Ku Li dismisses KPIs as a waste of time - Malaysiakini

National expos notwithstanding, veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah remains unconvinced that KPIs (key performance indicators) is the solution to the country's problems.

Speaking to Malaysiakini in an interview last week, the former finance minister said that the prime minister's pet project merely serves to distract from the main issues - corruption, security, education and the economy.

While KPIs are useful for corporate bodies, Razaleigh (right) considers it a "waste of time" to measure the performance of a government through such indicators.

"To me the main problems are corruption, security, education and the economy. These are the main problems he has to tackle, not measuring the performance of agencies and ministers. I don't believe in it.

"You can probably look at the bottom line and measure the management's performance in a corporate organisation. But this is difficult in the government service. Only in the general elections do you know if you've been successful."

As such, the Gua Musang MP said that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can only hope to regain lost ground if he is willing to let some heads roll.

"If he does take drastic action...sack people who are corrupt, put them in jail, spruce things up so that the delivery system is improved tremendously, then people would respond."

However, Razaleigh believes that Sarawak will nevertheless remain in the hands of the BN due to difficulties in campaigning in the vast state.

The following are excerpts of the interview. Content has been edited for brevity.

Malaysiakini: Najib has been the prime minister for almost a year now. What is your report card on him so far?

Razaleigh: If you compare him to the previous prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) I think he's done better, but in terms of meeting the aspirations of the people, I think he had not even come quarter of the way. He is labouring on his 1Malaysia slogan that he has introduced, which I think is a side issue.

To me the main problems are corruption, security, education and the economy. These are the main problems he has to tackle, not measuring the performance of agencies and ministers. I don't believe in it.

You can probably look at the bottom line and measure the management's performance in a corporate organisation. But this is difficult in the government service. Only in the general elections do you know if you've been successful.

So all the talk about KPIs is a complete waste of time?

I think so. Politically, you can't measure it, because after all it all depends on the wishes of the people. If you don't meet the wishes of the people, you are dead (laughs). That's the measurement.

Expectations are much higher after March 2008 and Najib has a tough job in meeting these expectations. As you said, he's making piecemeal changes and is not looking at the big issues. Would this be enough for him to win the next election?

The next election is three years away if you go through the normal run of things, and he has that time to prepare himself. Whether he is prepared to take the bold steps to reform is anybody's guess. But if he does take drastic action... sack people who are corrupt, put them in jail, spruce things up so that the delivery system is improved tremendously, then people would respond.

Based on what I hear and what I see, even the opposition is not able to put things together. People are getting disenchanted with the opposition. Unless the opposition can get their act together, people are not going to ditch a government that has been there, however bad they may be, but it is better if the government reforms.

Do the PKFZ arrests show that the government is serious against corruption?

I'm surprised that only some people who were involved in the administration and management of PKFZ were taken in for questioning. What about those big players? The people who are the decision makers from the Ministry of Transport...

I'm not saying that they are responsible, but why (were they not taken in)? Does it mean that only these people (who were arrested) are involved and others are not? What about those people who buy and sell properties, who are involved of the development of the port?

But the attorney-general said there would be more arrests.

How long more must we wait? This thing has been going on for some time.

We were talking about the general elections. What about the Sarawak elections?

Sarawak is bigger than the peninsular. Access and communication is difficult. They speak different languages. Even the Chinese - the Kuching Chinese and the Sibu Chinese - they're different crowds of people entirely, and there are so many parties.

You go in there before the elections and suddenly you find all the helicopters have been chartered, all the boats have been requisitioned by the ruling party. Where do you go from there?

You can't even go up the Rejang River. It's so big a river with people straddled along that river and campaigning period is seven days.

How do you get from point A to point B? You may be able to win over Kuching, but beyond that is difficult.

In other words, you are saying that BN can still win Sarawak?

I think so, and money is a big factor. If you don't go in with big money, there's no way you can change the attitudes of the people. Not that I'm encouraging the use of money or money politics, no, but that's how the game is played.