Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Public Statements

When I was a public servant for more than three decades, the rules and regulations governing conduct and discipline of government officials especially at the higher echelons was an integral part of one's career and any infringement of the Chapter D of the General Orders would land an officer in jeopardy if a prima facie case is established and disciplinary proceedings is instituted. Although the Cap D of the G.O. went through several name change, but generally speaking all civil servants refer it by its original name.

When I became the Secretary of the Public Service Disciplinary Board for the higher grades officers in the civil service, I rarely came across any civil servant who was charged with an offence pertaining to making public statements which were deemed to be an offence under Cap D. However a public officer need not get prior approval if the public statement issued to the press or aired over the electronic media is related to his departmental functions, role and responsibility.But he should not make any comment as to the merits or demerits of any policy matters in making public statements.

The reason for this code of conduct is to ensure that public servants do not speak out of turn, thus causing embarrassment to his Minister or the Government.

But of late it seemed that such a code of conduct which is only applicable to civil servants should be equally applied to Members of the Administration. The Federal Constitution states that a politician who holds a designated position in the Government such as a Cabinet Minister is regarded as a Member of the Administration . Being elected representatives they are not subject to Cap D and thus they have to exercise self discipline where conduct and discipline is concerned. But when new MP's or Senators are appointed to hold high office, they only take an oath before the Agong or the PM whichever the case may be, and they have to go on a learning curve which sometimes can be quite costly in terms of credibility of the government. Often times they make public statements which contradict even their own Ministry's stand and this can cause unnecessary embarrassment. I think it is high time a provision not unlike Cap D of the G.O. should be also be applied to those who hold office at Cabinet level. A glaring example is the statement made by the Minister of Defence on the tragic incident of a new boy who died due to ragging in the RMC. The Ministry issued a press statement that a Board of Investigation would be set up to look into the tragedy but a few days later the Minister himself announced the expulsion of one Budak boy and four more suspended. Thus it looks as if a verdict is handed down to the culprits even before the Board began its work. This is just one case, and I recalled the incident of the RMN landing ship which caught fire at the Lumut Naval Base when he said that the fire was due to a short circuit even before investigations was conducted. He went to the extent of announcing that the Government was looking to procure another similar ship to replace the vessel which was still in embers.

The standard ruling by the Cabinet Division of the PM's Dept in the past was that no public statements should be issued on matters that falls within the purview of the Cabinet, which literally covered a whole operations of Government. It is no use to come out with another law to solve this problem, if the political will is lacking. Members of the Administration should not become the laughing stock of the global village.

7 comments:

Derebar said...

Dear Sir,

In all likelihood, this will be the fellow who will decide on the fate of the RMC. How about that?

Just be easy with him O.K.

Capt's Longhouse said...

dear AHshah
,,,my guess, just poor leadership plus lost in Command & Control-lah.
,,,our civil service personnel should stay away from politics but just serve the Rakyat, as to why they are termed as civil servant in the very first place-kan !.
,,,As WE ex-servicemen/aircrew, we served the nation without questioning with our own life at stake most times too. Shot at, booby trap LPs landings and all weather ops. plus at times in the middle of the night without proper instrumentation. To serve as such the term 'servicemen' ?. DO or Die ! hahhha.
,,,nowadays with IT and electronic media etc etc things are indeed very different plus perhaps more challenging/interesting...people are more willing to voice things out i.e. "challenge/question" and the so called AUTHORITIES are kind of atlost on how to handle matters.
,,,Where to draw the line yet not be back to dictatorial powers with the government leaders and their minions having absolute power over the Rakyat plus their poor under paid subordinates ?.
,,,the entire social system of this country was in the past (maybe still is, kind of) based on principles of absolute obedience to those in superior positions, and equally rigorous compliance to an etiquette system that further negated individual thought and expression and that unfortunately emplified the need for obsequious behavior. These overall system ingrained into us for such a long period of time, indeed has made WE malaysian extraordinarily hyper-sensitive to the feelings and idiosyncracies of others plus oneself too.
,,,BUT time has changed and both the willingness and sensitivity of our 'malaysian mindset' has shifted too from our traditional behavior, a factor to be considered seriously-lah.
...In fact, the whole world has moved forward and WE are also. So make the CHANGE or die standing ?. We are indeed less conservative or superstitious nowadays too, for the change has kind of taken over, slowly but surely.

Conclusion; Come back with facts & figures on any public statements-lah, just don't lie about it. Be OPEN, after all that's what civil servants are suppose to perform, an honest life n living for the Rakyat-kan ?. Ini nak jadi BOSS saja !..mana boleh.

cheers !

Al-Manar said...

AHS
Not ever being in the government service I can only withoug through experience. But I do sumpathise with these officials when their political masters do make statements out of turn as well, and at times make reversals too.

abdulhalimshah said...

Dear Pak Cik, Capt. and Derebar,
Let me summarize my response to all so that we optimize the cyberspace and avoid duplicity.
My dear Capt Longhouse point is well taken. When we signed off any missive before the official language was made mandatory in all govt correspondence, we always finish off the letter this way:-


" I Have the Honour, Sir, am your Obedient Servant " which later became in Malay, " Saya Yang Menurut Perintah ".

The induction courses and the life long learning for those in the higher divisions of the civil service had been mostly aimed at inculcating noble values of self-sacrifice, honour, integrity, service to others before self and all actions are for the upholding the Constitution. We never imagined that the TRUST vested in us should be betrayed by being partisan to party politics and my generation abide strictly to the concept and philosophy of " The Neutrality of The Public Service ". Throughout my tenure as a career officer in the MCS ( Malayan Civil Service)I had remained apolitical and served without fear or favour. I had the privilege of giving advice to Ministers, Deputy Ministers and even the PM and the DPM what I thought was right and then leave it to their good judgement whether to accept or reject my advice. Such was the sterling values which I practised and for that I had no regrets.
Alas today all the fine traditions which we practised in administration have been chipped away just like what happened to the removal of certain safeguards in promulgation of just laws which does not exist anymore. If we just follow the wind, this country will become another one of the failed states which abounds not only in the underdeveloped countries but also in developed countries. Yes Capt., we have to act now to reverse this trend before it is too late.
Pak Chik, you had seen better days on how well we were governed and our founding fathers were impoverished while the others made billions and trillions. May God Save the King and Country.

norzah said...

Be it among the civil servants or among the political appointees, Akhi, freedom to make public announcement depends on how close you're to the powers that be. As civil servants we were very aware of the imposition of Cap D of the G.O. But the Ministers and Wakil Rakyat can say what they want without any restriction, so long the Party is not offended. They can condemn the public servants to purgatory with complete safety but a civil servant who speaks out against a political boss is certainly asking for trouble. The position remains the same until today, it seems, thus allowing some Ministers to make statements that can make even the cats and dogs laugh.

abdulhalimshah said...

Akhi Norzah,
Now I obeserve that the top ranks of the Civil Service have been completely emasculated to the extent they are just being treated like errand boys. Even the number one in the Civil Service has become "servile" to the political masters and will pounce on anyone if there is a complaint or an unfavourable comment from even third rate politicians. The PM recently expressed his sympathy to those "JUSA" officers who languished in the JPA "Pool" for the slightest mistake without even waiting for a report. The rot has become so bad that what I learned in my first year Economics, " Bad money drives out Good currency". Definitely if things do not change for the better, the woe betide the country and the future is indeed gloomy.

kaykuala said...

Dear Hal & Akhi Norzah,
It appears Ministers and legislators have the privilege of 'comments' all of their own. However they have to be mindful that it is all done at their own peril.

In the case of Mindef ( I'm making a guess here) being a VP of UMNO does it mean the Hon.Minister can or is expected to voice out opinions half of what the PM does and more than other ordinary Ministers can. Or does he think he can?
A case in point was his outburst following the UMNO retreat at Janda Baik . He voiced his contention that KJ should be made a Minister (days before a minor Cabinet reshuffle to accommodate changes in the MCA leadership

It is fatal to suggest publicly (whether KJ deserves it under the circumstances is immaterial) as it is the PM's prerogative.

Viewed strictly it unnecessarily impinged on elements bordering on party diacipline, trust, loyalty, being unduly ambitious and a host of others ( leave it to any wily politicians to make an issue out of it)

On another occasion the Hon. Minister contradicted Mindef higher-ups and a few other authorities ( who earlier said the 2 missing jet engines were worth millions ) when he publicly said they were worth just ?RM350,000 each - more or less worthless ( I stand corrected on the exact amount quoted)
The missing jet engines have been traced and have been brought back to our country from Uruguay recently.

On hindsight if the jet engines were already worthless ( only to be used for training purposes now)
why brought back at great expense.

Which means to say they are worth more than quoted by the Minister , unless the govt had no choice because of security and diplomatic considerations and of US concern that they had to be brought back.