Civil servants meant to serve king and country, not BN

Najib warns civil servants of bleak future under opposition

Kim Quek: In an address to some 5,000 civil servants at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak warned civil servants of a possibly bleak future if the opposition were to come into power. He added that the ruling coalition and the civil service were inseparable.

Najib is guilty, firstly, of abusing his authority and for breaching the civil service’s core ethics of political neutrality in convening a meeting of 5,000 civil servants where he launched a vicious attack against opposition parties and solicited support for his ruling coalition in the run-up to the imminent general election.

Second, he defamed the opposition with blatant lies such as accusing them of systematically running down the civil service and wanting to retrench half of the country’s civil servants.

The latter, in particular, is a bare-faced lie. The country’s civil service, I am quite sure, is well aware that the object of their loyalty is the country and not any political party, including the ruling party.

They will faithfully implement the policies of the government which is determined by the ruling party, but that does not mean that they owe their allegiance to the ruling party.

The government and the ruling party are two distinct entities. While the former is permanent, the latter is transient and subject to rotation from time to time.

I believe our civil servants are capable of separating facts from lies and they can also see through Najib’s attempt to gain their support by fallaciously fusing the government and the ruling party together as an inseparable entity, amidst a web of lies.

The opposition has proven in Selangor and Penang that they are clean, competent and fair to all and there is no reason why it cannot govern the country in like manner.

The civil service is perhaps the most powerful bloc of voters, and we trust that they will do what is right for the country in the coming general election.

Gerard Lourdesamy: The Pakatan Harapan policy document makes no mention of the reduction of the size of the civil service, only about enhancing integrity, performance and efficiency.

The civil service does not belong to Umno or the BN. It belongs to the nation. The politicians in the government of the day determine policy and the civil service advises and implements. The civil service must be politically neutral and be seen as such.

Its loyalty is to the king and the government of the day. If that government changes in the next general election, the civil service is entrusted with ensuring continuity and stability under the new government to whom its allegiance will now lie.

Since the 1980s, Umno/BN has blurred the lines between the ruling party in power and the civil service. That is the reason why the civil service is seen to be highly compromised, lacking in transparency, impartiality and integrity.

Pakatan Harapan must return the civil service to its proper constitutional role and public duty.

Quigonbond: This speech is intended to scare the civil servants to vote for BN.

If the prime minister had any respect for civil servants, we would have let the institutions of governance run without political interference, the ex-attorney general would still be around, the 1MDB investigation would be completed and someone would have been prosecuted by now.

For the civil servants, think of this – you are a cost centre. You take money from the rakyat. Your boss is the rakyat.

Our budget deficit (due to financial mismanagement and corruption) is so high that our next few generations will be indebted. Eventually, we will run short of money to pay tax for programmes you want to implement.

Supporting the taxpayerss, your real bosses, who want good governance and a moderate, progressive government is therefore far more important than supporting a regime out of fear of retaliation.

Ericlcc: If one takes a look at an official government letter, it is always being signed off as “Berkhidmat untuk negara” (Serving the country). So civil service is service for the nation, its people.

Regardless of which party forms the government, civil servants are supposed to be neutral and respect the wishes of the majority of the people in any election result. This neutrality is vital.

Comment: Politicians should debate and resolve matters in Parliament and not use ministerial meetings with civil servants to talk politics.

It would be more useful to talk to them about productivity and fair compensation, national objectives, and transformation.

There should be no negativity to create stress and divide civil servants’ loyalty to king and country. They are expected to work hard to serve the government of the day to their best of ability.

It is difficult to understand what the prime minister is dragging the civil servants into. Hopefully, civil servants have enough sense of belonging to the country to take what is good and leave the rest.

Newday: Najib, you are incorrect in saying that comparisons with civil servants in other countries are unfair as we have educators and a public health sector, as just about all governments have these as part of the civil service.

There is zero obligation for the civil service to vote for the ruling party unless you have a seriously pampered and paid-for job in the civil service.

You do exist from the taxes paid in this country, and need to have this basic integrity to serve the community.

Yes, the civil service needs pruning. Maybe then the civil service will be motivated to implement the concept of customer service.

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