PUTRAJAYA, Nov 13 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak  said the public sector has shown that it can rise to the call of innovation.

He cited the Urban Transformation Centres (UTCs), Rural Transformation Centres (RTCs), higher tax collection by the Inland Revenue Board, and the listing of Felda, which was the third biggest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the world, as examples of the government’s innovativeness.

“Since innovation was given attention, the public sector has become more responsive.

“All this while, we thought the public sector had a tendency to be orthodox and having a conventional approach, but when we threw the challenge of innovation, the public sector showed it could rise to the occasion,” he said at the Prime Minister’s Innovation Award (AIPM) 2013 ceremony at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here today.

Also present were Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal and Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) director-general, Datuk Wira Omar Kaseh.

Najib said the public sector further needed to be braver in discarding static thinking and rigidity so that innovation became an embedded culture.

He said this culture should also not be blocked towards ensuring “creativity and innovation were the order of the day”.

At the event, Najib presented the 2013 Prime Minister’s Innovation Award, which was won by Mercy Malaysia, to its President Datuk Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus. They received RM1 million, a trophy and certificate.   

Najib said innovation and the ability to innovate was not the monopoly of  any sector, including research scientists. 

“The ability to innovate can be nurtured and developed within the public sector. And when we innovate two things can happen. 

“The first is that people will be satisfied. They’ll see that the public sector is truly responsive and effective, and committed to their well-being.

“The second is, the public sector’s success will have an impact on the expansion of the GNI (Gross National Income) and the country’s economy,” he said.

Najib said that Malaysia should shift from input led investment to a knowledge based economy and onwards to an innovation propelled economy in order to become a developed nation.  

“If we continue to depend on input led investment we will not reach a significant elevation or multiple leaps to place us as a developed nation.  

“That’s why the government is stressing on how important it is to cultivate innovation not only in the private sector but also the public sector as whole,” he emphasised. 

Najib also called for Malaysia, now at 32nd spot in the 2013 Global Innovation Index which covers 142 countries, to continuously improve its ranking. — Bernama