Ten years into his career, he was promoted to Secretary-General of the Labour Ministry. The drafting of Malaysia's Social Security (Socso) law was done at the Labour Ministry during this time under Osman’s watch. Later, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Information Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry in 1970 and 1975 respectively. Osman’s last posting in the civil service was as Director General of the Public Services Department (JPA) between 1980 and 1985. Upon retirement, he joined the private sector and was appointed Country Manager for GE Corp in 1985. In his corporate life, he is best remembered as the former independent non-executive chairman of Southern Bank.

ROLE MODEL: Osman always put duty before self.

Among newsmen, Osman is best remembered for his role in the hostage-taking incident in 1975 that involved 10 Japanese Red Army terrorists who stormed the American International Assurance building on Jalan Ampang.  

Osman was one of four envoys who had to take the place of the hostages so that the terrorists could fly out of Malaysia safely. It was an experience that Osman would have preferred to avoid. He had had a heart problem a few years earlier and he also had a young family that would have been fatherless should the worse have happened. 

Placing personal interests aside, Osman was an exemplary role model of the dedicated civil servant putting duty before self. After registering his preference not to accompany the terrorists, Osman said to his boss, then Home Affairs Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie: “If this is what the Government requires of me, then I shall go (with the terrorists).”  

Osman returned home safely after spending almost 62 mind-numbing hours on the plane. 

Management lessons for the civil service

GOOD management is something that Tan Sri Osman Cassim never takes for granted. 

He concedes that in government there is limited room to implement actual management concepts such as motivating staff or increasing efficiency. After all, most roles in government have been predetermined in advance and there is no incentive to go above and beyond standard operating procedure. 

“Your job depends on what your ministry does,” explains Osman. Besides carrying out one’s duties according to the needs of the particular department, the civil service does not have the profit factor as an incentive to do more or to do better.  

As Osman puts it, “The government has no necessity to find customers.” 

The Malaysian public, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on government departments due to statutory requirements made on them. For instance, if a person wishes to travel he has no choice but to engage the government to apply for a passport.  

“The idea of good service does not come automatically. There is nothing to push (civil servants) unless the whole department has been geared to providing good service. This is the crux of the public’s perception of the civil service.” 

However, over the years, as mindsets changed, government departments have undergone remarkable improvements in the delivery of certain services.   

“Management is not about doing the job of 10 people,” opines Osman. 

“Management is the art of getting these 10 people to do their jobs better.” 

This, however, is what Osman refers to as the “textbook” definition of management. As far as he is concerned, management as a practice is more about a state of mind as well as a task that carries a large amount of responsibility.  

“If you’re a manager you should see that you’re doing your best in carrying out your job,” Osman insists. He offers two main principles to govern the conduct and mindset of the manager leader. 

Osman’s first principle: “Manage yourself as a person first. You must carry out your job to the best of your ability with honesty, sincerity and full accountability. You should be answerable to everyone but above all, you are definitely answerable to God.”  

The second principle as a good manager is a greater challenge than the first – to persuade those under your charge to observe and practise the first principle of managing one’s self.  

This is the difficult part, and this difficulty is what allows corruption and abuse of power to take place. 

Osman is somewhat disappointed that civil servants these days no longer play a significant role in decision-making as they once did. In the past, politicians gave due regard to the civil service. Today, however, the civil service no longer has a strong influence on helping to shape the opinion of their elected masters.   

“Part of the cause for this is that some ministers have been in charge of certain portfolios longer than their secretaries-general and other key staff,” Osman argues. 

“High-level civil servants are put in their place should they try to voice objections or alternative ideas to their ministers.” 

Quoting a recent example, it has been calculated that the estimated RM490mil that would be needed to build the sports centre overseas could be used to build almost 9,000 playing fields across the country. This could serve to sustain the country’s pool of sports talent in the future. 

Surely many civil servants linked to the related ministry would know this and could perhaps have had persuaded the said minister to reconsider the idea. 

Unfortunately, the minister involved was steadfast in insisting that such a centre would do Malaysian sports a world of good and had made the plan public much to the chagrin of the man in the street. 

“Top civil servants close to the minister should have voiced greater disagreement to the plan and offered alternative ideas for such money,” says Osman. 

Like the judiciary, civil servants have an important role to play and their opinions on matters of public interest should not be eclipsed by the views of elected leaders.  

“(Unlike yesteryear) almost all decisions today lie in the hands of politicians,” Osman laments. “But that doesn’t mean that civil servants should stop pushing their own ideas and proposals. As a civil servant, you ought to make sure your input is given due weightage.”