AS I prepared for my presentation to the prime minister last week on what the government can do to enhance Malaysians' quality of life during the Ministry of Finance's annual budget consultation, I asked myself what exactly "quality of life" means. After all, this could mean different things to different people, especially comparing against regional, gender, age, income and ethnic variations.
After reviewing international data and weighing it against personal considerations, my proposals eventually centred around three broad themes of improving public services, having better jobs and a work-life balance, and finally enhancing civic participation which a transparent and accountable government would complement.
In the Economist Intelligence Unit's "Where-to-be-born Index 2013", previously known as the "Quality of Life Index", Malaysia ranks 36 out of 80 countries with a score of 6.62 out of 10, 1 being the best and 10 being the worst. Switzerland is in the top spot with Singapore in 6th place, South Korea in 19th and Thailand 50th positions.
Measures used to define quality of life in this index are material wellbeing, life expectancy, climate, many of which are fairly intuitive and to be expected, especially job security and physical security. Interestingly, quality of family and community life were also included, and perhaps most relevant to civil society activists, governance and gender equality.
The OECD has an excellent "Better Life Index", which asks what matters most to people around the world. Although only a small set of 122 responses in Malaysia were obtained, it shows that health, work-life balance, life satisfaction, education and safety rank very highly.
Respondents in Australia, Norway and Sweden, the top three in the index globally, chose housing, income, jobs, community and even civic engagement as the most important in determining the quality of their lives. The more developed the country, the more likely it is that people seem to value community and civic engagement.
Improving public services
The first proposal was to improve public transport. For instance, the share of public transport in 1985 was 35%, 16% in 2005 and fell drastically to 12% in 2011. Although efforts have been made recently to consolidate the previously fractured administrative units covering public transport through SPAD and Greater KL initiatives, there are still outstanding areas that need attention.
First, state and local governments are not being sufficiently empowered. Public transport cannot be only centrally controlled, as problems start at the local levels. Councils should be used to identify gridlock areas, and errant bus operators. Public transport desks in local councils can be set up to liaise with SPAD, which the Ipoh City Council recently announced. Selangor has set up its Public Transport Council, and it is positive that SPAD has been co-operative thus far.
Extended walkways and bicycle lanes should be prioritised, but these should be built closer to train stations. Bikes should be allowed on all railway options.
Companies can be given incentives if they allow shower facilities. Cycling to work is a healthy option that would reduce traffic congestion, but conditions must be right. Finally, public transport efforts should not focus within the Klang Valley alone, but also cover cities like Malacca, Ipoh and Penang.
The second proposal was how the non-state sector could contribute to helping in education services. IDEAS conducted a nationwide survey on parents from the bottom 40%, on the challenges they face with children's education. We found that only 15% of poor parents benefit from the Poor Students' Trust Fund, among other findings.
There are 10,000 public schools in Malaysia, and the government should be open in working with non-state players to help poor families. But we, outside of government, need clear, defined guidelines on how non-state players can contribute to education services.
School boards should be actively restored and encouraged, so that alumni and even surrounding community members can get involved in helping the school. NGOs and social enterprises can be set up through venture funds.
The Ministry of Education should also release school rankings publicly. This includes both academic and extra-curricular performance, as this would encourage competition among school leaders to improve.
Households in the Klang Valley recently suffered the consequences of a water shortage. This could have been avoided by adopting water demand management early on, which was my third proposal. This requires a paradigm shift from planning for water supply to water demand.
This would avoid the need to even develop new resources, and instead encourages water recycling and conservation. Incentives can easily be given to developers that install water-efficient equipment. SPAN as the water regulator should strictly enforce water operators' activities especially on Non-Revenue Water.
I was mugged twice last year (once in Petaling Jaya and once in Malacca), and still get paranoid when I hear motorcycles on the road. This affects my quality of life and mental health. My fourth proposal was on combating crime, where more personnel should be moved from the Special Branch to the CID as a matter of priority, with a strong focus on street crime.
An important aspect the administration has not considered is to provide transparent data on crime hot spots.
Finally, the public ought to be involved. We all have smartphones and tablets. Just like the apps we use to update Facebook and Twitter on-the-go, why not share crime hotspots, crime incidents on social media?
Beat the criminals by getting the public flooding an area in instant time that a certain crime has occurred. There simply isn't enough of co-operation and sharing of information between the police and all other stakeholders.
Better jobs and work-life balance
A better work-life balance is difficult enough as it is for city-dwellers, and much more so for working women who are also mothers.
Talent Corporation has already developed a "flexibility in the workplace" programme that provides tax incentives to companies that provide flexi-hours, and childcare centres to accommodate working mothers.
Women should also be encouraged to take part in public office, since being city councillor may offer the kind of flexibility needed for the work-life balance they seek.
Transparent government and civic participation
By conventional standards, a transparent government does not directly impact on the rakyat's lives. But transparency and openness equals a government actively engaged with its people. It enhances life satisfaction through civic engagement as people get involved and increase their respect and trust for the government.
The first is on the Open Government Partnership, an international platform for governments to make public their commitments to being more open, accountable and responsive.
The second is the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international standard to improve the governance of natural resource revenues via collaboration between government, civil society and oil companies in the oil and gas sector.
Oil revenue contributes 40% to our national coffers. We do have a Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara (KWAN), or Heritage Fund, which is managed by Bank Negara, but such data should be published regularly since its objective is to ensure oil money is sustainable for future generations.
This is not the case currently. Signing up to these two initiatives would reflect strongly upon the government's commitment to governance.
Finally, the two most important measures in improving civic participation are the Freedom of Information Act and local government elections. Allowing citizens to access data means they are more empowered and involved in decisions, thereby making them feel included by building a sense of ownership over the country and outcomes.
Local councils are the very first point of contact that we have. They provide the most basic of public services, and therefore need better accountability.
These were the 10 recommendations I presented on improving quality of life in Malaysia. We shall see if any of these are considered for inclusion when the 2015 budget is tabled in Parliament on Oct 10.
Tricia Yeoh is the chief operating officer of a local, independent think-tank. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com