No Wrong Door: The Story of Sidek Hassan

Author: Rokiah Talib

Publisher: UKM Press

ISBN: 9789674124502

Year: 2018

Pages: 131 pp

Price: RM120

NO WRONG DOOR : THE STORY OF SIDEK HASSAN. This book opens the door to the workings and intricacies of the Civil Service. Sidek Hassan, as the Chief Secretary (KSN) to the government, describes his journey of doing things differently or as he puts it, "business unusual." Indeed, during his tenure as the KSN, he applied the Blue Ocean Strategy, breaking of the "silos' mentality" and opted for the sharing of assets even between "sworn enemies" of the Police and the Army. In his effort to improve the government delivery system and work culture, he turned it around with his new approach that "the duty of the civil service is to facilitate and not frustrate the customers irrespective." He is in tune with the "Customer friendly" tagline. This lifelong mission was nurtured during his childhood when he learnt that the delivery system was not client friendly. "No Wrong Door" means a customer must be served in the most efficient and cordial manner and not made to run around irrespective whichever door is opened. This seamless delivery system is new to most of the civil servants and Sidek had to use some very creative ways of convincing the bulk of the 1.2 million staff of all levels and expertise for a buy in. Whatever the challenges, Sidek soldiered on with a few believers at the beginning, knowing that he had the support from the then Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi (Tun). The Prime Minister gave Sidek a very special mission, "...to be the bridge between the private and public sector" under the newly created PEMUDAH. Together with the top "guns" both from the private and public sectors, PEMUDAH was a great success in not only "building the bridge" but also in climbing the ladder of Ease of Doing Business Index from 25 to top 6 by the time he retired in 2012. In all, Sidek was a class on his own as he had the audacity to open the door to the civil service and cleaned up the cob-webs as much as he could without fear or favour.