Archive for category public service
Civility in the US, vitriol in Penang
Posted by Kit in DAP, Lim Guan Eng, public service on Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Making Sens
By Tan Siok Choo
26th July 2010
A CIVIL servant makes a speech. Heavily edited and later publicised, the speech makes the speaker appear racially biased. Journalists and politicians suggest the civil servant should be sacked. After the civil servant resigns, the full speech is published showing its theme of racial reconciliation had been turned into a racist rant.
This incident happened not in Penang but in the US. Nevertheless, last week’s fiasco involving Shirley Sherrod, state director of rural development in Georgia, provides a useful counterpoint to the spat between Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and State Development Officer (SDO) Nik Ali Mat Yunus.
In the US, Sherrod’s speech was edited by a conservative group to suggest she had discriminated against a white farmer. Last Monday, Fox News Channel aired the edited excerpt and host Bill O’Reilly called for Sherrod’s resignation. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack obliged and asked Sherrod to leave.
However, the unedited version of Sherrod’s speech showed the black civil servant had helped the white farmer and was recounting the experience to illustrate that race should never be considered in dealings with others.
Thereafter, President Barack Obama telephoned the US Agriculture Department employee to express his regret over her forced resignation while Vilsack offered Sherrod his apologies and a unique new position in the department.
In contrast to the furore in Penang, one aspect of the Sherrod imbroglio stands out. Although the exchanges in the US were heated, they were civilised. Apart from labelling Sherrod a racist, name calling was notably absent. This contrasts with the volleys of verbal vitriol in Penang between Nik Ali and Guan Eng.
This prompts several questions: Is civility now an endangered trait in Malaysia? Why isn’t it possible for two persons to disagree without being disgustingly disagreeable? Read the rest of this entry »
Chief Secretary Sidek’s “Mother Hen” Folly
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, public service on Monday, 26 July 2010
By M. Bakri Musa
Chief Secretary Sidek Hassan did not acquit himself honorably in so quickly defending federal civil servant Nik Ali Yunus in his very public and ugly squabble with Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Sidek’s swift reaction reflects more of a “mother hen” instinct of protecting its brood rather than the cool considered judgment of the head of an organization of professionals, as our civil servants would like us to believe them to be.
A state development officer (Nik Ali’s designation) is pretty far down in the federal civil service scheme of things, yet Sidek felt compelled to intervene. He did, in a rash and clumsy manner. At the very least he should have sought the views of both sides before rendering judgment. That would have been the mark of a true professional; it would also the decent thing to do.
Read the rest of this entry »
Decline in moral accountability?
Posted by Kit in Penang Government, public service on Thursday, 22 July 2010
By Thomas Lee Seng Hock | Mysinchew
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan has made himself look very foolish by asking whether it is wrong for civil servants to attend functions held by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, as he is the DAP secretary-general.
Sidek is apparently trying to justify the presence and participation of Penang state development officer Nik Ali Mat Yunus at an Umno press conference, where the officer verbally lambasted Guan Eng and issued prepared press statements to criticize the chief minister.
I am simply amazed that the country’s top civil servant doesn’t even understand the simple basic difference between a government and a political entity, and respect the very important fundamental principle of impartiality and neutrality of the civil service.
Read the rest of this entry »
Chief Secretary Sidek himself guilty of being “excessive” in taking sides instead of reprimanding Nik Ali for doubly violating civil service code
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Penang Government, public service, UMNO on Thursday, 22 July 2010
It was only on Tuesday that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that there is no place for little Napoleons in the public service who do not understand the importance of innovation if the Government Transformation Programme is to succeed.
It is regrettable however that when Little Napoleons rear their ugly heads, they are given full defence and support instead of being reprimanded and put in their proper place.
The latest example of support for Little Napoleons instead of smacking them down is the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan’s defence of the Penang State Development Officer Nik Ali Nik Yunus for the latter’s attack on the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng. Sidek said Guan Eng’s allegations against Nik Ali was “excessive”.
It is Sidek who is guilty of being “excessive” in taking sides instead of reprimanding Nik Ali for doubly violating the civil service code of being strictly non-partisan, non-political and civil by appearing at an UMNO press conference to attack the Penang Chief Minister as “biadap” (insolent or uncivilized) and “dayus” (coward).
What is most shocking is that no Cabinet Minister appeared outraged and all seemed to have sanctioned the “Little Napoleonic” conduct of Nik Ali.
Read the rest of this entry »
A gross violation of the civil service code
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Penang Government, public service on Wednesday, 21 July 2010
By Thomas Lee Seng Hock | Mysinchew
The current spat between Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the state development officer Nik Ali Mat Yunus highlights a fundamental flaw in the Malaysian civil service.
In the democratic system of government, of which Malaysia professes to practise, the civil service is a politically non-partisan and neutral body, with all its officers supposed to function and operate impartially in the implementations of the policies, programmes, and projects of the elected government.
Article 132 of the Federal Constitution states that federal civil servants hold office at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and state civil servants at the pleasure of the respective Sultan. Which means that the civil servants are not beholden to any political party but to His Majesty’s government of the day. His Majestic is above politics, and so must all those civil servants appointed under his royal command and name.
Read the rest of this entry »
Postal Hike and Social Problems
Posted by Kit in Letters, public service, Social on Monday, 12 July 2010
Letter
By Ganesh
The recent hike in the price of postal services is quite shocking.
The standard mail (up to 20g) tariff has shot up from 30 sen to 60 sen while the rate for letters weighing up to 50g soars from 40 sen to 70 sen. A 100% increase is a huge amount considering Pos Malaysia, for all intents and purposes, is a GLC (see breakdown) and the government should be thinking about the hardships that it would cause to its people with the new heavy postal fees.
The substantial shareholders of Pos Malaysia as at 15 March 2010 are:
- Khazanah Nasional Berhad 32.21%
- Employees Provident Fund Board 9.59%
- Permodalan Nasional Berhad 8.45%
- Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera 8.18%
Updating Dr M on who runs the country
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, public service, UMNO on Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Is it true that Umno has allowed the situation of Malay dominance to be so badly eroded that the community is facing a bleak and hopeless future?
The Ketuanan party is being overly modest if it refuses to take any credit for the Malays’ measurable success. In which case, we should all be content to attribute the advancement of Malays and Malaysia merely to takdir and the grace of Allah, and quite willing to discount human agency and Umno diligence.
But let’s see.
Bring back the civil service staff list
Until the early 1970s, the Malaysian government used to produce a federal civil service staff list annually that contained the details of key personnel heading the various ministries and departments of the federal authorities and agencies, and their positions in the service.
Read the rest of this entry »
Disappointed Doctor
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, public service on Saturday, 30 January 2010
Letter
I am a medical doctor who was educated overseas and worked in Australia for several years and recently decided to return to Malaysia to serve the country.
As a professional working overseas I heard about the ‘Program bagi mengalakkan warganegara Malaysia yang berpakaran yang bekerja di luar negara pulang ke Malaysia’ and therefore applied for it. I was very disappointed when they rejected my application on the grounds that it was sent after I returned to Malaysia. Apparently it was meant to be sent whilst I was still in Australia.
I find this a very poor excuse given the fact that Malaysia is trying to lure back its citizens to work for them. It discourages professionals such as me from having to bear the burden to return but not have any perks or encouraging incentives. Furthermore, my parents bore my exorbitant medical tuition fees and I did not receive any governmental loans whatsoever. The “least” is something anyone would expect.
Besides that, it took me a great deal of an effort to locate the abovementioned application form which was hidden in the catacombic archives of one of the governmental websites. Talk about purposeful inconvenience or perhaps voluntary neglect. Read the rest of this entry »
Public Forum : Whither the Constitution?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Perak, public service on Monday, 7 December 2009
Live webcast of event at http://tv.dapmalaysia.org
Whither the Constitution? Lessons to be learnt from the Perak Crisis
Date : 9th December 2009
Time : 8.00 pm
Venue : MBPJ Civic Hall (Auditorium) Map Read the rest of this entry »
A Malaysian Civil Service totally against 1Malaysia concept
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Education, nation building, Parliament, public service on Friday, 30 October 2009
To many Malaysians, the deplorable cowhead protests incited by UMNO in Shah Alam section 23 three days before National Day over the relocation of a Hindu temple was strong evidence of the lack of seriousness and commitment of the Najib administration to the “1Malaysia concept” – which put Malaysia in the dock of world opinion with adverse international media reports scaring off intending investors with the spectre that Malaysia is on the verge of greater racial and religious polarisation and intolerance.
The announcement in the budget of the award of national scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students strictly on merit for educational studies in world renowned universities is not proof of 1Malaysia – but the very reverse, of the discriminatory and divisive nature of Barisan Nasional government policies in the name of NEP when they should be based on meritocracy coupled with socio-economic need and justice.
National scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students for world renowed universities is a paltry and most ridiculous figure 52 years after Merdeka.
Read the rest of this entry »
THE CIVIL SERVICE – a Malaysian perspective.
Posted by Kit in Hussein Hamid, public service on Friday, 23 October 2009
The Civil Service assist the business of Government with the ruling party of the day. The Civil Service has in the past recruited its employees based on the principle of selection on merit and on the basis of fair and open competition. With the British the key element of the Civil Service is its political impartiality. The Civil Service administrative impartiality in Malaysia has been brought into question by UMNO’s distinctive approach to Public Administration. We need to examine what is the nature and impact of political involvement by the political elites on the Civil Service of our country.
When we first got our independence the Politician makes the policy and the Civil Servant execute it. There was no corruption and everything was accountable and transparent. To buy a small item one must have a quotation. The more expensive item has to be tendered out and the development project was carried out by the JKR.
But things slowly began to change, as UMNO wanted politically a committed Civil Service because they perceived that Party allegiance is important to those who were going to implement their policies. UMNO embarked on a strategy to enhance their control over the Civil Servants to ensure bureaucratic compliance with their way of doing things e.g. the award of tenders to preferred contractors and cronies, divide and rule of the people based on race, selective prosecution of the opposition, a Police Force that will do their biddings etc etc.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib dare not even mention the word “meritocracy” – quintessence of reform – , what meaningful civil service revamp could he achieve?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, public service on Wednesday, 29 April 2009
The PR worked overtime. News headlines like “Modenisasi sector awam” (Utusan Malaysia), “Civil Service Revamp” (Star), “Civil service to recruit ‘best brains’” (New Straits Times), “PM proposes civil service reforms” (The Sun) dazzled Malaysians
But whoever takes the trouble to read the contents of the first address of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the civil service yesterday will find the quintessence of meaningful civil service reform missing.
When Najib dare not even mention the word “meritocracy”, what meaningful civil service revamp could he achieve?
There is one critical difference between Malaysia and other countries which value the importance of the civil service – in those countries, the best and the most talented of each generation join the civil service while in Malaysia the best and the most talented avoid the civil service!
Najib talked about hiring “the best of the best in talent and expertise for the sake of the people” to revamp the civil service. Why should the “best of the best in talent and expertise” be attracted into the civil service when “meritocracy” continues to be a dirty word? Read the rest of this entry »
Does Cuepacs’ Omar know what he’s saying?
Posted by Kit in Election, Politics, public service on Tuesday, 20 January 2009
“Cuepacs: Nizar doesn’t know what he’s saying” – New Straits Times today reported the Cuepacs president Omar Othman denying that civil servants had contributed to Pas’ victory in Saturday’s Kuala Terengganu by-election.
The NST reported:
He (Omar) said public services employees, both those serving the federal and state governments, fully supported the Barisan Nasional and Umno leadership.
He was commenting on a claim by Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.
“Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin claimed government staff serving the federal and state governments sympathised with and supported Pas,” Omar said yesterday.
“He also said they had become more daring to vote for Pas in the by-election despite being threatened or forced.
“This is a big lie by a man who knows nothing about the public services or its system.
“The more than 1.2 million civil servants in this country have been loyal and supportive of the government. There is no doubt about that.”
He said civil servants appreciated what the government had been doing for them all these years.
“They know who has been fighting for their welfare and paying their salaries to enable them to feed and support their family. Leave them alone,” Omar said.
Does Omar know what he is saying? Read the rest of this entry »
Chief Secretary Should Not Be Chief Clerk
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Good Governance, public service on Wednesday, 13 February 2008
by Bakri Musa
Judging from the gushing praises, Chief Secretary Sidek Hassan is performing miracles with his Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah, its Malay acronym) committee to streamline the civil service. A reality check is in order.
It reflects how out of touch our top civil servants are from the realities on the ground that it took Sidek and his Director-General of the Public Service Department Ismail Adam to make an unannounced visit to a District Office in Selangor for them to realize how difficult it is to pay one’s “quit rent.”
Then they were shocked to find that the District Officer was out of his office. Again that reflects their naivety and ignorance of the current sorry state of the government machinery. Perhaps they put too much faith on the recent glowing report of IMD’s World Competitive Yearbook that placed the Malaysian government ahead of Japan and Germany in terms of efficiency. The Malaysian public knows better.
It is pathetic that these top civil servants are reduced to being chief clerks checking on the keranis (junior clerks) to make sure that they are at their desks attending to their customers.
Sidek’s unannounced visit is now fast becoming a legend, of a meticulous and diligent top civil servant paying attention to the smallest of operational details. Even previously cynical commentators are now heaping praises on the man. This chorus is repeated by the seasoned corporate figures co-opted into Pemudah.
If those corporate figures were truly impressed, then it does not say much of the crispness of their own management. Alternatively, they had such low expectations that any improvement would impress them. My hunch is that their praises are nothing more than shrewd maneuverings to be on the good side of the government. In a country where the nexus between government and private sector is fuzzy, this is expected. It would not surprise me that their companies do substantial business with the government. Read the rest of this entry »
Another Promised Change!
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, public service on Monday, 29 October 2007
by M. Bakri Musa
In a recent meeting with media representatives, Chief Secretary to the Government (its topmost civil servant) Sidek Hassan assured the public that civil servants must now “perform or face the music.” He also revealed the demotions of senior officers, including a few in the “super scale” grade and a Director-General.
Sidek’s assurance was undoubtedly in response to the damning indictments in the recent Auditor General’s Report. (What else is new?) The Chief Secretary went on with promises of more actions. Let us hope that his pledge is for real. We have been through all these promised changes before, so citizens’ cynicism is understandable.
The civil service cannot be improved merely through edicts from high above. No less than Prime Minister Abdullah had made many similar pledges before.
As the top civil servant, Sidek cannot effect meaningful changes until he knows the details of the various operations under him. Not all of them; he needs study only two or three processes in some detail, identify the problems, and then solve them. With that he could teach others and replicate the success elsewhere.
All too often our top civil servants and ministers are content only with mere utterances: “Be productive!” “Compete with the best!” Unless they know the details of the operations of their departments, identify and eliminate the redundant processes, they could not hope to improve their services. These senior officers should not expect their overworked line workers to come up with innovative solutions. Besides, they lack the necessary knowledge or skills. Read the rest of this entry »
Adventure in Canberra
Posted by Kit in public service on Friday, 21 September 2007
Y.W.Loke emailed me:
Regarding “Malaysian consulate service a letdown”, which “Disappointed Malaysian” sent to you as well as to Malaysiakini, there was another letter to M’kini [copied below] which described an entirely different experience involving the consulate in Canberra, and in particular, Mr Haa.
Perhaps you may want to include that letter in your blog posting to offer another viewpoint for your readers to consider.
LETTERS: Adventure in Canberra
CL Yee Sep 19, 07 4:58pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini letter Malaysian consulate service a letdown. I share similar feelings as the writer about the inefficiency of their service generally. However, I had a different experience in dealing with Mr Haa, as I would refer to him.
I was a Malaysian student living in South Australia when I had my first personal encounter with the Malaysian consulate in Canberra to which I had to go to have my expired Malaysian passport renewed. Prior to coming to the office in person, I have made several telephone calls to the office.
A lot of the times, the calls went unanswered. When they did get through, I found myself talking to a female staff who was in my view was rude. Her English also left a lot to be desired. She boldly told me to come into the office in person and hung up.
Before that she gave me a list of all the documents I needed to have with me, or so I thought. I made an appointment for 9am the following Wednesday and was warned that the passport renewal could only be done between 9am to 10am. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
I flew in that day and was shocked when Mr Haa, who attended to me, said I needed a Proof of Residency certificate from the Australian Immigration to show that I was not at the time an Australian citizen. I told him my situation – I had just flown in and being my first time in Canberra, I did not know the place and that I needed my passport the same day because I was flying back to Adelaide that evening.
He then provided me with directions and assured me he would still process my application even if it was after 10am when I got the certificate. I had an opportunity to chat with him when I returned with the certificate. Turned out that he was originally Vietnamese, now an Australian and had been working for the Malaysian consulate for over 14 (or was it 20?) years. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian consulate service a letdown
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Letters, public service on Thursday, 20 September 2007
by Disappointed Malaysian
I am writing from Melbourne, Australia as I am frustrated with the services and support provided by the Malaysian Consulate in Canberra, Australia. My family have had the unfortunate incident of having our house burglarised and all (the entire family’s) our documents ie, Malaysian passports, birth certificates, Malaysian driving licences, our MyKads, marriage certificates have all been stolen.
We immediately reported the incident to the Malaysian Consulate in Canberra and was passed on to the person in-charge, a Mr Haa Doan. He must be the most unpleasant person we have come across and encountered during our stay in Australia so far. We told him our circumstances and asked him for the procedure to apply for a replacement travel document and he advised that he will immediately send us the necessary application forms.
We supplied him with our correspondence address and contact details. He then reprimanded us for the way we kept our documents at home which was uncalled for. He kept insisting that we have to fly back to Malaysia to reapply for all our documents but how could we when we have just lost our passports?
The documents came only four weeks later and we sent off our completed forms and the necessary certified documents. On Sept 13, we decided to check with the Malaysian Consulate on the status of our application. My husband who called was told that Haa was on leave. My husband was not happy and called again, and this time was told that Haa was not on leave and the call was passed to him.
He was very annoyed with my husband and irritated when asked about the status of our applications. He said it is still with him in his office which meant that the applications have been sitting at the consulate for more than a month. He said he was sick and that he just returned from back to work. The question is does the consulate stop functioning because Haa is on sick leave? Is there no one to take over his responsibility when he is away from the office?
When my husband asked why wasn’t it sent off to the Immigration Department in Kuala Lumpur, he said that they do not do daily postings to Malaysia and that it was done only once a month! Asked how long will the whole process take, Haa said that he was not sure, maybe it would be six months or more and that it was entirely up to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Office.
These kind of answers are definitely not reassuring for a whole family who is at their wits end at having lost all their critical documents. The passports are required to fly back to Malaysia to reapply for the other documents and looks like we are at a loss as to when we will get our passports approved or when they finally make their way back to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Office. Is Australia so distant that there is only one mail service a month? Read the rest of this entry »
4-star accountability index – ministers should resign and SGs removed for failed rating of one star of less than 50%
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, public service on Saturday, 15 September 2007
The proposal by the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang to introduce from next year the accountability index which will award star ratings to all ministries, state governments and statutory bodies for their management of public funds, is a great and very innovative initiative that must be lauded by all quarters.
Ambrin said the accountability index will be an objective assessment of the financial performance of ministries, departments and state governments.
Marks will be given according to performance and will be translated into star ratings to measure compliance, viz:
- 4 stars — Excellent (90% – 100%)
- 3 stars — Good (70% – 89%)
- 2 stars — Satisfactory (50% – 69%)
- 1 star — Not Satisfactory (49% and below)
The promotion of secretaries-general and heads of department will also be tied to the index of their financial management performance.
When introducing the 2008 Budget speech last Friday, the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had emphasized the priority and importance of raising the level of performance of the civil service, which is critical in sustaining the competitiveness of the nation, especially in the context of increasing globalization. Read the rest of this entry »
Improving productivity & competitiveness of delivery system
Posted by Kit in IT, Parliament, public service on Friday, 14 September 2007
A Budget or a blueprint will only be as good as its execution. In the past decades, we have seen many ambitious plans announced by the Government. However, these projects have often ended at best, a qualified success without achieving its original objectives, such as the Multimedia Super Corridor project or at worse, an unmitigated failure such as the BioValley or the MSC e-Village.
In the past year, the administration has also launched several large-scale blueprints for various projects in Malaysia, including the Iskandar Developer Region (IDR), the Northern Economic Corridor as well as the East Coast Corridor. These efforts will all be in vain if they are not implemented with competence and integrity.
The focus of the budget has to be on substantially improving the competence and integrity of our civil service and delivery system to ensure that the benefits expected from Government initiatives will be enjoyed by all Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Can civil servants utilise government facilities for personal profit?
Posted by Kit in Health, public service on Monday, 27 August 2007
by Milton Combe
As leader of the opposition and a lawyer I would like to bring to your attention and query some incredible policy changes implemented overnight by the current Health Minister who appears to have a penchant for running roughshod of this country’s laws.
The Health Minister recently made a decision in allowing its specialists at the Putrajaya and Selayang hospitals to charge patients private sector fees. The primary reason of this policy appears to be to enable such specialists to remain in government service instead of opting for private practice for financial reasons. No doubt efforts must be made to ensure the continual presence of senior specialists in government service to enable tax payers the benefit of proper treatment in especially these trying times of declining medical standards. But is this modus operandi legal? These changes appear to have the support of the MCA’s Star columnist V.K. Chin who is notorious for his writings of skewed wisdom on many topics just so it pleases his political masters although they may defy logic. But we cannot blame V.K. Chin as his very existence depends on advocating such articles which unfortunate readers of the Star have to sometimes endure.
1. Unlike private hospitals which are built and managed through private financial initiatives, public hospitals are built with public funds sourced via income tax, etc. Is it lawful for government doctors who are civil servants to charge or profit using such facilities without undergoing a corporatisation exercise like TNB, Telekom, Klang Port Authority etc that is usually endorsed by our courts and advertised accordingly in the newspapers after of course the whole exercise is agreed upon in parliament and an Act passed? This is a dangerous legal precedent. If by all means policy makers feel that this is the way our specialists or skilled staff need to be rewarded then indeed this is what needs to be done. Which will then bring into question how is it the other GLCs took the right legal steps to privatization but the Health Minister, who is known for his lack of tolerance for “illegal” clinics but instead promotes traditional medicine in our hospitals, has suddenly decided it is OK if his ministry does not follow the rules?
2. Secondly, the report states that government policy is – general hospitals and clinics are meant for the lower income group and it was difficult to verify the financial status of everyone seeking treatment. The implication is that, those with financial means should seek private treatment. Now this is indeed news. Government hospitals are put up using tax payer’s money. It does not matter if the tax payer drives into GHKL with a Rolls Royce but he may indeed be paying far higher taxes then the average person. He should, like every other tax payer, be entitled to proper treatment and not be told that he needs to pay additional private specialist fees or shooed away to seek treatment at a private facility. Has the Treasury, Auditor General and Attorney General Chambers been advised of these arrangements? Read the rest of this entry »
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