A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEMS IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA

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Date
2023-06
Authors
IDRIS, Musa ODEH, Mercy Adija
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Abstract
777/5 paper analysed the systems of administration in Singapore and Malaysia from a comparative perspective. Descriptive studies on the system of administration in Singapore and Malaysia on separate basis bounds. However, a comparative approach to the study of the system of administration in these two countries is rare. This paper seek to close this knowledge-gap. The paper sought to comparatively examine the political history, mode of entry into the civil service, condition of service, relationship between the bureaucrats and efficiency in service delivery. The paper is purely qualitative relaying and synthesizing existing literature. It established that though the two countries had similar British colonial experience, political structures and stability differ in each of these plural societies. While Singapore operates a unicameral parliamentary system with a prime minister and elected president, Malaysia operates a federal constitution with a bicameral system with a prime minister and elected monarch. Although both countries operate the British Weberian model of civil service, Singapore has a merit-based, competitive, transparent, accountable, leaner and efficient Bureaucratic machinery. The Weberian bureaucratic values did not match Malaysia system with an ascriptive, less competitive, less transparent, less accountable over bloated and less efficient bureaucracy. The paper concludes that similarities in colonial experience, geographical contiguity and ethnic pluralism in both countries have not translated into similarity in political stability and efficiency in service delivery in Singapore and Malaysia.
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Department of Public Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
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