I deduced and agree that there would be less job security in a competitive, productive and therefore performance based economy. If you are not good enough, you are asked to seek employment elsewhere.
NEM also spoke of the need to improve the targeting of social assistance programs which I agree as well. It won't be inconsistent with PAS' welfare state manifesto anyway.
On page 190:
"More generally to overcome obstacles to subsidy reform, social assistance programmes will have to be more efficiently structured. An important step in the government’s reform effort should be to catalog all existing social assistance programmes to identify their policy objectives, eligibility criteria, benefit structure, administrative costs, and target beneficiaries. To improve targeting, proxy measures of a household’s consumption per capita could be constructed to create better means-test benefits. Other measures could be implemented to avoid the current vertical inequity in the system by gradually rather than sharply phasing out eligibility and reducing horizontal inequity by restructuring certain benefits to make them less lumpy.
The system needs to be better targeted, expanded in some aspects but reduced in others. There are errors of exclusion – some groups are falling through the net (foreign workers, their children, the urban and rural poor) and some problems with the e-Kasih approach in terms of targeting. There are also errors of inclusion largely because of poor targeting. Moreover, the overall system can be streamlined to improve efficiency and generate savings that would help fund expanded programmes."
While the above are great arguments, as in the NEP, implementation is and will be the problem.
50 years of race base politics and more that has unfortunately resulted in skewed implementation of all well intended programmes and putting in the wrong person for positions that has life and death implications. Not quite sure how the transformation program will turn out to be. The best judge of service is the recipients and their feedback from ground level would be the best source of information, not some fancy and expensively printed booklet (whose contract is it anyway?)
Reading this Chinese paper article below make me seriously wonder if our tax payers’ funded civil servants are up to mark in carrying out this critical function.
貧孤申請援金無下文‧火箭轟福利局充國陣工具
No reply to application for assistance, DAP criticize welfare department has degraded itself to be a tool of BN
2010-03-16 19:00 
（森美蘭‧芙蓉）3名森州行動黨州議員炮轟森州福利局讓申請者無限期等待申請批准，甚至有的求助者逝世了，都沒有等到申請。不單如此，當局官員一週有5天在國陣服務中心服務，仿佛成了國陣的利用工具。
3 Negeri Sembilan DAP ADUNs criticize the Negeri Sembilan welfare department delaying processing of application of social aid, even until after the death of some of the applications. In additional, some of the officers are found working in Barisan Nasional service centre 5 times a week, as if becoming a tool of BN.
3名州議員分別是萬茂州議員黃美美、新那旺州議員古拿及沉香州議員吳金財於今日（週二，3月16日）召開記者會，表達對森州福利局的不滿。
The 3 ADUNs at the press conference are YB Wong May May (Mambau), YB Gunasekaran (Senawang) and YB Ng Chin Tsai (Temiang).
黃美美認為，森州福利局讓貧苦弱勢的申請者痴痴等待申請被批准，可謂不體恤申請者的痛苦。
“申請者都是殘障人士或單親媽媽，他們必須面對身體痛苦、承受生活及經濟壓力，但是很多申請者等了至少1年，都沒有消息。”
Wong May May stated that the welfare department is being insensitive to the plight of these people trapped in a disadvantaged position and let them hanging hope and desperation.
“They are either disabled or single mothers enduring physical hardship, economic and livelihood pressure but yet a year after handing in their application, there is no feedback for them.”
她解釋，當局在每一個選區，都會派1名官員負責選區的福利申請。
“在我的選區，每個月至少有100宗福利申請，但只有1名官員處理，這是相當難負荷的，我多次在州議會提出這個問題，要求一些選區若有很多宗申請福利，應該多派官員處理。”
“In my constituency, I have 100 applications a month but there is only 1 officer in charge and this is overtaxing the officer. I have mentioned this many times in DUN sittings but there is no improvement.”
……………………….
她說，當局不完善的制度及電腦系統問題存在已久，申請者的資料沒有被輸入電腦，讓申請者無法瞭解自己是否獲批申請福利。
………..
黃美美曾經向森州福利局局長米占獻議聘請臨時員工，協助把申請者的個人資料輸入電腦，方便工作進展。“這個問題我早在兩年前提過，但是至今，當局仍未做好。”
She added that the department’s computer system issues have been around for a long time and most of the application details have not been keyed into the database hence applicants can’t check the status.
She has suggested to the department head to employ temporary workers to clear the back log case 2 years ago but nothing has been done.
黃美美曾於週一（3月15日）致電給森州福利局局長米占反映申請者面對的問題，包括官員態度不佳問題，甚至也有官員對州議員不禮貌。
她認為，福利局官員應該細心聆聽每位申請者的詢問，但是往往卻有人缺乏耐心。
她也有詢問米占為何一些申請者找不到官員時，對方聲稱，申請可以到選區的國陣服務中心找到官員，而且1週有5天，官員都會在那邊。
“我想說，政府機構及政黨服務中心是2個不同單位，局長應該分清楚這點，若申請者要瞭解申請，理應是到福利局查詢，不是在國陣服務中心。”
但是，米占竟對她說，因為國陣服務中心比較靠近選區，讓她無法接受這個理由。
黃美美覺得，福利局已經成了國陣的利用工具，而且有濫用權力及被政治化之嫌。
“福利局是服務大眾，而非服務國陣，他們已經分不清國陣及政府部門是各別獨立操作，我希望局長可以醒覺。”
She rang up the department head 米占 (read like Mirzan or Nizam) and made known the list of problems faced by application including bad attitude and some officers even behave rudely to ADUNs (by extensionm reflective of their attitude to the aid seekers)
To her question on why some of the applicants could not locate the officer in charge, the answer was “applicants can visit the Barisan Nasional service centre in their area and our officers are there 5 days a week because those venues are nearer to their homes”
YB Wong feels that the welfare department has become a political tool of BN and suspected of abuse of power. The objective of the department is to serve the people and not BN, They are incapable of distinguishing between BN and civil service.
新那旺州議員古拿認為，他將會寫函給州秘書及州政府法律顧問，要求正視森州福利局的服務問題，甚至也會致函予全國福利局及呈上備忘錄給相關部長反映問題，以採取行動。
他說，州內民聯議員協助申請者向當局作出申請時，往往當局卻遲遲未處理好，反之國陣同樣向當局作出申請，卻可以迅速辦妥，似乎有雙重標準之嫌。
YB Guna will be writing
沉香州議員吳金財表示，福利局被國陣利用作為宣傳工具已經是很久的問題，讓人民誤解，以為必須通過國陣才能解決問題，可謂製造假象。
YB Ng stated that the department has long been used as a propaganda tool to give a misleading impression that only via BN, problem can be solved
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THAT statement for the state director completely flabbergasted me - what? Are we having Nazri-ism permeating through the civil servants? Nazri must have a latent fan club somewhere in sleepy hollow NS.
Yeah I can half joke about this but when I think of those deserving, desperate and deprived...this is no laughing matter.
The KPI and Welfare Ministers can do well to address this issue - and put the NEM's job insecurity assertion on this nut case, perhaps.
So back to the signature dish of Najib administration -1Malaysia People First and Performance Now. How do the NS welfare department live up to this rallying call then?NEM itself spoke of "unwavering leadership political and political will" as an essential ingredient of seeing the whole thing through (page 17-18). Najib spoke of his willingness to make tough decisions: "In his speech titled “A New Vision for Malaysia”, the prime minister made clear that he was not opposed to dissent or opposition because he believed legitimate views deserved to be heard." - so can Najib administration reign in the little Napoleon that is toying away with what precious little time that the needy and deprived can't afford to lose?
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