How far the existence of the civic society may increase the government competency? illustrate your answer with appropriate with example.

Hi all! First of all, let us explain about the civic society. Civic society here is referring to the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Malaysia. NGO is an organization, which has no relationship with governments, while at the same time not being focused on making a profit. It serves social or environmental objectives, empower people, engage in advocacy for change, and provide services. The examples are the Association for The Prevention of Drug Abuse (PEMADAM), Malaysia Mental Health Association, National Diabetes Institute (NADI), National Cancer Society of Malaysia (MAKNA) and All Women’s Action Society (AWAM).

In our opinion, the existence of the NGO is very important to help the Government in providing the needs and demands of the people. As we know, the Government itself needs to administer the whole country. It is impossible for the Government to cover everything. So, Government needs assistance to fulfill any aspect in which the Government is unable to do so. The NGO is the best assistance for the Government in providing better services to the public. Each NGO will represent and struggle for specific group and of course it will be more exposed and has better access to that group. It means that NGO will have more information regarding the real situation outside. So, it can understand the problems and needs of that certain group. The NGO will then represent that group by voicing out their needs and opinions to the Government. The Government can know their problems and will try to provide the necessities of the people. For example, National Human Rights Society of Malaysia (HAKAM), which promotes for better economic, society and politics. It defends human rights in Malaysia in which the citizens will have the opportunity to voice out any unsatisfied in several aspects such as for improving standard of living, welfare, socio-economic aid, and so on.

NGO also may help the Government to solve the certain problems by organizing various initiatives or programs. Thus, the capability of the Government in providing the services can be improved. For example, PEMADAM is an association that helps to overcome the problem of drug addiction which is increasing nowadays in Malaysia. It makes research regarding the misuse of drugs to help the drug abusers through the continuation supervision. Besides, it helps to educate the people regarding the dangers of the misuse of drugs through various programs like seminars, dialogue forum, related courses and counseling services. It also will record and collect the opinions of the expertise regarding the misuse of drugs and convey the information to the public.

Instead of focusing on people well being, there are environmental NGOs exist in Malaysia. They have been responsible for bringing about the welfare of environmental concern. In facing the globalization practice in the world, one of the challenges that will be faced by government is to balance the environmental and natural resource protection with social and economic advancement. It is important for environmental NGOs to sustain our environment for future generations of Malaysians and indirectly to encourage youths in appreciating nature. The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) which is Malaysia’s largest and oldest non-government environmental organization has done some projects that concern with the environment. For example, one big project combined with IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd), which is IKEA-MNS “LOVE THE EARTH” project, which aim to reduce the use of plastic bag consumption and uncontrolled littering in our country. IKEA will not give customers free bag plastic anymore and if they want, they have to pay for it.

In a nutshell, we may say that the Government cannot achieve the development objective without the involvement from the NGOs. Thus, the effectiveness of the Government can be achieved with the existence of NGOs in the country.

Manager: Noridayati