LETTER | Sloganeering is too old school

LETTER | As part of efforts to improve its service to the people, the Melaka state government launched a new slogan recently - "Melakaku Maju Jaya, Rakyat Bahagia, Menggamit Dunia" (My Melaka Progresses, Happy People, Beckoning the World).

In 2014, the state government previously introduced the slogan "Don't Mess With Melaka" to instill discipline in the community in order to preserve cleanliness in the state that prides itself on its booming tourism industry.

Although residents may appreciate the justification for such harsh words, unknowing visitors felt threatened by the unfriendly slogan. A simpler and direct message such as “Please keep our city clean” would have been much better. However, the new slogan now, being long, is a mouthful.

Malacca Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali (above) also announced that there would be five key performance indicators (KPI) to evaluate the achievement of all state government agencies. They were komunikasi (communication), kolaborasi (collaboration), koordinasi (coordination), kopetensi (competency), and kongsi (sharing of) information.

Additionally, he said the Malacca government was introducing new mission statements entitled TERAS which includes these elements: technology, entrepreneurship, industrial and economic revolution, international, and well-being.

All this reminds me of the grand vision and mission statements displayed at the office reception of many organisations. Despite their lofty intentions, I find it laughable when their toilets are more like horror chambers, which I had to endure when visiting a leading government agency at Putrajaya some time ago.

Any organisation that is genuinely sincere in customer service should have mobile phone numbers for the public to make enquiries, file complaints, to forward photos or videos as evidence, or to send complimentary messages for a job well done. It is not rocket science.

Staff will then be busy serving the public instead of massaging figures to make the KPI look good, turning it to nothing more than a syiok sendiri (self praising) exercise. Another method is to interview random customers as these reports can be very revealing and different from an in-house appraisal.

Over the past decades, millions of schoolchildren learned the five principles of our national philosophy by heart. Although most Malaysians could recite the Rukunegara, many are not practising the fifth tenet, and that is courtesy and morality. And this includes political leaders.

Slogans, vision, and mission statements are all hollow if there is no leadership by example. Also, there must be strong political will from the top down to make changes for the better. Otherwise, we will continue to regress by taking one step forward, two steps back.

Decades ago, a thrift and loan company in Perak entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest abbreviation. It was held by Syarikat Kerjasama Orang-Orang Melayu Kerajaan Hilir Perak Kerana Jimat Cermat Dan Pinjam-Meminjam Wang Berhad (S.K.O.M.K.H.P.K.J.C.D.P.W.B.). In comparison, the new Melaka slogan is relatively short.