Serving the people as a civil servant is a noble obligation as well as a responsibility. We must ensure friendly services are provided at government departments and agencies.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government came to power on May 9, 2018, bringing hope to a lot of Malaysians.
It was not that the previous government was bad — that it did not develop the country or that it did not care for the underprivileged or that it did too little for the development of education and advancement of its human resources — it was more because people were bowled over by the PH election promises.
Malaysians thought: Why not give PH a chance? Why not give ourselves a chance?
For years Malaysians had been struggling with rising cost of living, and here was a golden opportunity to enjoy cheaper sugar (never mind diabetes or obesity), cheaper petrol (tonight we win Putrajaya, tomorrow the price of petrol will go down), more money to develop Sarawak (20 per cent oil royalty and 50 per cent of all tax collected in Sarawak), and a lot more.
And on top of all that, PH seemed to have experts and gurus who made many Malaysians eat from their hands over issues that they claimed they could do that the BN had failed to do — doing away with PTPTN loan arrears, recognition of the UEC, termination of Lynas operation, etc.
On May 10, 2018, a day after PH was voted into power, the price of fuel didn’t go down. In fact, the price of fuel didn’t go down even after a month or six months or a year — and beyond.
It was the same with every other goody that the PH had promised before it came to power. None of these was delivered.
For Sarawak, not only was the 20 per cent and 50 per cent all hot air but many approved projects were cancelled while the 2020 National Budget failed to allocate a single sen for the perimeter survey of Sarawak’s NCR land.
Some three months after taking control of Putrajaya, apparently facing service delivery, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused the civil service of sabotaging his government.
‘I have problems trusting civil servants, says Mahathir’ — ran a headline of a national paper on Aug 15, 2018.
Inside, the news said: Dr Mahathir previously noted that some civil servants were still loyal to the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and were “sabotaging” the new administration.
In June, he highlighted that many government officers had campaigned for BN in the general election.
“We don’t know whether they were forced to it or did it voluntarily, but we are sceptical of their loyalty,” he said.
“We are not sure if they are loyal to the old BN government or the current government. This will disrupt the PH government because we want to administer the country according to our methods and manifesto.”
Yes, he was really saying the PH government could not fulfill its election promises because of disobedient civil servants.
Civil servants serve the government of the day. After May 9, 2018 they do as they are told by the PH government, their new boss. They still sign off their letters with ‘Yang benar’, ‘Yours faithfully’, ‘Your obedient servant’ and ‘Yang menurut perintah’. All these did not disappear after the official announcement of the results of G14? How so convenient, therefore, to heap blame on a group of people who were never known to bite the hand that fed them!
Now, there lies the stark difference between the PH government and the Sarawak state government of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), in as far as their attitude towards civil servants is concerned.
GPS has full trust in the state civil service.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has been put on record as saying that ‘projek rakyat’ were mostly on track “due to the hard work of the civil servants, while many business procedures and processes had been simplified for the people’s benefit.”
He was quoted as saying: “I am happy to note that the Sarawak civil service has been instrumental in ensuring that projects are well implemented and executed in a timely manner.
“It is no accident that the Sarawak civil service has been acknowledged as among the best, if not the best, in Malaysia.”
The GPS leadership has no complaints about civil servants serving in the state, and these include those serving in the federal departments and agencies.
In appreciation of their contribution to the general wellbeing of Sarawak, the GPS state government has reached out to the Congress of the Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs).
Cuepacs Sarawak’s RM500,000 newly established office comes with electricity and water supply fully borne by the state government.
Cuepacs national president Datuk Azih Muda had only praise for the GPS state government, saying he was grateful to the state government for its commitment to its civil servants.
He went on to say that Cuepacs Sarawak is the only state branch to have excellent facilities provided by the state government.
Given the not-too-friendly attitude of the federal government towards civil servants until now — the latest being the unceremonious transfer of a secretary-general of a federal ministry in the wake of a RM1.4 bln direct contract award controversy — kind words from the Cuepacs national chairman prove the continued relevance of the GPS state government.
If PH has dashed the hopes of many Malaysians, let GPS be the beacon of hope for Sarawakians.
