Reward and recognise top performers, says Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wants the entire ecosystem of the public and private sectors to recognise and reward high performers to propel the country into the league of high-income nations by 2020. He said personnel who showed potentials, innovativeness, creativity and having contributed immensely in developing the country should be recognised and rewarded.
"It means we have to look into the system. The entire ecosystem must recognise top performers either in the public or private sector."If we recognise those who show excellent performance, innovation, creativity and those who contributed immensely and are prepared to go the extra miles, I believe we can develop an ecosystem which will propel the country into a developed and high-income nation," he said.Speaking at the monthly gathering of the Prime Minister's Department here, Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said the government had introduced numerous incentives to recognise high performers in the past.

For instance, he said, the government would convert the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans into scholarships for students who obtained first-class honours degree, and provide scholarships to 30 top scorers under the national scholarship scheme.He said that a top performing government agency -- the Inland Revenue Board -- was recently rewarded with RM1 million in incentives under the Prime Minister's Innovation Award."These incentives are for nurturing the culture of high performance among the people," he said.

Transformation of the minds

Najib said that local companies which showed potentials and had proven their capabilities should also be given the opportunities to contribute to the nation's development.He added that the government's visions of turning Malaysia into a high-income country in 10 years would require the transformation of the minds.
"All major transformations start in the mind. If our mindsets are prepared, then our journey will take us to our desired destination," he said, adding that the government targeted to increase the country' Gross National Income to US$504 billion (RM1,618) by 2020.This would require the successful implementation of each of the 12 National Key Result Areas, he said.

He also called on the staff of the Prime Minister's Department and civil servants as a whole, to bear in mind several key statistics to ensure the government's objectives were on track.They should ensure that the country's economy was growing at the rate of 6% in the next 10 years, he said."We should analyse how these 6% can be achieved because as staff of the Prime Minister's Department, you are the planners and implementers," he said.To achieve the 6% growth, private and public sector investment must reach RM115 billion annually, he said."This means that we, as the planners and implementers, should play our role as catalysts or enablers to achieve the target.

"If we are not on track, we need to do something. If we are on track, we need to maintain the course and momentum," he said.Present were Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Chief Secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan.

Source : Bernama