PUTRAJAYA: The digitalisation of public services is top on the list of newly appointed Public Service director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah, who believes that having more services digitalised will also help in the fight against corruption.

       He said with digitalisation, the possibility for corruption and power abuse could be minimised as those requiring services and those offering it need not meet.

       He said the public service needs to move and change with the times, particularly in meeting the demands and expectations of the people.

       “Our target is to digitalise at least 80% of government services by 2025. This will help in providing good service and cutting bureaucracy.

       “For now, our digitalisation is at 68% and we are on track to achieving (our target),” he said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic had further stressed the need for digitalisation.

       Mohd Shafiq cited MySejahtera and the Immigration Department’s passport services as among highly digitalised facilities provided by the government.

       Speaking at his first media meet after his appointment to the post on Feb 10, he said digitalisation would enable the public sector workforce to focus on critical areas such as enforcement and services that still had to be provided physically.

       On corruption among civil servants, he said one of the latest moves was to amend a service circular on guidelines for giving and accepting gifts, following a review on the amount and value.

       He said the amendments were made to further strengthen the policy on accepting gifts among civil servants.

       “A draft of the amendments has been submitted to the Attorney General’s Chambers for approval,” he said, but did not elaborate on the amendments.

       Mohd Shafiq also said outsourcing government services could be adopted to reduce the possibility of power abuse among civil servants.

       Another area which he plans to push is collaboration among civil servants to produce better outcomes in their service to the people.

       “Working in silos will result in losses in time and resources, which if optimised, can bring greater benefit to the people,” he said, pointing to the cooperation among ministries and agencies during the pandemic.