I accepted an invitation from a state government recently to be part of their pre-budget workshops and engagements. I didn’t make my usual inquiries whether teh tarik and kueh would be served: all “gomen” meetings sure have one! I was right, of course.

I always try to say yes to such invitations, partly because of the teh tarik and kueh, but also because my part in such events is quite easy to carry out. I just need to turn up, look wise, say something outrageous and hey presto! another event is added to my resume on top of the usual lies and exaggerations.

However, I don’t want to sell this event short. The entire state government machinery was there. My own two fellow panellists were highly respected heavyweights in their respective fields, having reached great heights in their careers of public service.

On the other hand, I was just, well, heavy. But there’s a place for all kinds of people in Malaysia Madani. We all belong.

The topic of my session was about managing educational issues and empowering young people of today. I haven’t been a youth for a while, but this is a very important topic to which we oldies must also pay attention, in between our usual whingeing about joint pains and the prices at the mamak restaurants.

My perspectives on things are shaped by many factors, not least of which are the four decades I spent working in the private sector. But they’re also shaped by my other life experiences such as my upbringing and my belief of what society needs to deliver to its members.

Therefore I felt most honoured to be invited, and very grateful for the refreshments. I felt emboldened, didn’t stand on ceremony, and played some of my greatest hits and along the way slandered, if not actually slaughtered, a few sacred cows.

I may never get another invitation to such an event. But having been there got me thinking hard about the topic. I captured some of my thoughts and share them here.

How to make it big

First, some context. In the private sector your job is always at risk, whether in good times or bad. The best way to protect your job, though it is by no means guaranteed, is to always deliver on your commitments.

You learn not to commit to a blue ocean of visions and ideals. You keep expectations real. You hit your goals, build your credibility, and accept that you must prove yourself again and again.

A core part of delivering on your commitments is making sure you’re committing to the right things. So here are what I think are the right things to commit to form a foundation for whatever policies or initiatives that may come later.

But first, some disclaimers.

I’m not an expensive expert or consultant on this matter. I’m cheap – some teh tarik and kueh and I’ll be forever indebted to you. Ask me nicely and you can even skip the teh tarik and kueh. If you give me a certificate of attendance, I’ll even bring my own refreshments.

My focus is in setting the right foundation upon which policies and programmes can be built. The foundation must be solid yet simple and acceptable to all stakeholders. Other smarter people can then build their proposals on top of this foundation.

I know how the real world works, especially the political world. Politicians do what politicians do. My views about politicians are generally quite jaundiced, but I also accept that somebody has to do the job, so the least I can do is support the good ones in their quests and efforts.

Anyway, back to the foundation. Here goes:

1. Get data

I didn’t see much data presented at the event. I don’t think anybody was hiding them, just that outside the private sector data hasn’t quite reached the status of gold that it has in the most forward-looking companies.

You can’t make good decisions without good data. Sure, some aspirational goals can be driven by experience and faith – or even political expediency – and certainly there’s a place for these in our leadership toolkit.

But if all you have is data, especially the old backward-looking “statistics”, then you’re not adding much value. The data must be rich, up-to-date, relevant and available regularly to show trends.

On issues affecting our young, most of the data must be derived from that world, as well as the ecosystems surrounding the young.

To start, conduct a big-scale data gathering exercise. Engage competent professionals, hopefully not somebody’s wife’s second cousin’s two-ringgit company.

Conduct surveys whether online or in-person, focus groups, workshops, and even trawl through social media feeds.

Buy data from those who already have them, such as the social media, digital and online companies, and even old-school ones such as banks, telecommunications companies, airlines, public utilities as well as schools and universities.

Treasure trove

The government itself sits on a huge treasure trove of data about us. Its various arms – such as hospitals, national registration department, the police, road transport department – have more info than even they realise.

All that data can provide revealing insight on our young people and other stakeholders such as their parents and the environment they live in.

There should easily be a few PhDs to be earned from mining this treasure trove.

The data must be reviewed and sorted by the smartest professionals and experts we can find, and no, they’re not likely to be found in our traditional government statistics department.

Without this expertise, the data won’t give us any useful insight. The data, and the insights derived, should be made available to those who want it, whether academics, NGOs or even – for a price – commercial enterprises.

Certainly, put in safeguards to ensure privacy and confidentiality. As long as the efforts aren’t managed by somebody’s wife’s second cousin, it’s not that difficult to do.

A great side benefit in engaging with young people is that we will send the message that we care about their welfare and future. Young people of today really do need to hear that people care about them.

Another side benefit is that such a data gathering exercise will put pressure on us to live up to our commitment to deliver what we’ve promised, in asking them to engage with the surveys.

Knowing that we’ve built expectations among the rakyat will put pressure on us to deliver.

Data is gold. But without insights we can draw, the date just remains as gold ore in the ground. Having the data available widely will also help spur innovation in everybody from civil society to business entrepreneurs to come up with solutions that we haven’t even dreamed of yet.

2. Focus on SMEs

SMEs are the real job creators of our economy. Big companies might employ more people, but at the moment I don’t think there’s a single large company that isn’t shedding workers, or thinking of doing it.

Even GLCs have started doing it. Some because of the current business environment of tougher competition, technology disruptions etc and some for opportunistic reasons: they’re at it because they can profit from it.

Still, my reasons for this focus are more practical rather than moral or ethical.

Resources everywhere are limited. Large companies, with their aggressive and knowledgeable management teams, would end up monopolising the lion share of public resources offered, purely because they’re good at it.

But if you’re a large business that hasn’t done enough to grow and develop your workforce and a strong talent pipeline, you don’t deserve any support from the state.

You’ll be replaced by more aggressive competitors soon enough.

They shouldn’t be the focus in this dog-eat-dog world. Let’s focus instead on the “puppies” – the SMEs which are proven job creators and economic engines.

Many SMEs are still run by the entrepreneurs who founded them. These are people who’ve proven they can create and grow a business.

But some might stumble in trying to grow their businesses into larger enterprises. Many lack modern management techniques and technology and access to finance and foreign markets, as well as the ears of the political leadership.

These entrepreneurs truly need help to train and educate their growing workforce. But reaching out to these people won’t be easy: they tend to exist in small industrial estates, far away from the glamour of the central business districts.

Many of their leaders don’t know what they don’t know. They must be convinced that the state has solutions to help them grow and develop their workforce, as well as prime the market to produce a steady stream of future talent.

So as a matter of strategy, any help that the state can provide from its limited resources must be focused on the SMEs, and not the larger businesses.

Part II: Towards an affirmative-action policy that everyone can support

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.