THE grace period for defiant senior civil servants may be over soon once the 10th Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PMX) flexes his muscles.
During the first six months, PMX wanted to show that he was genuinely concerned with the welfare of the civil servants at large. He raised their salaries while encouraging them to achieve their top performance to bring the nation to greater heights.
As in any corporate takeover, some ‘ringleaders’ in the civil service are likely to remain defiant although the majority of the staff are neutral. They just want to earn a living, and unsurprisingly, many may have become frustrated when their underperforming colleagues are promoted by these ringleaders.
This would demoralise their willingness to give their best to the quality of their services.
In a recent report, PMX stated that he is “likely (to) reshuffle his Cabinet after the state elections but a “clean-up” of senior civil servants will come first.” Indeed, the removal of errant individuals will create opportunities for upcoming “star” civil servants.
From our observations, PMX is known to be hard—in fact, very strict and hard—on some individuals if they continue to become a problem. This is obvious even from the film Anwar: The Untold Story currently being screened in cinemas around the country.
Former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had experienced an unceremonious removal when he defied orders.
The writings of these ‘ringleaders’ are now on the wall. What happened at the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) full-board meeting which ended abruptly on Tuesday (May 30) is a clear sign that the grace period for these senior civil servants seeking to carry out their “business-as-usual” may well be over.
When 19 MBPJ local councillors staged a walk-out, the Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Azhan Md Amir was pushing for the approval of an application submitted by a developer seeking to develop a plot of land on Lorong Sultan.
It is not that the development plan was not favourable to the city’s landscape, but Petaling Jaya – like Kuala Lumpur – is fast becoming an over-developed city, bringing along with it massive traffic jams and high population density.
It is learnt that the mayor had gone against a 3-to-2 vote during the one-stop-centre (OSC) where the mayor was one of the two who voted for the approval of the project.
The mayor went ahead to approve the developer’s new application based on the latest guidelines issued by the state government, claiming that the OSC had no power to disapprove a project.
The group’s spokesperson, city councillor Terence Tan said that the walkout was to show their disapproval when city councillors’ views were ignored.
“The Datuk Bandar’s claim that the councillors represented at the OSC meeting did not have the power to make decisions and were limited to only giving their views is wrong and contravenes the provisions under the Local Government Act 1976,” Tan said.
The councillors did not want MBPJ to be accused of bypassing the proper legal processes that may set a precedent for future applications and look out for the people’s interests.
With this latest development, Malaysians can be assured of a healthier check-and-balance where approvals go through proper vetting in the future instead of being made by individuals with vested interests.
Perhaps the boldness of these councillors is a reflection of how voters would like to see the PMX flex his muscles against a number of defiant civil servants who ignore the PMX’s warning against corruption.
One can only wait to see what comes next. – June 1, 2023
