Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's recent announcement of his new cabinet was marred by delays, confusion, and indecisions. It did not reflect well on his commitment to 'excellence, glory and distinction'.

Of more relevance is that it showed poor staff work by his supposedly bright young advisors.

Abdullah's earlier selection of election candidates was also equally chaotic, prompting Minister Rais Yatim to plead for a more systematic approach. Typically, he did not suggest what that approach might be.

Not to be presumptuous - and in the spirit of the prime minister's call for citizens to offer suggestions - if I were advising Abdullah, this is what I would propose.

Simple enquiry

For the cabinet selection, immediately following the elections, I would have him send out the following letter, appropriately personalised, (preferably via e-mail, to assess the IT familiarity of the candidates) to all Barisan Nasional (BN) members of Parliament.

I would send the query in Malay for non-Malay MPs, and English for Malay MPs (a quick and dirty way to check on their communication skills in our two languages).

Dear Yang Berhormat So and So:

Congratulations on being elected the people's representative to Parliament. I look forward to working with you in serving our rakyat.

I am in the process of forming my cabinet. For each ministry, I need a minister to head it, one or two deputy ministers, and a parliamentary secretary. If you are capable and interested in any of these positions, please e-mail me before midnight March 25 with the following information.

(I) Why do you consider yourself uniquely qualified to assume the position you seek?

(II) Do you have anything in your personal and professional background that could possibly be embarrassing to and detract from my administration's goals of having a clean and honest government?

(III) What do you think are the major issues facing the ministry of your choice and specifically, the position you are seeking?

(IV) What do you hope to achieve as short-term (within a year) and long-term (five or more years) goals in the position you seek? Please discuss your strategies to achieving them.

(V) What are your plans following your tenure in government?

Again, congratulations on securing the voters' confidence and I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Nominating committees

A simple enquiry like this would help greatly in selecting the right personnel and seeking out hidden talent. It would enhance greatly the matching of the right talent with the right position. More importantly, it tells the prime minster whether the candidate has any fresh ideas or if he or she is simply interested in being a minister. The last question will quickly weed out those politicians who will likely have to be literally kicked out of the cabinet simply because they do not have a life after politics.

After this simple weeding out process, the prime minister could supplement it with personal interviews, with his staff ready with the tough questions ahead of time.

Meanwhile the staff should vet the potential candidates to ensure that they would not prove embarrassing to the administration by their incompetence or less-than-pristine background. Hence police background checks and prior clearance from the Anti-Corruption Agency.

For the selection of parliamentary candidates, I would cast the talent net wide and deep.

First, I would have each division form a nominating committee who would seek out and nominate three to five best candidates. Committee members should not nominate themselves, and would have to recuse themselves when evaluating potential nominees who are related to or have any potential conflict of interest.

After going over the qualifications and interviewing the candidates, the committee would rank its choice, together with its recommendations, and submit the list to a central selection committee chaired by the prime minister. This committee should also adhere to the same guidelines as the local committee as regards to conflict of interest. The local committee will apprise the central committee of the accomplishments, weaknesses and strengths of each nominee, and the basis of the selection.

In the rare instance where the central committee finds that all the proposed candidates wanting, then it should redirect the local committee to have another set of hearings and come up with another set of potential nominees.

The final selection must come from the list provided by the local committee. This would ensure the all-important local input in selecting candidates. It would also dilute and disperse the power of selecting candidates, thereby reducing corruption and influence peddling. Potential nominees would have to lobby not only the local committee but also the central one.

The determining criteria should be ability, integrity, and electability. The local committee could send out an initial written enquiry similar to the one I proposed in the selection of cabinet members in order to shortlist the candidates.

Were the prime minister to adopt my simple yet sensible suggestion, I am certain it would result in a far superior selection process and yield much higher quality candidates. We would also have a better government to boot, one with enhanced ability to serve the nation.