79 VARIA RANAH 2023 The Role of Civil Service in Accelerating Civic Engagement for MADANI-Nation Building and Community Empowerment Presently, increased awareness among community has given pressure for a civil service to meet public expectation, actively engage with society, disseminate information and gathers feedback. However, distrust and disconnected between government and the community make it harder to implement a policy effectively. Therefore, to upraised civic engagement and build social capital and cohesion, civil service needs to be resilience to face and overcome many complexity, complicated issues and uncertainties. D. Positive Impact of Upraised Civic Engagement PM’s vision on MADANI Malaysia is to build a sustainable and prosperous Malaysia based on care and compassion, mutual respect, innovation and trust, where inclusiveness and equality are embraced by the whole nation – ultimately a just Malaysian Society. The term MADANI represent the shared trust between the government and the citizens based on transparency and cooperation. The framework invites government leadership including civil service and the public to realise that it is a shared responsibility in raising the dignity of human beings, which should be based on confidence, values, morals, and fair and effective governance as well as prioritizing priority to matters of faith and humanity. Therefore, civil service as the catalyst of change need to elevate civic engagement in order to transform the society. This would enable government and the people to work and growing stronger together in moving towards prosperous future as aspired by the vision of MADANI Malaysia. i) Democratic and accountable society Accelerating civic engagement is paramount to increase the health of democratic society, promote quality and connected community as well as develop sense of being a responsible citizen and accountable to their community. According to IPCE, civic engagement is any activity that contributes to a more effective democracy in which individuals have basic understanding on how government works, access to information and policy that affect their lives, there is also a healthy two-way flow of information and communication between civil servants and public members, and availability of technology and tools to create a more effective and responsive government as well as to supports inclusive public discourse on policy issues. ii) Informed and empowered community will encourage shared responsibilities as well as transparent and accountable governance Informed and empowered community will enable government to create power-sharing arrangements between community and government. This would enable government to shift control over decisions and responsibilities to community or business-based entities, such as resident / business association. Government would only lay out enablers in term of policy, law and regulation to facilitate. Shared responsibilities as promoted by civic engagement would reduce the burden of the government in managing the country’s affairs. Civic engagement would enable government to listen, learn and use public knowledge to make inform decision which subsequently supported by the citizens. Trust built with reciprocated respect between government and community would also encourage for a transparent and accountable governance and enhance co-operation between both parties. Civic engagement may contribute towards creating a civil service which are not only accountable and transparent but more responsive, consensus oriented, participatory, inclusive, upholding the rule of law, efficient, political neutrality, objective decision making as well as fair and just approach.
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