Jul 22, 2010

Celebrating aging

The day I celebrated the anniversary of me coming into this world was the day the administration of my home-state came under fire, grossly being undermined.




The spat between Chief Minister and the ‘little Napoleon’ was never a surprise to those who are familiar with what was happening since the crimson tide swept and drowned the dark blue hill over this precious land.

Civil servants were largely overpaid legion in our Bolehland, except for a few who are tied down to their professional ethics to work hard and a lot of them who were gaining good pace in improving their own services. The one that I’m saluting lately would be the officers and great leaders behind the services that made preparation of MyKad and Passport a breeze and a 24-hours or less-than-a-week affair.


Traditionally, being in the civil servant is largely a comforting place to be. They run a higher risk of being suck into a black hole in space rather than being retrenched from the service or being fired, even if they are obviously in the wrong. Few years back, there is a Department solely for Promotion (Kenaikan Pangkat), meaning one either stay where they are, or go up. So, even if the quality of work is almost of equal to natural human excreta, one stay well employed with extra bucks to puff a few extra sticks.


Quality apart, their quantity of time spent on their work is often being divided between actual ‘serious’ paperwork and their twice a day ‘informal coffee break’ aptly named as morning tea and evening tea, exclusive of their formal 1 hour lunch break. Of course, I wouldn’t want to discuss about their nicotinic-nebulizing session at different frequency throughout the day in accordance to their level of addiction.


The thing about civil servants is that they are not civil after all.

But largely, there is lot of improvement since Pak Lah and Najip cracked their whip. The agency for Promotion now also equipped with the power of Demotion. Whether or not this is a genuine move towards improvement or just another smokescreen to please the public is still questionable. Still, from my personal experience (and all the bitterness that came along with it), they are still a handful of sharp scissors in the civil service that helped me cut through the long stubborn red tape. And I hope they will always be around.


Civil servants in the State government seriously had a working dilemma in this two-party system. The life and death of civil service is under the Feds but their work is for the State.


Thus, who is the boss?


Let make it clearer. Federal government is like the owner of the business and in-charge of Human Resource Department, the major share holders. State government is like the Managing director. Save for this case, the Managing Director is not only answerable to the major share holders, but summed up their relationship as ardent enemies.


Not so clear, afterall.


Let make it clearest. The Federal Government is NOT the major share holders. The people, the rakyat, the Malaysians, the public is THE major share holders, the Feds just the temporary 4-years service Human Resource Department with its own autonomy, free from the control of Managing Director.


Hence, there is no dilemma after all. (and yes, I do get high on contradicting myself)


Civil servants should serve the public under the leadership of both the Feds and States.

Not any party.


Chief Minister is the representative of the majority of rakyat, therefore being insubordinate and downright rude to him is equally kept the people who voted him in equally pissed.


Condoning such misbehavior by the leaders from Federal Government totally defeats the aim of building up the correct work ethics in serving the rakyat.


People first? Performance Now?


P.S. A big thank you for my dearest family and all my friends for the birthday wishes... I never thought there will come a time for me not to hate spam... Thanks for spamming my facebook wall...


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