?No Wrong Door: The Story of Sidek Hassan

No WrongDoor: The Story of Sidek Hassan

Author: Rokiah Talib

Publisher: UKMPress

ISBN: 9789674124502

Year: 2018

Pages: 131pp

Price: RM120

NO WRONG DOOR : THE STORY OF SIDEK HASSAN. This book opensthe door to the workings and intricacies of the Civil Service. Sidek Hassan, asthe Chief Secretary (KSN) to the government, describes his journey of doingthings differently or as he puts it, "business unusual." Indeed,during his tenure as the KSN, he applied the Blue Ocean Strategy, breaking ofthe "silos' mentality" and opted for the sharing of assets evenbetween "sworn enemies" of the Police and the Army. In his effort toimprove the government delivery system and work culture, he turned it aroundwith his new approach that "the duty of the civil service is to facilitateand not frustrate the customers irrespective." He is in tune with the"Customer friendly" tagline. This lifelong mission was nurturedduring his childhood when he learnt that the delivery system was not clientfriendly. "No Wrong Door" means a customer must be served in the mostefficient and cordial manner and not made to run around irrespective whicheverdoor is opened. This seamless delivery system is new to most of the civilservants and Sidek had to use some very creative ways of convincing the bulk ofthe 1.2 million staff of all levels and expertise for a buy in. Whatever thechallenges, Sidek soldiered on with a few believers at the beginning, knowingthat he had the support from the then Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi (Tun).The Prime Minister gave Sidek a very special mission, "...to be the bridgebetween the private and public sector" under the newly created PEMUDAH.Together with the top "guns" both from the private and publicsectors, PEMUDAH was a great success in not only "building the bridge"but also in climbing the ladder of Ease of Doing Business Index from 25 to top6 by the time he retired in 2012. In all, Sidek was a class on his own as hehad the audacity to open the door to the civil service and cleaned up thecob-webs as much as he could without fear or favour.