Poverty Governance System in The Public Sector Administration Affairs in Malaysia

This manuscript attempts to determine the concept of governance, the practice of the poverty governance system and the good governance approaches that the public sector administration in Malaysia is applying. The paper is based heavily on the literature review and report from the Economic Planning Unit and National Audit Department. Empirical evidence has shown the public sector administration has been practicing good governance based on work ethics principles initiated by the National Institute of Public Administration. The Department of Social Welfare is selected as an institution that actively manages and administers any issue related to poverty and welfare services. However, the criticisms and complaints towards the public sector services, especially regarding working practices efficiency, remain to be heard. This has been highlighted as the biggest challenge to the public sector. This article implies the issue of poverty will be administered in a well-managed environment along with the good gove rnance approaches but applying ‘good enough governance’ can be considered a realistic target for the governance system in the public sector. The main viewpoint is the quality and sustainability of public sector services are much more important rather than achieving good governance in its totality.


Introduction
Governance is interrelated to the activities of the government in the setting of managing the political system, economic affairs, and social resources with the aim for the development of a country (World Bank, 1992). Governance is a complex concept with broad interpretations and is widely used by every institution in managing government activities. The element of governance comprises the public sector administration, accountability, rule of law, and transparency (Siwar, 2006). In Malaysia, the governance system in public sector administration is abide by the specific guidelines based on the work ethics principle initiated by the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN). Malaysia continues to adopt the governance system by absorbing the good governance approaches in the public sector environment. The good governance principles have been integrated into every part of processes, decisions, implementations, and structures in the working practices in the public sector administration in Malaysia. The issue of the governance system in government and public administration is often being mentioned along with poverty. This is because the capacity of the government and public administration in managing the poverty issue is part of the governance activities which demonstrates and reflects the positive characteristics of how government and the political system ought to be carried out. This good governance principle is implied as to the good notions with the highest standard of working practices and as the ultimate ends in the oriented administration affairs.
Despite this remarkable effort in stepping up the poverty governance system, there are still some loopholes that need to be filled if Malaysia is still aiming for the highest quality of working practices and implementation of good governance approaches in its totality as the ultimate ends in the government administration (Norhaslinda, 2019). Hence, this paper attempts to determine the concept of governance, the practice of the poverty governance system, and the good governance approaches that are being applied by the public sector administration in Malaysia. This paper not only outlined the quantity of achievements but underlined the challenges and biggest constraints in addressing the poverty governance system in the public sector administration in Malaysia. This paper would contribute to the ongoing debate about the complexity and various interpretations of the concept of governance system that has been questioned from all over the regions and provide comprehensive also clear perspectives towards implementing good governance in the working practices of the public sector administration that may lead to more effective practices with the highest standard of work ethics in Malaysia as well as can assist Malaysia to develop poverty governance system effectively.

Status of Poverty in Malaysia
In general, poverty can be referred to as the state or condition of not being able to meet the standard of living and lack of basic needs that are measured through income and consumption levels. Poverty may be occurred due to the lack of various factors at which shortage of assets and income to meet the adequate household necessities (Nair & Sagaran, 2015). In Malaysia, poverty has been measured traditionally in one dimension, using income at which the poverty line income (PLI) to distinguish between poor and non-poor households (Ragayah, 2007). The poverty line income asserts the minimum level of income and consumption through the standard of living of expenditure in accordance with human basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, and basic services. A household with an income below the poverty line is considered as living in poverty whereas a household with an income below half of the poverty line is considered as living in extreme poverty (Zulkarnain & Isahaque, 2013). The poverty line income is being revised to ensure the latest standard cost of living and expenditure is reflected in the current poverty line income as it varies according to societal values and the development of the regions. The current poverty line income has been differentiated based on each state in the country that accommodates the size of households, urban and rural areas. In Malaysia, the income level or groups are classified into the bottom, middle, and top. The household group is categorized under B40, M40, and T20 which have been sectioned under ten clusters based on ten percentiles (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019). This reviewed version of the poverty line income is the latest initiative introduced by the government in categorizing the household groups into different clusters which is more systematic and organized than the previous ones. The bottom 40 represents the lowest 40% income group of households that are being grouped into B1, B2, B3, and B4. Meanwhile, the middle 40% income group of households which is the M40 is divided into M1, M2, M3, and M4. Lastly, the top 20% representing the upper class of the income household groups is categorized as T1 and T2. Based on the new methodology of the poverty line income, RM 2208.00 is reported to be the new average value for PLI at the national level (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019).
As a less developed country turns into a developing country with a highly upper-middleincome, Malaysia has succeeded in lessening the overall poverty rate nationally. From a statistical point of view, there is a significant improvement in the poverty rate from 7.6% in 2016 to 5.6% in 2019 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019). Similarly, the absolute poverty rate in urban and rural areas has shown a remarkable result from 4.8% in 2016 to 3.8% in 2019 and 17.5% in 2016, and 12.4% in 2019 respectively (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019). In the Malaysian context, poverty in Malaysia is classified into absolute poverty and relative poverty which is counted under economic poverty (Mowafi & Khawaja, 2005) or income-based poverty (Saladin et al., 2011). Absolute poverty is introduced based on a minimum standard and requirement level constituting the basic needs that are determined by the poverty line income (Kasim et al., 2013;Christopher & Tan, 2019). Relative poverty is referred to a household with an income that is compared to a certain standard of living adjusted within a society (Ludi & Bird, 2007;Kasim et al., 2013). Relative poverty is not similar to absolute poverty in which the relative poverty threshold is not being measured based on the PLI, but according to the distribution of household income in that particular year.
Malaysia has achieved significant results in improving the quality of life for those who live below the national poverty line by means of eradicating poverty over the years since its Independence. As a whole, Malaysia has been addressing the issue of poverty, and at which those efforts were able to reduce the poverty rate significantly over the years. Poverty eradication is one of the main initiatives and determinations that has been addressed by the Malaysian government in every development policy throughout the years. The implementation of the policies and programs has steered economic development and poverty reduction. Most of the literature researches stated that those policies were accomplished by fostering economic growth and reducing the incidence of poverty distinctly (Elhadary & Samat, 2012;Narimah et al., 2016). The success of poverty eradication is all due to the policies and programs implemented (Mohamed & Xavier, 2015). Moreover, the programs were initiated to focus on assisting and continuously helping the poor to improve the quality of life for those who are living in poverty.
Despite this remarkable achievement in alleviating poverty over the years, the rising cost of living and lifestyle of the Malaysians has summoned the government for a review of the concept and methodology of measurement of poverty (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019) which has proven that the official PLI used up until 2018 were unsuccessful to reflect the reality living condition of the people as the pockets of poverty is still existing. This situation has urged the government to revise reviewing the current policies and reintroduce more sustainable paradigms the government decided to briefly review the national poverty line income and multidimensional poverty index. At the beginning of this article, there is a brief explanation of the revised version of the national poverty line income. This latest reviewed version of PLI in 2019 has somehow made the current poverty rate situation in Malaysia being accessed accordingly. This effort was made by the previous government, Pakatan Harapan which decided to revise the PLI and implement a new methodology for the measurement of poverty at that time which somehow corresponded with the beginning of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that caused the closure of many enterprises both in formal and informal sectors, massive layoffs and lowered wages. Today, the country is encountering an increasing number of poverty and socioeconomic disparities in both rural and urban areas due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic which has impacted a huge problem in every country all over the world including Malaysia as well. However, the government has constantly administered the situation with continuous revisions, amendments, and contingency plans to bring Malaysia advanced into a steady developing country with a more convincing future.

Concept of Governance in Malaysia
Governance is a complex concept because of the wide interpretations from all over the regions because of the fast-expanding and growing global phenomenon (Lutfor, 2016). The governance system must be updated from time to time as it is escalating rapidly in developed and developing countries. Despite the complexity and various interpretations, governance is widely known as a term that is closely interconnected to the political field and government activities. Governance is perceived as an interaction concentrating on the processes, structures, and practices in the affairs of government (Graham et al., 2003). These interactions will determine how power, responsibilities, and decisions are exercised and taken by the respective institutions. This concept also promotes an important basis for long-term sustainable socio-economic development for the state as regularly attempt to raise better living condition, create employment, and alleviate poverty. In general, the activities of government, the performance of the government, and the public are part of the governance system.
Malaysia resumes practicing good governance principles in the governance system in the public administration affairs. The good governance principles have been integrated with the planning structures, decisions processes, and policy implementations which necessitates the positive characteristics of how government and the political system ought to be carried out. These good governance principles are part of the governance concept but applied with the highest standard of work ethics and top level of efficiency in a democratic framework. Good governance is inferred as the good notions in the political systems that are equivalent to an oriented administration affair which bound to improve the quality and development of the institutions.
The term good governance is known as a subset of governance in which the usage of resources and problems encountered are being managed efficiently and effectively according to the needs of society (Lutfor, 2016).
The World Bank has proposed the indicators of governance based on Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) that assess the quality of governance comprising voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption (World Bank, 2007). The first indicator is referring to the political processes and the extent to which the citizen able to partake in choosing their government and voice out their expressions. The second indicator captures the steadiness and stability of a government in power carrying out administrative and political activities without any violent means. The third indicator refers to the coordination and competency of the public services in decisionmaking, managing resources as well as the capability of the government responsibility towards the policies. The fourth indicator incorporates the market-unfriendly policies at such as price controls or insufficient regulations in business development which requires a constant and consistent monitoring mechanism. The fifth indicator is about rules and regulations that must be abided and in particular the quality of enforceability of contracts, property rights, police, and courts. The sixth indicator is the capacity to control and restrict any public power that is exercised in any form of corruption including petty or grand forms for private gains and interests. The WGI is perceived in the capacity of how well or badly a country is governed with efficient, effective, and accountable administration.
The good governance principles were adopted to improve the quality and level of efficiency of the public sector administration in Malaysia (Siwar, 2006). In this regard, the public service must impose an effective delivery system, efficient use of resources, and quality monitoring mechanism with rigorous planning, implementation capability, and constant enforcement that emphasized the priorities that concern the most to the people (Norhaslinda, 2019). On the other hand, the good governance principles have been applied in the public sector environment in Malaysia which is based on the specific guidelines. In Malaysia, the public sector administration has been practicing good governance based on work ethics principles initiated by the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN). The public officers are the most important component in the public administration as they signify the image of how well the performance and service delivery of the public sector administration.
The work ethics principles are based on the book of Public Service Ethics comprise integrity, accountability, transparency, rule of law, perfect working culture, professionalism, and maintaining confidentiality (Etika Perkhidmatan Awam, 2021). The public officers are able to apply high values of integrity and ethics by understanding comprehensive sources that can be used as their guidelines to uphold a quality and efficient public service delivery. The first principle, integrity is based on honesty and objectivity which means working with a full responsibility without abusing the power given for personal gain. The principle also includes the act of giving priority to the public interest and efficiency in managing public resources. Second, accountability is undertaking to answer and explain its actions to anyone who is entitled. This principle is the capacity of the public sector environment in being responsible and answerable for every decision made and action is taken towards the people. The act of accountability and responsibility must be distributed accordingly to each of the respective roles of public officers so that the management affairs will be managed effectively.
Transparency is the third work ethics principle that is very important as this principle holds the public confidence regarding the administrative activities and processes taken by the public officers. This principle of transparency is described as visible and transparent in the performance of duties and responsibilities as all the decisions and outcomes are taken must be recognized and informed without involving any personal influence. Fourth, the rule of law is implied as to the rules and regulations that are necessary for the public officers to be complied in performing their duty and task in the public sector environment. The rules must be enforced without any fear and favor of any party and ignorance of the law at which it shall not be excused by the laws.
The fifth work ethics principle is having a perfect working culture which should be applied in public administration affairs as the public officers must practice lifelong learning by constantly striving to improve existing knowledge and understanding. This culture will considerably complement the work practices and enhance the quality of work of the public officers so that the administration affairs will be run efficiently and effectively. Sixth, professionalism is an attribute that a public officer should be equipped with the addition of required competencies and skills which this attribute will enhance the effectiveness and productivity of service delivery in the public sector environment. The public officers must understand the duties and responsibilities given and perform them according to the existing rules and procedures. Lastly, maintaining confidentiality is referring to the data and information that should not be shared, disseminated, and accessed without permission. Public officers must be honest and responsible in protecting any private and personal information.
The governance system in Malaysia has manifested the good governance principles which mostly the administrative activities and practices are being managed efficiently and in response to the needs of the people. The public sector administration in Malaysia has even initiated creating its own specific guidelines to be followed by the public officers in order to achieve and practice the good governance approaches in its administrative affairs. The presence of work ethical principles based on the book of Public Service Ethics by the INTAN can be seen that the approaches to good governance have been keenly displayed throughout the public sector environment in Malaysia. These good and positive values in the public sector performance seem to be the key basis of Malaysia's road to good governance and must be inculcated at all times. The achievement of good governance is often remarked as stability, growth, and development which consecutively enable effective government administration.

Poverty Governance System in Malaysia
The governance system in the administration affairs often being mentioned along with the issue of poverty. The governance system is very important at which the government has been making more efforts in upgrading the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector environment which to make a greater contribution toward socio-economic development. The government even creates new initiatives and reforms in the governance system towards greater transparency and efficiency to strengthen the working relationship in the public administration (Mid-Term Review of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, 2016-2020). The good governance approaches and work ethics principles have been inculcated collectively in the working practices of the public officers. The government has been distributing the duties and tasks in tackling the issue of poverty mostly towards the government agencies and public sector administration. The public officers imply the image of how well the quality and performance of service delivery in the administrative affairs, and they also signify the firsthand representative from the agency or organization that provides assistance to the people. In Malaysia, there are agencies and organizations that are well-known for managing and administering the whole processes and activities of providing services to the people.
At the beginning of this article, there is a brief part that touched on the issue of poverty that often being mentioned together with the governance system. As mentioned in this article, the government has been making efforts in reducing poverty by stepping up into their governance system which inculcates more efficient work ethical principles and good governance approaches in the government system. Hence, this article will be focusing on one public sector administration which is the public welfare institution as the linkage between the poverty issue and the governance system in Malaysia. The Department of Social Welfare (JKM) is selected as a public welfare institution that actively manages and administers any issue related to poverty and welfare services. There are many public welfare institutions, especially for the vulnerable group such as poor households, children, the elderly, the disabled, and juveniles which are directly administered by the Department of Social Welfare (JKM), which is a federal government department.
The agency that actively manages and administers any issue related to poverty and welfare services is the Department of Social Welfare (JKM), at which there are local and district community offices all over the 14 states in Malaysia. The establishment of the Department of Social Welfare by the government aims to safeguard the welfare of those people who are in need based on the five main thrusts namely protection, rehabilitation, prevention, development and integration. The Department of Social Welfare is recognized as one of the government agencies that play an important role in social development in Malaysia. Their objectives are basically improving the competency, performance, productivity, and innovation in the welfare sectors workers, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of welfare services provided by the agency, and cultivating the nature of pure values, ethics, and integrity among the public officers in the organization.
The governance system adopted by the Department of Social Welfare is based on the Employee Code of Ethics under its agency itself (Kod Etika Pekerja, 2019). The Code of Ethics is a standard practiced by employees who are competent, highly disciplined, responsible, and committed to their duties to ensure effective and quality welfare services and community development. This code of ethics is also a uniform standard of conduct for the JKM employees to establish professional relationships, especially with customers, colleagues, members of other professions, employers, and the community. Besides, this code is formulated based on the principles, values , and ethics of social work, values , and ethics of the public service as well as the relevant existing public service rules, circulars, and directives. Fostering good and positive values in the public sector environment and performance must be inculcated at all times. This action will be a reflection to all public servants in cultivating transparency, accountability and integrity in their work practices and institutions.
The Code of Ethics under the Department of Social Welfare comprises different elements such as confidentiality, accountability, social justice, integrity, competence, responsibility, and compliance with rules and regulations. First, the ethics toward customers at which the public officer must respect the self-esteem and value of the customers as individuals, also ensures that the customer confidentiality is not disclosed except to relevant parties. Second, ethics toward colleagues and other professionals refer to the public officers who ought to respect the knowledge, skills, experience, and views of their colleagues and also positive cooperation especially when these values are very essential in the decision-making processes. Third, ethics towards department implies that the public officers should strive to realize the vision, mission, motto, objectives, organizational strategies, policies, rules, and practices based on accountability and integrity and strive to increase the productivity, quality, and delivery of services by upgrading the standards of efficiency and work practices as to develop and encourage the development of services to meet increasing needs.
The fourth code of ethics, the ethics towards yourself is about being responsible for the task and duty entrusted through the practice of excellent work culture, improving knowledge, skills, and abilities work through continuing education and training also, not engaging in disruptive actions, oppress and taking advantage of customers, colleagues, and others. Fifth, ethics toward society infers that those public officers must serve and assist with sincerity, honesty, and trustworthiness for the sake of welfare and community development also, public officers act as the mediator between the government and vulnerable groups. The public officers are the source of reference to the community related to social issues and welfare matters as they are the firsthand representative to represent the agencies and institutions. They must be able to provide information in the field of welfare and community development when appropriate and facilitate the procurement process and services to the community. They also have a duty to use their knowledge, skills, and experience in mobilizing activities and programs that bring about change for the purpose of welfare, well-being, and community development.
Poverty eradication strategies and programs were implemented by the Malaysian government at the federal and state level as one of the main efforts and initiatives to foster economic growth and reduce the incidence of poverty. There were many programs created and introduced in order to improve the quality of life for those who are living in poverty. On the other hand, the Department of Social Welfare has provided assistance and welfare services in various forms. In general, the welfare assistance scheme is referring to financial assistance services by the Department of Social Welfare that is provided to the target group who are in need to continue to survive properly. Based on the principle, of the implementation of the provision of assistance to the people, the Malaysian Government does not occasionally adopt the concept of the Welfare State. The assistance scheme is created as a tool in the process of helping the vulnerable group towards rehabilitation, prevention, development, and integration, which is a method in social work. The process of providing welfare assistance also considers the potential of each recipient who is still productive towards independent living.

Challenges and Constraints of Poverty Governance
Despite these continuing efforts, several works of literature research have pointed towards criticisms regarding the efforts of inculcating the good governance approaches into the reality of working practices in the public administration environment. This has been highlighted as the challenge and biggest constraint to the public sector in Malaysia. These challenges and constraints have undermined the competency and ability of the public officers working in the public sector administration which caused the mistrust towards the worthiness of the public services in Malaysia. The following paragraphs emphasized some loopholes and issues in the poverty governance system in Malaysia that are crucial and need to be rectified immediately.
Although the administrative reformation was made, with the aim to improve the accountability and strengthen the quality of the public sector, this is the most crucial part of the determination of the government in implementing good governance in the public sector (Maizatul et al., 2016), the shortcomings can still be detected and complaints towards public service remain to be heard. The elements of accountability and transparency have been keenly embedded and practiced in the public sector environment. For instance, the NTP was a transformational agenda initiated in 2011 which is an approach to stimulate the public sector performance and quality service delivery by transforming the government into a more accountable and effective administration (Norhaslinda, 2019). The presence of accountability and transparency have been displayed and employed throughout the agenda.
However, criticisms and complaints towards the public sector especially in the matter of service delivery are still being reported. The lack of efficiency, poor planning, ineffective accountability, poor performance, weakness in financial management, and lack of monitoring mechanism have been highlighted as the main complaints received towards the public sector services (Mid-Term Review of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, 2016-2020). Accountability and efficiency in the public sector environment are ongoing efforts in which the public servants are mostly at risk, especially those involved in the implementation and decision-making processes (Maizatul et al., 2016). In a broader sense, economic growth and development may be occurred by practicing and instilling good governance approaches in the working practices, but the government may still experience a lack of governance and unsatisfactory result efficiency (Salahudin et al., 2015). Even though good governance is remarked as the main paradigm to achieve betterment for government administration, the country may come across bad governance despite the rising in development and economic growth. Past studies have shown conflicting results regarding the attainment of good governance to be inserted in the working practices, but governments all across the countries have stated that the achievement of good governance approaches is the ultimate end in government administration (Norhaslinda, 2019).
The presence of good governance approaches in the working practices of the public sector has been keenly displayed throughout the administrative environment. Although various implementations and improvements have been made by the government agencies and institutions, complaints and allegations about the public sector across regions remain, because there is no consistent coordination, lack of transparency, and lack of monitoring mechanism in working practices. This implies that the main barrier to accelerating the public sector performance is the complex nature of the good governance approaches that are difficult to be imposed on the working practices.
Even though various improvements have been made with the application of good governance principles, inequality and disparity regarding the issue of poverty across regions still remain, because there is no consistent coordination and strong monitoring mechanism made by public sector administration. For instance, this issue occurred in one of the local state offices of the Department of Social Welfare (JKM) in Kelantan. According to the 2018 Auditor-General's Report Series 1, there were inefficiencies in its governance system, especially in terms of the administration processes and practices. There were delays in the termination of payment and scheme under this agency in Kelantan for the recipient that has died which caused setbacks to the new recipient that should receive the assistance under the scheme. There was also dissimilarity with the list of recipients on the scheme and no up-to-date information about the current status of the recipients. Besides, there was a lack of accessibility to the government assistance and unclear information on where to seek the assistance as the people are not even aware of the program implemented by the state government agency. This infers that the administrative affairs of the Department of Social Welfare in Kelantan are still lacking the governance practices and inefficiency in its working practices, despite the Code of Ethics under the agency itself that were bound the employees to be committed and competent to their duties to ensure effective and quality welfare services and community development.

Suggestions and Implications
The implementation of good governance approaches in the working practices of the public sector has been thoroughly demonstrated throughout the administrative affairs in Malaysia. Likewise, the efforts of utilizing the good governance approaches imply that having 'good enough governance' governance' (Grindle, 2007) is considered enough and practical to be applied in the reality of the public sector environment. The researcher suggests several efforts that can be done to improve the quality of public sector performance along with good governance approaches at which simply shifting the current state of public sector performance with the approaches is not enough to improve the condition. First, the public sector must be transformed into a dependable and efficient sector by having good governance itself, as the approach that should be adapted to the current condition of the public sector in Malaysia. The public sector should continue in improving the quality of services and administrative practices with 'good enough governance' approaches collectively into a more manageable system and sustainable manner. This can be achieved by applying the good governance approaches in sequence without forcing the public sector administration and especially the public officers to follow unconditionally with this kind of ideal and barely possible approaches to be implemented in its totality. Hence, these good governance approaches are the ones that should be integrated with the current state of the public sector environment and administrative affairs in the Malaysian context.
Second, the public sector should start focusing on the quality of services provided and the sustainability of management rather than the quantity of achievements that have been made, because it does not reflect the real condition. The main viewpoint is that the quality and sustainability of the public sector services are much more important rather than calculating the quantity of achievements and improvements that have been made because sometimes the figures of accomplishments are not even reflecting reality. This can be accomplished by having a proper evaluation procedure and strong monitoring mechanism that can examine and supervise the level and standard of public sector performance with the good governance approaches. These approaches cannot be simply applied to the public sector just because of the ideality, because it varies in administrations all over the countries. This good governance approach must be imposed based on the real situation faced by the public services in Malaysia which will be as a comprehensive reform and the fundamental technique that can be outlined as the new priorities and emphases in the development agenda of the government administration in Malaysia. These suggestions of having "good enough governance' and the importance of sustainability and quality of the public sector services may lead to more effective practices with the highest standard of work ethics in Malaysia as well as can assist Malaysia to develop a poverty governance system effectively.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the governance system in Malaysia's public administration appeared to be interrelated with the issue of poverty. The element of good governance is seen to be inculcated in the institutions and agencies in Malaysia. The presence of good governance principles such as transparency, accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness have been keenly displayed throughout the public sector environment. This issue of poverty ought to have good governance in its institutions and agencies encompassing positive notions in a democratic framework, which is possible to make all activities, processes, and decision-making in the institutions remain to be effective and efficient. Though this article provides some insights about the working practices of the public sector environment together with good governance approaches, it is limited as this article only focuses on the practice of the poverty governance system specifically, by one public welfare institution, the Department of Social Welfare (JKM). To obtain a perfect poverty governance system and sustain these approaches in the working practices, public sector administration in Malaysia has to shift its priorities more towards the reality of the public services not the ideality of having these approaches, which is considered practical now. These good and positive values in the public sector performance seem to be the basis of Malaysia's road to good governance. The achievement of good governance is often remarked as stability, growth, and development which consecutively enable effective government administration. However, there is still a long way to achieve a complete set of good governance in reality if Malaysia is still aiming for the highest standard of working practices and the achievement of good governance approaches as the ultimate ends in government administration. Nevertheless, the application of good governance approaches is not in doubt because this approach is proven to be as guidance to improve the quality of public sector administrative affairs.