WITH both the Government and Opposition signing an agreement to embark on several reforms, a PKR leader posed a pertinent question on Malaysians’ culture of revering political leaders, despite the latter being public servant.
On Sept 17, PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli started a conversation on Twitter, sharing an example on how feudalism is still deep rooted in the Malaysia psyche despite being in the modern era.
“Satu budaya yg patut ditukar ialah menjemput menteri/tim menteri rasmi majlis.Cukup membuang masa & membuang duit rakyat sbb bayar menteri/timb menteri untuk tunjuk muka.
“Company yg CEOnya kerja tunjuk muka memang sah tak pergi jauh. Ia juga bukti feudalisme masih menebal,” he said.
(One of the cultures that needs to changed is inviting ministers and deputy ministers to attend official functions. It’s a waste of time and taxpayers’ fund because we need to entertain them just for showing up. A company where its CEO has this attitude would not go far. It is proof that feudalism is deep rooted in our society)
The former Pandan MP’s tweet started a serious conversation on the social media platform, with several of them even sharing their own experience of having to deal with such matter.
“SANGAT SETUJU, dah la tak punctual, sidai staff dekat 2 jam. Dah tu pula yang buat kerja “on the ground” ni kredit apa pun tak bagi. Macam haram sejadah.
Fun facts: Benda ni selalu jadi dekat sekolah, office gomen, masa bagi tender project gomen. MOSTLY gomen related,” said user Irfan Hadzrami.
(I totally agree. They are not punctual and staffers have to wait for nearly two hours for their arrival. Those who do the ground work rarely gets any credit. These things usually happen in schools, government offices and when Government tender is being given out)
User Amir Khalid echoed Irfan’s sentiment, adding: “Sangat setuju. Melahirkan budaya MEMBODEK, MENUNJUK-NUNJUK dan MEMBAZIR. Melahirkan orang yg pandai cakap, tak tahu buat kerja. Akhirnya lahirlah istilah – “kerja tak seberapa, tapi bila bercakap, Khnizir pun boleh terbang.”
(I agree. It only perpetuates bad habits such as apple polishing, showing-off and wasting resources. It also creates a group of people who talks a lot but don’t work, creating an adage “they can’t work but when it comes to talking, even pigs can fly).
Waste of time and resources
Speaking of her experience, user Nina stated that during her stint at Government-linked companies (GLC), the latter’s management would go all over to purchase gifts for the VVIP despite not being asked for it.
“Saya bukan sgt setuju tapi terlalu setuju..having worked with GLCs mostly. Sometimes, top mgmt dlm company tu sendiri pun nak juga bagi gift, tu tak masuk lg makanan order mcm nk kenduri kawin for event yg x smp 2 jam. Order mkn plak kena yg fav mgmt, mcm x pernah mkn.”
(I really agree. Having worked with GLCs mostly, sometimes its top management would insist on purchasing gifts. This is excluding other things like catering for food like you’re organising a wedding reception for an event that doesn’t even last for two hours. Plus, you have to order the VVIP’s favourite food, as if the person has never eaten before…)
User Kano stated: “Sgt setuju… Byk pembaziran berlaku dari segi peruntukan, tenaga dan masa… Jutaan ringgit habis krn majlis kecil, habis masa dekat sebulan utk meeting pelaksanaan, kerja2 hakiki tak dpt laksana secara fokus sibuk urus lepas satu majlis ke majlis lain plak, kerja tertangguh.
(I agree. A lot wastage happens in terms of funds, manpower and time. Millions spent just for a small ceremony and we take almost a month to plan for such events. Real work left unattended to simply because of organising one small ceremony to another)
User Ean Chong remarked: “Perhaps it’s time to stop this caste system of VIP or VVIP categorisation. They are paid by us taxpayers. Employers don’t refer to their workers as VIP.”
The tweet received 1,108 responses, with 2,268 likes. – Sept 19, 2021.
