1st part of the 70s (Rondinelli, 1985).
Some of the approaches were used:
1. Theme I: Project planning
2. Theme II: Privatisation
3. Theme III: Public Enterprise
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THEME I : PROJECT PLANNING
The concern over project planning can be traced from the active roles played by the
international financial institutions (e.g. IMF, WB) that were providing loans for
developing nations.
E.g. The volume of lending and number of assistance projects have increased sharply
over the past decade. Between 1963 and 1973 aid from international financial
institutions increased by over 300 percent, from slightly more than $1.3 billion to
$5.4 billion.
One of the main requirements for such loans was that recipient countries need to set up
a comprehensive project planning and appraisal system (Rondinelli, 1985). One of the
prominent strategies was the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs)
SAPs are designed to improve a country's foreign investment climate by eliminating
trade and investment regulations, to boost foreign exchange earnings by promoting
exports, and to reduce government deficits through cuts in spending.
The objective of project planning and SAP was to ensure the recovery of many LDCs
from crisis to economic growth. By following the SAP, only feasible projects can
determine the recipients ability to service their loans.
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THEME II: PRIVATISATION
POLICY
Privatisation policy involves the transformation of
government equities to the private sector. The
immediate result of privatisation is the lowered cost
in the government’s spending.
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THEME III: PUBLIC
ENTERPRISE
Public enterprise, a business organization wholly or partly owned by
the state and controlled through a public authority. Some public
enterprises are placed under public ownership because, for social
reasons, it is thought the service or product should be provided by
a state monopoly.
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PHASE IV:
DEVELOPMENT
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MANAGEMENT
PHASE IV: DEVELOPMENT
MANAGEMENT
Development Administration had matured in the 1990s whilst
entering the new era of the fourth decade (Esman, 1991)
1.Sustainable development
2.Development administration – development management
3.Total eradication of poverty
4.Emerging of new economies - non-western
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INCREASE THE CAPABILITY OF THE
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
Public agencies were summoned to evaluate their conventional roles
and assumed a new paradigm by accepting the private and
corporate institutions as partner in “nation building”. In
Malaysia such initiative can be seen through the Malaysia
Incorporated Policy.
It was a joint-venture cooperation form between the public and
private sectors in dealing with particular industrialisation and
services projects.
“The Malaysian Business Council (MBC), the Malaysia Inc. Officials
Committee and consultative panels were among the bodies set up to
foster greater co-operation” (Siddiquee, 2002, p. 117)
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RESPONSIVENESS AND
ACCOUNTABILITY
“Responsiveness”: Administrative responsibility to
immediately react upon any demand in terms of
public needs (Deindhart, 1984).
“Accountability”: Intrinsic responsibility that was
supposed to be inherent in all government
administrators (Luke, 1989).
Such attempts has created several institutions such
as the Public Complaints Bureau, Audit
Department, Treasury, Public Accounts Committee
and the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).
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DECENTRALISATION
Cheema and Rondinelli (1983) had suggested that
development projects to be implemented on the
basis of decentralisation.
The local government system in Malaysia was
perhaps the most successful implementation of
decentralisation.
The rationale was local officers understood better
the needs and requirements of their localities and
resources were optimally used.
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THE YEAR OF
MILLENNIUM AND
BEYOND
1. Vision 2020 policy of development
2. Quality management and customer oriented
3. Paperless bureaucracy
4. MDGs and SDGs
See Siddiquee., N.A. (2002). Administrative reform in Malaysia:
Recent trends and developments. Asian Journal of Political
Science, 10:1, 105-130, DOI: 10.1080/02185370208434204 for
further explanation)
THE END…
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