Malaysia is fast losing talents. Not only the non-Malay professionals are leaving, but quite a number of young Malay professionals are currently overseas.
Sadly, most of them – especially the Malays – are formerly government scholars who graduated from the top notch universities abroad.
Ask them whether or not they miss the durian or Malaysian food; whether or not they miss their family members; or whether or not they miss the beauty of this country – the answer would be a straight "yes"; but apart from pull factors (such as better salary), too many factors are pushing these talented youngsters en masse from Malaysia.
On the other hand, we have TalentCorp, an agency under the Prime Minister’s Department to bring back talented Malaysians home. Why are we contradicting ourselves?
If you think that working in Malaysia is bad enough for these talented youngsters, imagine having them work with government agencies. For some reason, a few landed with the government service. Based on my own experience, government jobs are not for them.
Never mind the outdated system that requires you to punch in and out every day (as if the government has never heard of telecommuting), never mind the endless meetings, never mind the protocols during events, never mind wearing batik on Thursdays, wearing name tag, and a dozen other rules.
The Google staff would probably be laughing and rolling on the floor should they hear about it; but actually, it is the lack of appreciation for talents that drive the staff out of the government’s office.
I could bear with government service only for two-and-a-half years as my patience runs thinner every day.
I also know someone who earned his Bachelors and Masters degree from an Ivy League university who joined the government service after years of working in the private sector. When he told me that he would join the government, I told him that he wouldn’t last a year; but to my surprise, he lasted six years.
As someone who has worn the same shoes and walked along the same paths, I’m not surprised at all when the talented quit the government service. It may be shocking people outside there, but the gap between those in the higher posts with those in the lower posts is just too wide.
In meetings, the junior officers hardly feel their importance because it is only for the chairman (or the boss) who speak. No one is supposed to be critical. Actually, the lower level officers are there just to fill the quorum and endorse the boss’s decisions.
Who cares whether you graduated from Yale or Standford, your words won’t carry much weight like your boss eventhough he may only be a graduate from one of those run-of-the-mill universities.
Never mind that he does not know the subject matter – as he may be a seconded officer or an Administrative and Diplomatic Service (PTD) officer who has been transferred to lead your organisation – he is your rightful boss. And he is your boss’s boss.
A two-way communication? My ex-colleague told me something worse, something that I had not heard of before. That is, the office's new ruling does not allow employees to send (or reply) an email to "all staff". The email to all staff can only be sent either by the top management or by a few assigned staff from the bosses’s office.
He told me this is due to the management’s fear for staff speaking up against them. How on earth could this happen? Thank God, the boss can’t simply shoot people like in North Korea.
Thank God I left the government service. I was told that the management has even gone backward by introducing layers of bureaucracy even in leave application and many other procedures.
I was told that even to apply for leave now appears to be a tough process as the new management has been adding in additional procedures, despite the government requirement just to fill in the application in the HRMIS system.
“The HR even sent a flowchart for leave application process. I wonder why they resort to bureaucracy when the government itself is trying hard to reduce bureaucracy?” he told me over a teh tarik. “They just don’t walk the talk,” he concluded.
Though the government system itself appears to be fair when it comes to promotion, the reality lies with the organisation that you work with.
While I’m not going to be bitter about it, it is sad that eventually the fate of employees lies at the hands of the boss, instead of performance. Remember the golden rule in the government service? Don’t be too vocal or try to outsmart your boss.
In other words, there is little or no place for merit. Therefore, after a few years, even the most talented and productive ones would be demoralised. Worse, I was told that even those who have PhD are sort of sent into cold storage because the bosses see staff as competitors!
So, if you’re wondering why government staff have not been performing, blame it on the government office’s culture. Though it may not apply to all, generally the government service appears not to appreciate ideas or novelty that comes from employees, but the management thrive on top-down command.
The bosses are mere paper pushers, and as long as his boss (normally the minister) is pleased with whatever is delivered (normally coming from good media coverage that actually help polish the minister’s image), then the organisation is considered as performing – even though things on the ground don’t improve one bit.
Take the agencies which are responsible for public transport, road maintenance, or road safety, for instance.
No matter how bad the performance of these agencies are from the eyes of the public (for example, people continue to die on the roads due to poor road conditions and lack of safe transportation), the bosses from these organisation wouldn’t feel accountable for their non-performance at all, as long as their respective ministers are pleased with them.
The same goes to the government department that monitors the prices of goods and services.
I may be wrong (and I hope I’m wrong!), but after tasting it, I could only conclude that talented people are not welcome in the government service.
In some government agencies, it is not the sustainability of the organisation or the outcome from the service that the bosses are after, but instead, they are parasiting on the staff for their own career advancement.
To sum it up, even Mark Zuckerberg would fail horribly if he is a staff in the Malaysian government service because the boss is the only one who is right. And of course, the boss job – apart from parasiting on employees – is to please his boss, who is the minister. – August 11, 2015.
* Al Khattab 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.
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