Tips for non-profit organisations on communicating with government departments and city councils

As the tireless workers and volunteers who run non-profit organisations, social enterprises and other similar initiatives will attest, there is a lot of hard work needed behind the scenes to set up and run any kind of organisation, as well as in order to implement any project, programme, campaign or plan. 

There could be scenarios where your organisation has to liaise with a government department in order to obtain a license, a certification, some form of financial or other support, or permission to do something.  You might need to liaise with a department within a particular Ministry, or it might be a local council.

In Wilayah Persekutuan, this would be the Kuala Lumpur City Hall or Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL). In Selangor and in other states, you would have the various city councils corresponding to the different areas, such as Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya (MPPJ), Majlis Perbandaran Klang, etc. These authorities regulate a range of activities within their jurisdictions and it is a good idea for non-profit organisations to engage with the officers as much as possible and develop good relationships with them.

Firstly, in preparing to engage with the officers, do your homework. Find out what it is that you need, by doing your own research and getting some pointers/guidance from contacts from other non-profits organisations who may have successfully applied for the same thing earlier. Know which department within the Ministry/city council is tasked with overseeing that particular area.

Also, it’s worth checking the government department’s website to find out more about the range of services on offer, and looking at the organisation chart to identify who the relevant pegawai/officer is. Sometimes, you might even find PDF versions of the relevant borang or application forms online, for easy downloading. Examples of such websites are MPPJ’s website at http://www.mbpj.gov.my/ and DBKL’s website at http://www.dbkl.gov.my/index.php?lang=ms.

You could also call up and ask for assistance by telephoning the general helplines.  Generally, the customer service personnel are friendly and willing to help. However, they may not always know which department you need to contact. Which is why it is best that you do your own research first to find out, so that you can ask to be put through to the relevant department immediately.

Another option is to go there in person. While this can be extremely time-consuming as it may take many hours out of a busy day, nothing can replace face-to-face meetings in terms of effective relationship-building. As a general rule of thumb, if you are invited to a meeting, make it a point to attend. One face-to-face meeting could be worth 10 letters in terms of effectiveness, in that sense.

Finally, here are some tips on writing letters to government departments/city councils.

1. Always write in Bahasa Malaysia. If you are not able to do so, try to get the text you have written in English, translated to BM by a reliable translator. Have a friend or colleague who is fluent in BM, read through the translated letter to make sure it says what you want it to say.

2. Find out the name of the officer to whom the letter should be addressed. Ensure that the spelling is correct and the right title/honorific is used, for example, Y.Bhg Tuan/Y.Bhg Puan. If the officer has a title such as “Datuk” or “Dato’”, he should be addressed as YB/Yang Berhormat.

3. Ensure that the letter is dated, so that both parties can track how long it takes for a response to be issued.

4. Introduce your organisation in the 1^st paragraph. Provide some regulatory information such as the society registration number and date of registration. Also provide a brief outline of your organisation’s activities/projects. Just a few lines will do.

5. As much as possible, position your request in a way that aligns with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the government department concerned. If you can demonstrate the value of your request to the officer concerned, whether it’s in the form of publicity or something positive that the department concerned can report internally once they have provided you with what you need, it’s more likely that your request will be prioritised. 

6. Clearly state what you require and what you want the department to do for your organisation. Do you need a license? Permission to do something? Permission to use land? Assistance of another kind such as funding or other support?

7. Include reference to deadlines, if any. For example, if you require the assistance 1 week before your event, then do specify the timelines in your letter.

8. End by thanking the officer and providing a name, contact number and email address which will allow the officer to contact you for further details, if needed.

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