On Malaysia’s civil service – Sulaiman Yahya

I was appalled and angry upon learning that the quality of public service has deteriorated badly after reading an article by Al Khattab “The smart ones don't belong in the government service” published last week.

I feel sorry for the public servants who are going through such a bad experience, but nevertheless wish for them to stay strong and motivated.

Meanwhile, I strongly urge the top guns in the civil service to investigate and take necessary action against those who lead government agencies and mess up the system.

As someone who was in the public service for 33 years till my retirement seven years ago, I took pride in the service and always wanted the best brains to join the government sector.

All around the world, the public service is key to national progress as only the most talented ones are qualified to serve. When I joined the service in the 70s, the “creme de la creme” from all races were  attracted to work with the government.

We were given training not only to sharpen our knowledge and skills in our respective areas, but also on protocol and manners. Most importantly, we were given training on leadership qualities.

While we were trained to take orders as junior officers, we were encouraged to give ideas and communicate regarding important matters to ensure that things were done correctly. We were taught that mistakes are always costly and therefore, we were sought for views and opinions by our superiors.

Throughout my career, I had great admiration for my bosses especially for their skills and talents. All my bosses knew the subject matter well, and apart from that, they had great interpersonal skills. These qualities are vital for bosses in order to gain respect and trust from employees. Those who understand management, particularly on human resource, would understand what motivates employees.

Employees comes in various categories and levels of skills with different requirements for different job scopes. Smart employees must be led by smarter superiors, and there is a stark contrast in managing young staff who graduated cum laude from top notch universities and to those who are hired for unskilled jobs.

Brains do not work 9 to 5, and ideas may come during odd hours of the day. The ideas must be kept flowing freely, and not forced to come out between 9am and 5pm as our brain doesn't work that way.

Communication and ideas should not be controlled. Gen Y doesn't act or think in the same manner as baby boomers or even Gen X.

Therefore, when I found out there was a government agency under the Transport Ministry that doesn't even allow its staff to send emails to “all staff” for fear of staff speaking up, I believe the management of this particular organisation has not acted in the right manner. This is also not in line with the government ICT and communication policy.

The only thing that came to my mind is that the superiors in this particular organisation are not ready, or not on par with their own talented staff whom they are supposed to groom instead. If this is allowed to continue, I would not be surprised if the smarter ones stayed away from public service.

Bosses must allow a two-way communication process. Failure to do that will only paint a negative picture of the bosses’ capabilities, especially in carrying out duties and managing talents.

Dictating smart employees is totally a no-no. Bosses must always be creative in managing their staff. Most likely, the smart employees are not the type who can fill up forms, sit at their work stations or dress in a certain manner. If they have those traits, just give them some leeway to win them over, and they will deliver.

Learn how Google or multinational companies handle their staff. Too many procedures and bureaucracies create an unfavourable work environment, and over a long period, even the best brains will stop thinking.

The failure of the public service is last thing I would like to hear. The public service is run on taxpayers' money.

Therefore, I call upon the highest authority in the Transport Ministry  to investigate those involved in formulating such ridiculous policies and to take action against them for their incompetency in running (and embarrassing!) a government agency.

On the same note, I would like to call the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa to revamp the Malaysian civil service in order to attract the best brains for the best performance.

Only the right policies and implementation will help bring back the image of the civil service and regain public trust.The public service must be made accountable for their failure to meet the outcome (for example, eradicating poverty or reducing road accidents) instead of merely meeting the KPIs.

Not allowing staff to send emails to all and not rewarding them based on merit are two examples of how the whole civil service can be made catastrophic. – August 19, 2015.

* Sulaiman Yahya reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.