The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Cabinet at their meeting tomorrow must censure the Penang State Development Officer of the Federal Government, Nik Ali Mat Yunus for crossing the line as a model civil servant in calling the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng as “biadap” at an Umno press conference in Penang yesterday.
In disregarding the vital distinctions between party and state, and hitting out at the Penang Chief Minister at a Penang Umno press conference, Nik Ali was acting as if he was an Umno operative if not the Chief Umno Plenipotentiary in Penang, forgetting that he is first and foremost a civil servant albeit the top Federal government officer in the state who must fully co-operate with the State Government for the welfare of the state and its people.
In showing disrespect for the Penang Chief Minister, Nik Ali is showing utter contempt for the democratic process, right and decision of the people of Penang to elect the government and Chief Minister of their choice. Ali’s contention that he is only accountable to his bosses in the Federal Government and to no one else harks back to an era where accountability, transparency and good governance are alien terms and which is completely at variance with the “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” policy enunciated by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In fact, Nik Ali is one of the Little Napoleons who have not understood or digested one of Najib’s first statements as Prime Minister that “The era that the government knows best is over”.
Little Napoleons wherever they appear in the public service – Federal, State or Local Government – must be smacked down hard, and the Cabinet cannot do no less in the case of Nik Ali.
The Federal State Development Officer should act as a bridge between the Federal and State Governments, particularly when they come from different political parties, instead of trying to act as the principal saboteur of the political party forming the Federal Government to work at cross purposes with the policies and programmes of the State Government.