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UNITED NATIONS PROJECT ON STRENGTHENING REGIONAL

CAPACITIES FOR STATISTICAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH EAST

ASIA: UNSD/UNESCAP FINAL EVALUATION SEMINAR, BANGKOK,

4- 6 AUGUST 2003

STATISTICAL ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT:

RESTRUCTURING OF DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA

1. Background

1.1 The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) is the main

government agency entrusted with the responsibility to collect,

compile, interpret and disseminate statistics in Malaysia. It was

established in 1949 under the provisions of the Statistics

Ordinance 1949 and was then known as the Bureau of Statistics.

In 1965, the name was changed to Department of Statistics under

the provisions of Statistics Act 1965.

1.2 The main functions of the DOSM as provided in the Statistics Act

1965 are to collect, interpret and disseminate statistics for the

purpose of formulating policies for national development planning

and administration.

1.3 Since 1949, DOSM has expanded its activities from just collecting

and disseminating external trade and agriculture estate statistics

(rubber) to a wide range of macro and socio-economic data

required for national development and administration. Prior to

1980s the emphasis had been primarily on macro planning. The

concern then was on how the nation as a whole was performing.

The gathering of statistical data was also geared to provide macro

and national estimates as a priority.



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1.4 Subsequently the emphasis in planning had changed. Regional

planning and structural distribution and balances became

increasingly important plan objectives. Hence, the demand for

statistical data on a more micro basis emerged with more

prominence.

1.5 In response to the heavy demand on the Department to meet the

increasing and expanding needs for statistical information, DOSM

undertook a review of its role and structure in order to be able to

cope well with the demand for data. The outcome of this review

was the drawing up of the Department’s Corporate Plan for 1988-

1992, which in essence gave due consideration to the needs of

main users during the period and DOSM’s ability to fulfil these

needs.

1.6 In 1990’s, DOSM again encountered further pressing demand for

economic and financial data in accordance to international

standards and requirement, for the planners to monitor economic

performance of the country. This situation was further aggravated

by the onslaught of the 1997 Financial Crisis in Asia whereby

macro economic and financial data and short term indicators were

required in a short span of time by planners and decision makers.

1.7 In addition to the formal planning agencies, a wide range of

statistics is also sought from DOSM by other Government

ministries and departments. Businesses, industry associations,

trade unions, other non-governmental bodies, universities and

other research institutions and a large number of individual

enquirers request for data in planning their activities.



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2. Need for Variety of Statistical Data

2.1 With the onset of globalisation and rapid development in the ICT,

the heavy demand for timely and quality statistics by both national

planning agencies ( Economic Planning Unit, Treasury and the

Central Bank of Malaysia) and international users (IMF, ADB,

UNSD, World Bank) had increased tremendously. DOSM had to

face many challenges as users required not only more timely and

quality statistics but also statistics at micro levels and by detailed

classifications The scope of statistical activities had to be

expanded to cover new areas due to the changing structure of the

domestic and global economy.

2.2 DOSM attempted to achieve a reasonable balance between

meeting increased demands for official statistics and minimising

the burden on respondents; and also between the costs of

collection and processing and the need for data. It attempted to

produce, within available resources, a range of statistics which

best meets the needs of users. DOSM continually reviews both

statistical priorities and efficiency, and available resources are

redeployed between existing and new work. The aim is to provide

an optimum service within given resources by reasonable balance

of costs and benefits.

2.3 It became clear that in order to meet all the demands for good

quality and timely statistics in accordance with the international

standards and to face the continuous challenges due to the

evolution of official statistics, it is inevitable that DOSM had to

initiate the process of organisation restructuring. It is envisaged

that the new organisation will fulfil the objective of enhancing the

capability and transforming DOSM into an organisation which is

efficient, progressive and capable of meeting the greater demand

for statistical services of the current period as well as for thefuture.



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3. Rational for the Restructuring of Department of Statistics

Malaysia

3.1 The ever increasing demand for high quality and timely data not

only in the traditional areas but also new areas, by both the

government agencies and the business community has exerted

great pressure and strains on the whole organisation particularly

on the human resources.

3.2 DOSM started the process of restructuring in 2000, firstly by a

comprehensive review of the role and functions of both the subject

matter divisions and those of the state branches. In the past,

state branch offices undertook the task of collection and

processing of data for specific surveys while subject matter

divisions focussed on overall management of census/survey and

other compilation activities in respect of survey design, standards,

methodologies and interpretation and analysis and distribution of

data.

3.3 The initial thought of the reorganisation of DOSM placed

emphasis on upgrading of certain key posts and increasing the

number of personnel. The ASEAN Heads of Statistical Offices

Meetings (ASHOM), in particular the ASHOM 3 in Kuala Lumpur

and the UNSD sponsored workshops which focussed on subjects

of statistical organisation and management, the role of heads of

statistical offices and governance, had provided valuable inputs

and insights to DOSM’s restructuring process. These inputs had

helped in steering DOSM towards a more integrated and

comprehensive restructuring plan which clearly identified the roles

and responsibilities of the management, subject matter divisions

and state branch offices. The new organisation structure was

approved by the Government in October 2002.



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3.4 It focuses on long term strategies to address among others,

issues of professional capacity building and overall human

resource and career development of DOSM, research and

development, improving respondents’ co-operation and the impact

of rapid information and communication technology development.

4. New Organisation Structure of DOSM

4.1 In the new organisation structure, the posts of the Chief

Statistician and the two Deputy Chief Statisticians are upgraded

which synchronise with the merging of Divisions under two

Sectors instead of the original three Sectors.

These two Sectors are:

i. Social -Economic and Trade Sector

ii. Macro and Development Sector

The main reason of merging of Subject Matter Divisions under the

Social Economic and Trade Sector which undertake

surveys/censuses of households and establishments is to bring

about the synergistic effects and benefits of a pool of skilled

personnel and experts in surveys/censuses. On the other hand,

the Macro and Development Sector focuses on the macro

economic statistics, research & development and analysis. ( Refer

to Appendix 1 & 2 ).

4.2 All in all, under the new structure, there has been a noticeable

increase in the number of professional posts approved for DOSM.

The number of Statisticians had increased from 119 to 217 (82.4

%) and sub-professional staff increased from 127 to 160 ( 26.0%)

while the number of field enumerators and checkers/editors had

increased from 1178 to 1261 (7.0 %). The increase in the

number of staff approved, together with the upgrading of posts of

staff at all levels and the establishment of new divisions,operations centres and facilities had increased the annual budget



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from RM 56 millions to RM 72 millions. The exercise of filling in

the new posts under the new structure undertaken by DOSM

together with the Public Service Commission had started as early

as January 2003 and now it is almost completed.

4.3 The Chief Statistician

The Chief Statistician, under the new structure, has assumed

additional responsibilities. Apart from the Managerial and Human

Resources Division and the Information Technology Division, the

Statistical Training Division and the State Branch Offices are

placed directly under the Chief Statistician’s responsibility. This

reflects the importance and focus placed on human resource

development, sound financial management, information

technology development and respondents relations.

4.4 State Branch Offices

In recognising the increasing importance of the role and functions

of the State Branch Offices and Field Operations Centres towards

achieving the objectives of producing high quality, timely, user-

oriented statistics, an additional State Branch Office and six Field

Operations Centres are set up under the new organisation

structure. At the same time, several units, namely the Mapping &

Survey Frame Section, the “Priority Cases” Unit within the

Operations Section and the Processing and Analysis Section were

set up to enhance the effectiveness in the organisation of State

Branch Offices. ( Refer to Appendix 3 for organisation structure

of State Branch Offices).

The existing posts are upgraded and new posts are created,

staffed with well qualified and experienced officers to enhance

capacity building to meet the additional responsibilities from beingmainly field operation centres to playing a more effective role in all



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statistical operations which include processing, analysis and

dissemination of data. The expanded functions of state offices to

include processing and basic analysis (for preliminary evaluation

of data), serves to “free” the subject-matter divisions of these

processes, thus allowing them to undertake more in-depth

analyses and developmental work towards improving the quality

and timeliness of data.

5. Organisation and Management Strategies

In the last three years, DOSM participated actively in the

UNSD/ASHOM meetings/workshops and this had positively benefited

DOSM in respect of the issues of statistical organisation management,

capacity building and training, ICT development and corporate

governance. DOSM has placed great emphasis on these issues and in

the new organisation structure, comprehensive strategies are mapped

out to ensure these issues are rightly addressed.

5.1 Capacity Building and Training

DOSM recognises human resources as an important asset of

the Department and continuous upgrading of skills, competency

and professionalism to meet current and future challenges is

essentially a critical success factor. This can be achieved

through well-planned training programmes with the objectives of

not only enhancing skills and knowledge but also maximizing

versatility and motivation and retention of expertise. Under the

new organisation structure, the Statistical Training Unit which

was previously under the Statistical Development Division, had

expanded and upgraded to the become the full-fledged

Statistical Training Division, headed by a senior statistician to

undertake this important responsibility.



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In 2002, DOSM had initiated a plan to establish a statistical

training institute. The valuable experience and knowledge

gained from the study visit to the BPS-Statistics Indonesia had

provided important inputs to the plan. The proposed plan was

submitted for approval by the Government and to be included in

the Mid-Term Review of the Eighth Malaysia Plan(2001 – 2005).

The in-house training programmes in various fields such as

statistics, economics, survey operations and ICT, conducted by

trained and experienced officers of the Department are

implemented throughout the year. In the first half of 2003, about

705 employees had been trained in 26 courses organised by the

Statistical Training Division. The courses offered include

subjects related to survey operations, data analysis and

sampling techniques. Other training programmes include

courses related to ICT, effective communication, leadership,

general administration and financial management.

5.2 Research and Development

In response to Malaysia’s transformation from production driven

to knowledge driven economy, it is essential for DOSM to be

well prepared to face these challenges. The Research and

Development Division is a new Division created to enhance the

capacity of DOSM in the field of research and development and

to provide the conducive environment for conducting researches

and nurture creative and analytical skills. R&D activities are to

be undertaken with the purpose of strengthening the analytical

capability of officers, improving the efficiency of operations, to

refine the concepts for surveys and censuses and to innovate

methods which improve productivity and quality and reduce

cost.



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5.3 Maintaining Good Relationship with Respondents

DOSM conducts numerous surveys and censuses and it is

critical to maintain good relationship with the respondents.

Although there are provisions under the Statistics Act 1965

(Revised 1989) on the aspect of compliance of respondents to

provide information, DOSM does not use compulsion to enforce

compliance. It is essential to secure a co-operative attitude on

the part of the respondents. Under the new organisation

structure, six more field operations centres were set up at

strategic localities with the objective of being ‘close to the

respondents ’ to gain their cooperation and trust.

Another measure taken to promote good respondent

relationship is the setting up of the task force on “ priority cases ”

in the head quarters and also the special “priority cases ” units in

all the State Branch Offices. Essentially, this is to enhance

accuracy and promptness of response from the large

businesses which have large contribution in sales values or

assets or with substantial number of employees.

5.4 Corporate Governance

As part of the restructuring exercise, a new focus was

instituted, based on the need to develop the capacity of the

Department to respond to the emergence of a new set of data

users, a new environment and to face future challenges in data

needs.

The Corporate and User Services Division in the new set-up, is

required to formulate a 5-year corporate plan for the

Department which will include the determination of statisticalpriorities for the future. This will be based on dialogue sessions



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with other ministries and agencies of the government, and data

users. The private sector also has a critical role in the future,

both as a user and a provider of information.

DOSM receives feedback on data requirements from

stakeholders through the regular meetings of the National

Economic Action Council, which was set up to manage the

economic crisis. In these meetings, the producers of statistics

are required to provide and update information weekly through

preliminary estimation based on partial information as well as

through the use of forecasting. Interaction with users are also

maintained through dialogue sessions and at meet-the-user

sessions during “A Day with Clients” organized by government

agencies as a requirement.

There are number of strategies adopted by the DOSM in

disseminating data and statistical information to the relevant

authorities and the public. One strategy is through the Users'

Service Unit (USU) of the Corporate and Customer Service

Division in headquarters in Putrajaya. This unit handled most

of the published data either in the form of publications, CD-

ROM and unpublished data request on ad hoc basis. Users

can also obtain publications and data from the 13 state offices

throughout the country.

The Department provides press releases of monthly and

quarterly economic statistics simultaneously to about 50 news

agencies (local and foreign) with an embargo time for release

of the data. In this era of information technology, the internet

provides a powerful media for dissemination of statistics.

Through our web site, we update key statistics for the country

almost daily. Enquiries and data requests are also received and

processed via e-mail.



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6. Conclusion

The restructuring of DOSM is a significant step towards achieving

the vision of becoming the premier agency in the field of statistics.

UNSD and ASHOM play a significant role in promoting the

principles, standards and best practices in the meetings and

workshops from which DOSM derived and adopted as guiding

principles in the restructuring process.

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