“GAJI buta” is a colloquial phrase to literally denote getting paid to do not very much at all. As per well-worn stereotypes, civil servants are usually the chief beneficiaries of such sinecures.
To reinforce this negative view of government employees, a clip has been making the rounds on social media of an extremely irate motorist berating an official at an unspecified Road Transport Department (JPJ) office.
In the ultra-brief clip, the man is seen loudly berating the seated JPJ official behind the sole functioning counter as to why the other nine were all closed. The excuse proffered was that some JPJ staff “are out for lunch or fetching their kids from school”.
The video ends at that point and it is uncertain whether that response placated the angry tax payer or further raised his heckles. Nevertheless, it has already fetched 14.4K likes, 1.1K comments, 1.5K re-posts and 646 shares at the time of writing.
The incident was shared by Threader IkanGelama (@ikangelamamak_ilai) with the non-plussed observation that if the JPJ were conducting a roadblock, there’d be personnel spilling over “as if it were a kenduri (wedding party)”.
The insinuation was clear – JPJ staff were only keen on operations that could line their pockets but were less enthused with earning an honest wage.
To hammer home the point that this was not an isolated incident, the poster uploaded another news clip highlighting the same issue at another government department, presumably in Tuaran, Sabah. “Just where is the work ethic?”
Unsurprisingly, quite a number of commenters also had similar tardy experiences at other JPJ branches.
Apart from the lack of open counters, a fed-up motorist at JPJ Taiping observed that staff who were servicing the public seemed more interested in gossiping than doing their work.
Quite a few sarcastically advised such public service departments to save on construction cost by having smaller premises as these unused counters were just a waste of space.
The difference in working conditions between the public and private sectors was brought into stark contrast with one wage earner pointing out that employees in the latter had to eat lunch at service counters when they were inadequate staff to serve customers.
The difference in attitudes was clear in the manner in which staff in each sector responded with one commenter noting public servants seem to have a chip on their shoulders.
It was also quite rightly asked whether the JPJ staff could do school runs during office hours. What happened to the “customers first” work ethic, asked one bemused commenter pointing to the lack of procedure to cater to peak hour traffic.
The non-existent work ethic has led many to label JPJ as undisciplined and “even earning a haram wage”.
One incredulous citizen noted the lateness in which JPJ staff sauntered in which was well into the department’s supposed operating hours.
Deriding their lack of professionalism, this hardworking citizen declared that there are many people out there who are willing to put in the elbow grease to do a decent job. “Problematic workers can just give 24 hours’ notice,” she suggested.
There was a suggestion by a commenter that the clip was AI-generated but another swiftly retorted that even if it were, such scenarios were the norm the length and breadth of the country. “It happens.”
It is a frustration that is shared by Malaysians from all walks of life. It is nothing new nor exceptional. A slow, sluggish and inefficient civil service is very much par for the course in Malaysia.
So much so that one netizen’s GIF of a lady lashing out with a full-blooded slap across another woman’s face seems to capture the fist-clenching, blood-boiling frustrations experienced by many Malaysians when dealing with JPJ.
Or quite possibly, too, with other government departments entrusted with serving the public as well. – Aug 18, 2026
Editor’s Note: FocusM does NOT in any way encourage nor condone violence whether in response to civil service inefficiency or otherwise.
