PETALING JAYA, Aug 1 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today urged ministers to sit and mingle with the common people when attending official programmes, rather than keeping with the VIP guests.

He said the protocol for ministers to sit with government officials must be eradicated, adding that a Cabinet member would only know problems faced by the people by doing so.

"As a politician, it is a great achievement if you can touch the lives of individuals. If you can impact them positively, it would be great,” he said at Genovasi Malaysia here.

He spoke about his experience at an island off Langkawi where he found out that the pump prices of RON95 petrol and diesel there were more expensive than the rest of the area, while having a drink with the villagers.

"I would not have known this if I had not sat down with the people.

"I immediately called on the minister and the matter was resolved in a few days,” he said.

On another matter, Najib said he had always advocated the idea of breaking the silos between ministries and agencies to enable a better administration for the benefit of the people.

"I am therefore glad that Genovasi Malaysia has realised this and is providing training for civil servants to embrace innovation as we need to know how best to utilise scarce resources to ensure exponential growth.

"Most problems transcends not from one ministry, but more. If you can overcome this, I'm sure we will be able to achieve much more,” he said.

Najib said this was also part of the strategy of National Transformation 2050 plan.

Genovasi celebrates its fifth anniversary today at an event that will officially mark its elevation to university college status.