Towards a Better Understanding on the Relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Public Service Motivation

Knowledge sharing has been acknowledged as the right mechanism for public servants to share best practices in performing work among workers. The sharing of best practices on learning by actions (doing) seems to enhance motivation among public servants to provide quality services. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between knowledge sharing and public service motivation among civil servants in the Department of Student Affairs, UiTM Merlimau and Public Works Department (JKR), Jasin, Malaysia. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed but only 118 questionnaires were validly returned and used. The findings demonstrate that the level of knowledge sharing practices in both organisations is at moderate level. Pearson correlation analysis shows that policy making, commitment to public interests, social justice, civic duty, compassion and self-sacrifice have significant relationships with knowledge sharing practices. Meanwhile, multiple regression analysis reveals that only commitment to public interests, social justice as well as civic duty significantly influence the practices of knowledge sharing. The findings conclude that knowledge sharing is key element used by civil servants in producing public service motivation.

Prophetic Ethics: The Basic Value of Public Service Ethics

Dialectics of public service in providing services to the community is always involved in social interactions that do not stop. Very complex interactions involving not only theories related to public service, but also heterogeneous and dynamic human individuals who are involved either directly or indirectly. This research aims to build the concept of prophetic ethics as the basis of the ethical values of public service. This research uses a qualitative descriptive approach in building the concept of prophetic ethics. The main bases of the theory are adopted from the spirit and the prophetic principle of profetic which is classified respectively into the four elements of the establishment, namely humanity, scholarly, pregnancy as well as humanist, emancypatorist, transcendental and Teleological. This ethical concept has an orientation on the highest human spiritual peaks, namely the divine and prophetic consciousness. With such awareness of public service not only give service to society in general, but also as a form of devotion of a servant to the creator. Prophetic ethic recognizes the existence of empirical knowledge and not empirical. From the science was then made a practical formulation in the form of “prophetic law”, which was finally called by the name “prophetic ethics”. Prophetic ethics is an endeavor that the writer undertakes in internalizing a principle and spirit that holds fast to a holistic awareness that is divine and prophetic awareness. Thus the concept of public service is not only to dethrone obligations in providing service but also as a form of devotion of a servant to its creator.

Analysing Cybernetic Governance at Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia: How is Co- Production Linked to the Transformation of Higher Education Institutions via Governance?

This paper attempts to analyse how important the cybernetic governance is to higher education institutions in Malaysia. Cybernetic governance is a structure, process of a system to empower greater decision making, autonomy, leadership, and greater accountability. Thus, cybernetic approach is heavily depending on information, utilise information for decision making, policy making and feedback to respond effectively. The concept also relevant with co-production strategy, whereby public services offered at the institution would focus on making use of resources through community building, collaboration, and resource sharing. In this context, “governance” refers to the role of multi-stakeholders involved in decision making, autonomy, leadership, and accountability. The effectiveness and success of this cybernetic governance depends on the institution community; the board, Vice-Chancellor, university management committee, Deans and Directors involved. The main idea is to analyse cybernetic governance as a model for processing information and a platform for co-production on governance empowerment at higher education institutions in Malaysia. Hence literatures are reviewed to apply the concepts to this research. An expected outcome of this research would be the evidence to improve policy performance in governance arrangements. Therefore, cybernetic governance contribution is the practice of good governance for intelligent institutions.

Juridical Review of Implementation of Immigration Administrative Action in Indonesia

It has been nearly a decade since Indonesia had the latest Immigration Act (Law Number 6 of 2011). However, since the new Immigration Act was issued, the implementation of regulations for The Immigration Administrative Action has not yet been established. The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the implementing regulations of the legislation if the legal basis had been changed and to find out whether the discretion principle can be used as the basis for the procedure of Immigration Administrative Action. The research method used in this study is normative juridical. The conclusion drawn from the research is that the Director General of Immigration Instructions for Implementation Number: F-314.Il.02.10 of 1995 concerning procedures for Immigration Action is still valid but is no longer relevant to the current law, and the use of discretionary authority by the agency Government administration officials can only be done in certain cases where the applicable laws and regulations do not regulate them or because existing regulations governing things are unclear and they are carried out in an emergency or urgent matter for the public interest.

Zimbabwe’s Youth Empowerment Programme and Poverty Alleviation amongst Youths in Gweru Urban District

Zimbabwe’s youth empowerment programme was a public-private partnership between the Government of Zimbabwe and some Zimbabwean financial institutions. The aim of the programme was to alleviate poverty amongst youths through the provision of micro credit. Established in 2009 as the panacea for Zimbabwe’s youth empowerment challenges, there is very little credible data on the performance and effectiveness of this noble intervention that was criticised by some as partisan. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which Zimbabwe’s youth empowerment programme was able to achieve its main objective of alleviating poverty amongst the youths in Zimbabwe’s Gweru Urban District. The paper adopts a qualitative case study research design utilising both primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data was collected through semi- structured interviews with key informants as well as researcher observation. Secondary data was mainly obtained through searches of both physical and online libraries and repositories. Qualitative content analysis is the method used to analyse the data. The research findings reveal that the objectives of the programme were indeed relevant to the current challenges being faced by the youth in Zimbabwe. However, the programme had very little effect on youth poverty and unemployment in Gweru Urban District which remains high. Possible reasons for the limited effectiveness could be the fact that few youth projects were funded as compared to the number of youths that were in need of funding. The high rate of collapse of the youth projects funded coupled with the failure to sustain production levels achieved after accessing the loans also meant that chances of employment creation were limited. There were however, a few success stories noted by the study. The study recommends more training for beneficiaries if such programmes are to be more effective in future. This study is of significance as it adds to the existing body of knowledge the effectiveness of micro credit as a poverty alleviation strategy. Moreover, the paper is of importance to the Zimbabwe government and other development agents as it provides credible and perhaps more reliable accounts on the performance and effectiveness of Zimbabwe’s youth empowerment programme.

Public Trust and Confidence towards Judiciary of Nepal: A Study based on Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/18

Citizens’trust and confidence occupy central place in democratic governance. They are more vital in public organizations. The level of trust and confidence of the people towards any institution shows the performance level of that organization. This paper tries to look at the level of trust and confidence towards the court system (judiciary) in Nepal. In order to analyze the level of trust and confidence level, this paper has used the data base of Nepal National Governance Survey, 2017/18 conducted by Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC) in a sample size of 12,872 individuals across 43 districts (out of 77) of Nepal. The study uses simply descriptive method of data presentation. The study finds that the level of trust and confidence of the people towards courts in Nepal is quite satisfactory. It also reveals that level of honesty is comparatively better for courts in comparison to civil service and bureaucracy, NGOs and political parties. Though there is slight difference in the perception of respondents from different demographic groups and regions on the issue of trust and confidence, no significant difference is marked among these groups. However, it is evident that courts need to make their services better, respond the clients properly, give impartial judgment, and curtail corruption in order to have more public trust and confidence.

Government Secrecy and Security Classifications in the Context of Integrity Management in Malaysia

Secrecy in government is almost always perceived as being antithetical to accountability and transparency in the conduct of democratic government. However, it is undisputable that government secrecy is practiced the world over because it is indispensable to state security, international relations, public and personal interests. Hence, democratic governments must perform a delicate balancing act between openness and confidentiality in the handling of official information. Indeed, effective governance requires various legal regimes that control government information through security classifications and impose punishments on offenders. This paper aims to address the dearth of research on government secrecy and security classifications in the context of integrity management in Malaysia. Integrity management encompasses not only the exercise of moral values by public institutions and officials but also the integrity of processes and procedures that uphold the integrity of governance. This exploratory research uses qualitative content analysis of data gathered from official government publications and websites, relevant documents and course notes, as well as interviews and correspondence with field experts. The inferences derived from themes and categories generated have resulted in several important findings. First, the 1972 Official Secrets Act (OSA) plays a significant role as part of a plethora of statutes and ethical codes that are indispensable to upholding government integrity. Second, weaknesses in balancing between openness and confidentiality when handling official information are attributed to organizational failure, public officials’ lack of ethical values, comprehension and training. The challenge is to ensure that the OSA is not used for cover-ups of corruption, ethical misconducts and administrative transgressions while the proposed Freedom of Information Act does not lead to a culture of blaming and mistrust that could lead to the paralysis of government and governance.

Between the Rock and a Hard Place: The Africa Union and Democracy Promotion in Africa

While the Cold War lasted, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) never considered democracy promotion in member states as a priority. What mattered to the body was the safeguard of the sovereignties of member states. The globalization of the third democratic wave however, changed that as democracy promotion, courtesy of Donor’s aid agenda became a core objective of the OAU/AU. Deploying descriptive, historical, and analytical methods of inquiry with a focus on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG), this article assesses the extent of AU’s commitments to promoting democracy in Africa. Following an extensive review of conceptual literature on democracy, as well as relevant studies on OAU/AU’s democracy promotion initiatives in Africa, it notes that OAU/AU, no doubt, has robust normative frameworks for dealing with an unconstitutional change of government and other actions that could constitute a threat to the growth of democracy in Africa but in enforcing these frameworks, it is often stuck between a rock and a hard place. It suggests, among others, the strengthening of the enforcement mechanisms of the organization.