my perdana experience

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My PERDANA Fellowship Experience, and How I Learned to Feel Malaysian

by Samuel Goh

I wish I could tell you that the reason I joined thePERDANA Fellowship programme last summer

was out of a longing to know more about our government, to discover the problems that we need to

fix, and to figure out a way to piece together Malaysia’ s future. But that all won’t be true: I joined

the programme because I had a four month summer, and I didn’t want to just stay at home on

Steam all day and grow fat on a diet of chips and coke.

The PERDANA Fellowship is a internship programme organised by the Ministry of Youth and

Sports; PERDANA Fellows, as we are called, get the opportunity to follow any minister of our

choice currently in the Malaysian Cabinet. It’s an opportunity to learn more about how the

government and economy works; understand the public policy crafting process; and rub shoulders

with political elites that can open doors for you. All the things that, at the time, I really had no

interest in. I had already etched my life out - to become a hot shot neurosurgeon working in NewYork City (I’m a bigFriendsfan). An internship in the Malaysian government wasn’t something that

was going to advance that goal, and it was very far away from what I was comfortable with. But I

signed up, thinking that I didn’t really stand a chance. I decided to apply to shadow the Ministry of

Health, hoping that was something I could relate to as a medical student. After a short essay, and

a phone interview, I unexpectedly got a place. Then I started worrying.

On day one, they asked me a simple question,“What do you aim to do here?”That was a difficult

question to answer, because honestly I thought I was supposed to just show up and follow orders. I

knew nothing about doing office work, policy writing, or even how to use a photocopier; my

knowledge of government was only that it was inefficient and slow; and my command of Bahasa

Malaysia had become rusty from years being spent in the UK. I could tell you the symptoms of

heart failure, or the names of all the muscles in the forearm, but knowledge like that had no place

here. So I said very honestly,“I wanted to understand how the government works.”It was a vague

answer, but an honest one. The secretary said fine, and told me that I could spend the next six

weeks following different departments within the Ministry of Health.

And that’s what I did; I would spend 2 or 3 days in each department in the Ministry of Health

meeting with department heads, learning about different projects they were working on, and

understanding what their roles were in the entire master plan for the country’s healthcare. At the

same time, I followed the Minister of Health to various events that he attended. This included the

opening ceremony of Shah Alam Hospital, nomination of doctors into the Academy of Medicine of

Malaysia, various open houses with important politicians and people, and high level policy design

meetings. One of my most memorable experiences was attending a meeting between several

Ministers and the Harvard School of Public Health, where they discussed the future direction of

Malaysian healthcare and what can be done to meet changing needs. High level discussions that

were going to affect the whole of Malaysia, happening before my very eyes - I have to admit that

was really cool. I should emphasise that this was my experience, because I made it my experience.

Other Fellows in my same year did different things, such as speech writing for the Minister, taking

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minutes, writing policy papers, and eventually going on to earning jobs in their respective

ministries.

To be frank, you can probably guess the true purpose of this Fellowship. The government realises it

has a problem connecting to the younger generation, and this is a way to get us interested in

government work - and maybe eventually - on their side. I was fully prepared to be bombarded with

nationalism and loyalty speeches reminiscent of a Pendidikan Moral class. But surprisingly I didn’t

see much of that - I simply saw people doing their job. Some would voice their patriotism, but at the

same time I heard plenty of cynicism too. Most of the time though, I met nice people who would just

talk about their lives and joke around - with much less political talk than my usual family table. We

saw how government worked from inside and out. From the Minister of Health setting agendas

across entire departments for months to come, to doctors and nurses at each hospital meeting

patients one by one. From the neurotic writer working late hours to finish her speech for the

Minister, to the slack office boy who had nothing to do because there were too many people in his

department. From the flag waving PR head who had a poster of the Prime Minister on her wall, tothe cynical reporter in the far corner that would snicker at each mention of 1MDB. We met people

of all religions, races, backgrounds, political affiliations,and states of Malaysia. I shook hands with

the well known, the powerful, and the everyday man that was just there to do his or her job.

I saw a government that was large, bloated, inefficient - but ultimately a government that was

genuinely trying to do its job. Providing free healthcare to 28 million people is not an easy task, but

nevertheless the people of the Ministry of Health are doing their best. I think it’s important to

remember that for all the political scandals that we hear about from the political elite, there are a

thousand other anonymous people who, behind, close doors, are actually running the country.

These were public servants, and they are the true unsung heroes.

There are many areas in which our government fails. Policies are poorly executed. There are

sometimes too many workers, leading to redundancies and inefficiencies. And there is the problem

of public perception. We don’t trust our government to do what is right. Many of us think the system

is rigged and decide to flock to oversea countries to pursue our dreams instead. But in those six

weeks, I also saw a chance for a better future. In the same year, there were about 84 other

PERDANA Fellows who were shadowing other ministries within the government. These were some

of the brightest minds that I have ever met in my life, and something was unusual about them.

Instead of hearing the usual bemoaning of Malaysia that I usually get from people of my age, Iheard them talk about something else - hope. Hope for a better Malaysian future, built on ideals of

freedom of speech, religion, and constructive discussion about national issues. These were people

who saw problems with the system, but instead of complaining about it, they wanted to fix it.

Do you feel Malaysian? It says‘Malaysian’ on my birth certificate, but before this I didn’t feel like

one. Having spent six weeks living in the inner hallways of government, surrounded by peers that

will one day be paving the way for Malaysia’s future - I felt more Malaysian that I’ve ever had

before This is not to say that I’ve given up my dreams of New York. Six weeks definitely is not

going to change my lifelong dream, and I doubt it would for you. But it made me start thinking about


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my home country, which I thought I had long ago wrote off. It made me think of what I can do in the

future to help improve the state of Malaysian healthcare.

JFK said in his inauguration speech,““Ask not what the country has done for you, ask what you

can do for your country.”It’s easy to feel resentment to a country that we believe hasn’t done

anything for us. My short advice to you if you’re thinking about applying: whether you’re cynical

about Malaysia or not, it doesn’t matter. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot to see what our Malaysian

Government is really like - behind all the headlines, all the scandals, all the rumours. Find out what

it’s like to be a politician, to make policies, to design programs that will affect thousands. If that kind

of calling isn’t for you, then it’s okay. Go back to thinking about your New York.

But if you find yourself interested in this huge, convoluted system, and think you can do something

about it, maybe now’s the time to start asking yourself“What can you do for your country?”

Samuel Goh is a fourth year medical student currently studying in the University of Cambridge, UK.

He enjoys writing, playing guitar, and singing David Bowie in the shower. If you’ll like to ask him

more about his PERDANA experience, and some advice on application, add him on Twitter at

@sammygee1993 or email him [email protected].
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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