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GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND MUNICIPAL SERVICE DELIVERY: SOME APPROACHES BY KOTA KINABALU CITY HALL

The past decades has seen major set of initiatives throughout the world to promote good local governance. Although there are various prescriptions for good local governance and specific country patterns of local government reforms, recently, however, there has been a growing international concern and interest in the relationship between service delivery and good governance. Consequently, good local governance and service delivery have become fashionable and gained eminence in many countries. Malaysia is of no exception. During the current 9^th Malaysian Plan, for example, service delivery is particularly given very significant preeminence.

Local governance is not the same as local government, and it also differs from local administration. Local government is concerned with the performance of various regulatory and enforcement functions at the local level. Local administration, on the other hand, is concerned with the day to day running of a locality, function which in the Malaysian context is being performed by the District Office institutions. The organs of local government in Malaysia are the local authorities. Their main tasks are the performance of various regulatory and enforcement functions as well as the provision of various urban services. Unlike the District Office, therefore, a local government as a third tier government in our federal system, performs both the governing and administrative functions. In short, together with the local community, a local authority performs local governance. Local governance refers to the process of solving problems and fulfilling the needs of the local community collectively.

Good local governance is being emphasized because it performs various functions that impact on the lives of many people. A local government, for example, collects taxes, draws up various policies, enacts and enforces laws and provides various essential services to the people within its area of jurisdiction. Thus, we need a good local government that can perform local governance functions, bringing prosperity to the people as well as safeguarding their interests. A good local government is also important because, being local, it is closest to the people. This is where most people get their essential services.

Service delivery is a core function and responsibility of any local authority. It makes sense, therefore, for any local authority to put much effort towards enhancing the efficiency of its service delivery. Rate payers, who are the main beneficiaries of a local authority’s services, deserve quality service. Efficient delivery of services, it is argued, is contributing to key elements of good governance. From wider governance perspective, however, good local governance needs to be more than an excellent service provider. It must also be excellent in the way in delivers its services. For example, in the case of garbage collection, excellent service provision will not guarantee clean streets if citizens continue to litter indiscriminately. In the effort to get clean streets, it may be more practical to get public participation.

Good Local Governance is Caring Local Governance

While there are various elements of good governance,[1] the theme adopted in this paper is caring local governance. Caring is being emphasized because it has people connotation and is also connected to service delivery. It’s people who are the subject and target of local government services. Whether they are happy or otherwise with the various services provided by a local authority depends very much on the approaches taken by the local government in its service delivery.

In a civilized society, everyone has a role to care for the community. However, it is the local government that plays this leading role, as its functions and responsibilities, for a large part, involves in the provision of various services as provided for by law.[2] As society depends a lot on services that are provided by the local government, the public wants a local government that cares. Members of the public pay taxes, thus they expect a local government that cares. A local government is said to be caring if it fulfils the needs and aspiration of all its citizens including the disabled, the underprivileged, and the less fortunate. Thus, a caring and friendly local government should also be responsive to the needs of society. It needs to be closer to the people. Among the features of local government that is close to the people is when its officers and members go down to the field to see the plight and need of the people.

A caring local government not only does not burden the people, but serves the people in a friendly manner and provides them with comfort. For a local government to do this, it must first of all treat the people whom it serves as its customers. Although customer orientation is very much a private sector concept, its relevance in the public service delivery context cannot be overlooked. A local government that is customer oriented has features such as less bureaucracy and is fast and efficient in decision-making. For instance, the public need not have to wait for weeks, or even months may be, just to get a simple trading license. A local authority that is caring must therefore strive to be effective and efficient. Efficiency is usually measured in terms of output produced based on certain input. Efficiency aims to achieve high productivity using available resources with minimal wastage. But, in a daily situation the public often measures the efficiency of local government by its capability to make fast and correct decisions. Local government that is slow in responding is inefficient and considered as not practicing good governance.

Effectiveness, on the other hand, refers to intended result as opposed to the actual result of a particular programme, project, rule and regulation, law or whatever activity. For examples, sewerage system in a particular area under the jurisdiction of local government must be able to prevent flooding; the by-laws introduced by local government must be enforceable, etc. As we all know, every local government has its own by-law on cleanliness. Thus, if a town is dirty, it is either that the by-law is not effective or may be enforcement is not effective.

It can also be argued that caring local governance is also participatory. Especially in the context of good local governance, participation gives the people opportunity to get involved in the running of their own affairs. In short, participation empowers people. In some cases there are problems that cannot be solved only by public authorities, but require the cooperation of other players like citizens, business, voluntary sector, media and others.

One of the much talked about concept in service delivery is the role of customer orientation in ensuring good local governance. One pre-requisite of an efficient service delivery, therefore, is to know our customers, for it is almost impossible to provide excellent service if we don’t know our customers. Knowing customers doesn’t mean just identifying who our customers are, but more importantly, in the context of service delivery, is to know what our customers want. Knowing customers’ grouses is one way to know what customers want.

One such service provided by the city hall which has received a lot of complaints is licensing of businesses. People had to wait for weeks, sometimes months, to get a simple trading license approved. Even the annual renewal of council licenses for eating premises took weeks to approve. This was because the established practice was to refer every application to the Health Unit of the city hall before they can be processed by the Licensing Unit. The purpose was to check whether the applicant had contravened any of the Public Health Ordinance, 1960. Delays were inevitable as there were about 1000 council licenses referred to the Health Unit. This procedure was simplified by doing away with reference to the Health Unit. Now, the Licensing Unit can immediately approve renewal of council license if it has not been blacklisted by the Health Unit. The rational was that inspection of eating premises is a routine job of the Health Inspectors, and so any license holders found contravening the Public Health Ordinance, 1960 should be blacklisted and reported to the Licensing Unit. In this way, the Licensing Unit does not have to refer every application to the Health Unit, unless they are on the black list.

There were also delays in processing new application for trading licenses. This was because all applications were referred to the Director General for approval. Once approved, the clerks prepared the license certificates which were then sent back to the Director General for signature. This procedure was shortened by having the certificate signed digitally by the Mayor. The procedure will be further shortened once the Head of the Licensing Unit has been properly delegated with power to approve new application for trading license.

To further enhance customer service of the city hall, the staff are trained and made to adopt such concepts as focus on delivering service to customers; customers are always right; customers pay our salary; don’t trouble customers; facilitate, don’t frustrate; and so on.

One of the most challenging tasks of the city hall has been in keeping the city clean. The city hall considers this as a service to the people, and it is indeed an important service. The city hall picks up rubbish, sweep the streets, and transport and dispose off rubbish. The work is made particularly tough by people’s littering habit. Rubbish, rubbish everywhere. People throw, KKCH picks up (the rubbish); people throw again, KKCH picks up again; people continue to throw, KKCH continues to pick up. This is the rule of the game. It is a vicious circle of absurdity, unnecessary and a waste of time. It is unproductive and it is also expensive and ineffective. People keep on throwing rubbish, and City Hall keeps on collecting rubbish. Indeed, since its birth as the Jesselton Sanitary Board, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall, as a local authority, had been in this “business” of picking up rubbish. This is not sustainable. KKCH, as an authority, must stop the throwing. But the city hall cannot do this alone. It needs the help and cooperation of the people. Accordingly, under the Local Agenda 21 principle, the city hall initiated the city friend concept. This is perhaps the most significant and commendable effort by KKCH in its endeavour to rally public participation in helping to keep the city clean.

The city friend concept was first launched in 2003, but was seriously implemented only two years later. To date more than 10,000 people have already become members of the city friends. They comprise professionals, government servants, school teachers, and students, members of non-governmental organisations and ordinary members of the public. On becoming a city friend, a member has to perform these four responsibilities:

A fifth function has just been added to the list of city friend function. This is to report to city hall incidents of people throwing rubbish from vehicles. Sometimes we see people throwing rubbish from vehicles. We get irritated, of course. But there is nothing we can do. We dare not tell him/her off, as we are worried of the possible retaliation. We want to report, but we don’t know to whom and how. KKCH has devised a simple reporting system which enables any member of the public to make quick report to KKCH of incidents of people throwing rubbish from vehicles. All that is needed to do this is to state the vehicle registration number, date, time and place this incident takes place. The report can be sent to KKCH either in person, through the phone, SMS or e-mail. Upon receipt of such report, KKCH would do a quick JPJ search to find out the identity and address of the owner of the vehicle concerned. KKCH will then send the vehicle owner a “friendly” letter pointing to him/her the wrongdoing and reminding that litterbugs are now being watched by the public. The intention is not so much to reprimand him/her, but more to make him/her aware of his/her dishonorable act.

It is usual for an authority to adopt certain approach towards certain issues. It is also possible for such authority to modify this approach on the same issues. Sometimes this change in approach is so drastic that it becomes a complete turn around. One such 180⁰ turn around is the KKCH approach to the issue of blind beggars and some underprivileged hawkers selling traditional products like tobacco, the sireh leaves and betel nuts.

Until recently it was common to see some blind beggars begging for money on the five-foot ways of shops. These phenomenon were considered a nuisance and a disgrace to the city image. In response to widespread public complaints, the city hall together with other relevant agencies chased these unfortunate people away, harassed them and rounded them up. But city hall came to realize that despite their inherent disability, these people actually possess valuable talents. It would therefore do them real good if these people were organized together to form a Under the Local Agenda 21 concept, the city hall enlisted the kind sponsorship of Music Mart t provide the musical instrument. Dubbed the Seniman Penglipur Lara, his group of highly talented blind musicians are now are successfully managed by KKCH to become streets musicians. Sometimes there are invited to perform at events to entertain. They no longer have to beg.

Hawking without a valid license is illegal. The so-called underprivileged hawkers selling traditional products under the Segama bridge were therefore deemed to be illegal hawkers as they did not possess any license. Like the blind beggars before, these hawkers were also chased away, harassed and rounded them up by the city hall. Sometimes their wares were also confisticated by the city hall. A complete turn around of the city hall approach was achieved when these hawkers were given special licenses and provided an exclusive place to hawk on top of the Segama bridge. They no don’t have to fear the enforcement officers of the city hall as they had become licensed, and therefore legal, hawkers. Such a 180⁰ turn around in the KKCH approach is made possible by the caring attitude of the Mayor, otherwise also known as the people’s Mayor.

Cleanliness of the city does not only involve in picking up rubbish by the city hall or stopping people from littering indiscriminately. Exposed large waste bins, termed as communal bins, can have negative impact on the cleanliness of the surrounding, or at least mar its aesthetic appearance. To overcome this, the city hall built bungalow-like bin centres to camouflage the dirty and ugly bins. But this has its drawbacks. Because the bin centres are smelly and dark at night, people refuse to go in. Instead of throwing rubbish into the bins housed inside the bin centres, they just throw their rubbish outside the bin centres. KKCH found a smart solution to this problem, by renting out spaces next to the bin centres to car wash operators. Car wash operators are specifically preferred as, in addition to paying rental for the usage of the space, these operators also has specific responsibilities:

These bin centres and bins are reasonably clean as there now are people looking after them and keep them clean. Not only the problem has been solved, the city hall has successfully turned what used to be a problem into a revenue earning activity.

Still on the theme of caring local governance, the KKCH advocates recycling and composting as a long term solution to waste management and thereby reducing its negative impact on the environment. With this idea in mind, the KKCH awareness team promotes recycling and composting among the general public. Exhibitions, talks, competitions, demonstration and seminars are organised from time to time to educate people and arouse their awareness on these two concepts of waste minimization. Both recycling and composting are particularly appealing as they not only reduce the amount of waste that requires disposal, but also preserve raw materials and natural resources for other beneficial use.

Recycling is a series of activities that includes sorting, collecting and processing recyclable materials that would otherwise be considered waste, into raw materials for the production of new products. KKCH subscribes to and supports the national programme on recycling. Accordingly, 99 sets of the typical three-coloured bins were placed everywhere in the city – in school compounds, fuel stations, shopping complexes and other public places. Sad to say, this programme has not achieved its intended noble objectives. Except in some schools, most of the three-coloured bins had been noticeably misused. All sorts of wastes were deposited into the bins, making them just like any other ordinary domestic bins.

While composting is a new concept/activity, its popularity is slowly gaining momentum and public acceptance is expected to rise. Composting is a type of recycling that is particularly applicable to organic wastes, like food residues, including fruit and vegetable trim. Composting is the biological process by which micro-organisms convert organic materials, in an environmentally acceptable manner, into a humus-like material called compost that can be beneficially applied to land. In addition to providing an economical alternative to the disposal of organic wastes, the importance of composting in solid waste management lies in its ability to divert a substantial amount of waste from landfills. In the long term, it reduces the need for more landfill space.

To intensify its effort in promoting composting, the city hall had purchased two composting machines. One machine is productively used at the central market. This machine can compost organic wastes such as vegetables, fish and poultry wastes within 48 hours. To promote its usage, city hall intends to sell this compost product to the public. The other machine is placed at the vicinity of the training centre of the city hall at Taman Kingfisher. In addition to its normal use as a composting machine, it is also used for training and demonstration purpose.

The city hall’s composting machines provides a living example of how commercial composting can be. A more significant example of commercial composting is of course provided by the sorting and composting plant, a material recovery facility, operated by a private company at KKCH sanitary landfill at Kayu Madang, Telipok. The plant, costing more than RM 30 million, has just started operation. It is capable of sorting and recovering 70%-75% of the daily domestic wastes that are collected by KKCH, leaving only 25%-30% to be landfilled. This definitely will lengthen the life span of the landfill to a great extent.

Composting of garden wastes undertaken by residents of Taman Hilltop provides an example of one such communal composting that is being promoted by KKCH. This project, adopting the concept of Local Agenda 21, was initiated in 2005 and is now producing garden compost for the participating community.

The third level of composting, backyard composting, is a much simpler activity which can be practiced by anyone who is interested in managing garbage properly. The simplest form of backyard composting is by digging a hole at the backyard of one’s home. All food waste can be thrown into this hole and topped up with a layer of earth. It is similar to how a sanitary landfill works: waste – earth – waste –earth – waste – earth. When the hole is full, then dig another hole, and the process is repeated. Eventually, one has a backyard which is fertile. Backyard composting is particularly promoted by the city hall as it is simple, can be worked as a hobby, it reduces wastes and it promoted interests in gardening. Residents can plant flowers or vegetables in just in their backyards, which are already fertile.

The ultimate objective of any solid waste management plan should aim for zero-waste. This appears improbable and seems to be too far-fetched. Zero-waste is a concept. There is abundance literature on this. Countries like Australia and Canada had been adopting this concept with some measure of success. As a concept, zero-waste is not impossible. It is achievable. If we check the composition of our waste at home, for example, we will find out that it is usually made up of paper, plastic, tin, bottle, fruit skins, vegetable wastes, food wastes and so on. We can actually separate these into wet garbage and dry garbage. If we compost the wet (kitchen) garbage, what is left is the dry garbage. This dry garbage can be further segregated into recyclables - such as paper, glass, plastic, tin, etc. We then have segregated garbage; segregated collection and segregated destination (not all ending up in the landfill). If we do all this, and it can be done, we have practically no garbage. Zero-waste is therefore a reality. If we can achieve 100 days of zero-waste out of the 365 days in a year, this is already a remarkable achievement. And if only, say 1000 people out of the 400,000 population of Kota Kinabalu do achieve 100 days of zero-waste each year, that would be excellent!

Undoubtly, there is a strong correlation between the practice of good local governance and service delivery. Since much of what local governance does is to provide services to people, good local governance denotes efficient service delivery. While there are many approaches to efficient service delivery, this paper takes the theme of caring service delivery, and illustrates with examples some of KKCH approaches in delivering services to its diverse citizens.

[1] The UN-ESCAP, for example, prescribes 8 major characteristics of good governance. They are participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law.

[2] The law here means, for Sabah, the Local Governance Ordinance 1961; Town and Regional Planning Ordinance 1950; Public Health Ordinance, 1960; Instrument for the establishment of local government, and Local Government By-Laws and new laws that were introduced from time to time.