VIRTUAL TOUR
2011
4 SepUCSI UNIVERSITY EFFORTS TO PROMOTE GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF PUBLIC POLICIES
Kuala Lumpur, 4 September, 2011 - Four law students from UiTM Shah Alam emerged as the winners of the inaugural Malaysia Public Policy Competition (MPPC) 2011. Maizura binti Mokhsein, Nor Emelia binti Mohd. Shariff, Nur Atiqah binti Mohd. Zaki and Mohd Shafiq bin Ahemd Bazari beat three other teams in the Finals to walk away with RM4,000 at this unique 'Residential Challenge' that was held at UCSI University on 3rd and 4th September 2011.
The organisers - the Faculty of Economics and Policy Science (FEPS) at UCSI University and the International Council of Malaysian Scholars and Associates (ICMS) – put together this competition in order to expose Malaysian undergraduate and pre-university students to the public policy making process so that they could better understand what public policy is, how it affects them on a daily basis and how they can be part of the process. The workshops, seminars and presentations for this year's competition were centred on the theme of "Promoting Transparency, Integrity and Accountability". Each of the 16 teams in the competition was asked to present a proposal on how to introduce greater transparency in one specific area within a government ministry. The best four proposals out of the 16 were then chosen for the Finals portion of the competition.
The winning team put forward a proposal to implement mandatory live broadcast of high-profile court cases involving politicians. Other proposals that were in the Finals included using social media to track the incidence and geographical distribution of bribes given to the police , introducing structural changes to decrease bribe giving and taking in the process of obtaining driving licenses, and putting numerous checks and balances within the corporate governance of statutory boards to make procurement processes more transparent
"The MPPC 2011 promised to set a new national standard for serious intellectual discourse among our youths, offering students a taste of the policy-making process in a real world context," said Winson Lee, Project Director of the MPPC 2011
A total of 38 teams submitted applications to join this competition. After a rigorous process, a total of 16 teams were shortlisted for the 'Residential Challenge' that was held over the weekend. These 16 teams came from 26 different universities, 13 foreign and 13 local. The 'Residential Challenge' consisted of a one-day crash course on public policy where participants were equipped with the tools to structure their presentations including a 101 introduction to public policy making using PEMANDU as a case story, 8 concurrent seminars featuring speakers from the government, NGOs, political parties and the media, and a mentorship session to refine the ideas of the participants.
The four finalists made their presentations before an esteemed panel of judges. The panel of judges, who brought with them an extensive knowledge and experience on policy-making, comprised YB Dato' Teng Chang Khim, the speaker of the Selangor State Assembly and State Assemblyman for Sungai Pinang; Dr Aminuddin Hassim, the Director of the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN); Professor Danny Quah, a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) and a member of the National Economic Advisory Council (NECA); Dato' Hjh. Sutinah binti Sutan, Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC); and Datuk Ahmad Zaki Zahid, the Executive Director of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRBC).
The Competition saw that all the participating youths were keen to make a change in the national policy-making framework. Their passion and determination has set a new platform for the new generation to rise up to and to voice out their opinion to make a difference.
