People want improvement in 6 areas

People want improvement in 6 areas
2010/05/06

KUALA LUMPUR: In creating a strategic road map for Vision 2020, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak asked a simple question: what changes does the rakyat want?

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala said the answer to that question was equally simple.

"Surveys were conducted to find out what the rakyat really wanted and the clear answer was that the government should improve its delivery system," he said.

There are six fundamental areas which the public wanted immediate change in: reducing crime, fighting corruption, improving rural basic infrastructure, improving urban public transport, improving the prospects and standards of poor people and improving education for everyone.

Idris said from then on, massive plans were set in motion to achieve those goals.

One example which has already been introduced came under urban public transport.

"For a long time, the ridership of our public transport has been 10 per cent.

"This means that only 10 per cent of Kuala Lumpur residents actually use public transport.

"To change this, eight brand-new four-car LRT trains have been introduced and in the last three months, some 955,000 more people have begun riding the LRT.

"We've placed orders for 29 sets, which will be delivered by the end of this year. Who says the civil service cannot run (work fast)?" he said.

Speaking on TV3's one-hour Soal Jawab talk show hosted by Datuk Ahmad A. Talib, Idris said he was proud that civil servants had embraced the GTP and focused their energies on achieving Vision 2020.

"The challenge of working in the government is to understand what the rakyat wants.

"The majority of the rakyat is the silent majority, so when they are happy and satisfied, that is what really matters."

Najib, he said, had offered the country an opportunity to change its future. "It is true that our present is coloured by the past, but the truth is that we can choose the colours of the future."