| Rokiah Mahmud |
“CIVIL servants should not become ‘yes-men’. Discussions and agreements are part of the process of good governance, yet civil servants are trained to remember that the minister is the boss and capable of suppressing debates, regardless of how they feel about the ruling party.”
This was highlighted by Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Jaya Dato Paduka Haji Judin bin Haji Asar, Secretary to the Cabinet Ministers’ Council and Clerk to the Legislative Council, during the opening ceremony of the 2nd Workshop on Human Capacity Development, co-organised by the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
“Officers of the Houses are no different from the civil servants of today,” he said.
“While civil servants serve the executive branch, the officers of the House are committed to providing service to the legislative branch of government.”
He added that civil servants can contribute their knowledge of government structure to the House, while executive officers of the Parliament must be willing to acquire more knowledge through learning.
The guests of honour with distinguished workshop guests. – AZROL AZMI
He added, civil servants should possess wide knowledge on an array of subjects, including politics, economy and culture, which could prove useful during international and regional meetings they may be required to attend.
“Some of those topics may not be in your academic background, but knowledge combined with vast experience helps us to perform our duties,” he said.
There are no limits to acquiring knowledge in Brunei, particularly with the ‘Pembelajaran Sepanjang Hayat’ (lifelong learning) concept being introduced at school level, he said.
The workshop’s launching was held yesterday at the Department of Councils of State in Jalan Dewan Majlis.
Eighteen parliament officers representing AIPA are taking part in the two-day workshop from May 17 – 18.
Also present during the opening ceremony were YB Awang Haji Mohd Shafiee bin Ahmad, member of the Legislative Council; Periowsamy Otharam, in his capacity as Secretary-General of AIPA; and Bernado R Agawin Jr as the GIZ Technical Assistance Coordinator/Regional Advisor in the Capacity Development for AIPA.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of AIPA in his opening speech noted that the workshop’s objective was to enable participants to craft the initial draft for a Human Capacity Development plan for their respective parliaments.
The participants will also present the Common Framework on Human Capacity Development (HCD) for AIPA, which will serve as a guide in drafting their plans.
“One of the end results for the workshop will see the participants discussing and networking with each other on their respective capacities,” said Otharam.
“As a group, the participants will be referred to as community of HCD professionals from Member Parliaments.”
In his opening remarks, Bernado R Agawin Jr said that the workshop was part of the joint-project on Capacity Development for AIPA.
He gave details of the project, which is currently in its second phase and scheduled to end in February 2018.
“The overall aim of the AIPA-GIZ Project is to support the Asean integration process, and to contribute to the peace, stability and security in the Asean region. In particular, it aims to strengthen the parliamentary policy-making and control functions of AIPA member parliaments,” he said.
“We will attain this through training and dialogue measures to target audiences such as national secretaries of AIPA.”
The project is funded by Germany, through the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, and implemented by GIZ.
There are three components of the project: Inter-parliamentary Knowledge Management, Human Capacity Development and Communication and Outreach.
The workshop is part of the component on Human Capacity Development, and one of its key success indicators is for the AIPA Parliamentary Members to formulate a common ‘Human Capacity Development Framework.’
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