In 1996, when Governor Pete Wilson of California issued emergency regulations disallowing the state’s health employees from providing pregnancy-related care to unregistered migrants, public health professionals from San Francisco to Orange County declared that they would defy the governor and continue to provide the prohibited care.
Led by their director Dr Sandra Hernández, the Public Health Department of the City and County of San Francisco sued the governor, arguing that his executive order was unfairly issued because there was no emergency.
Meanwhile, twenty thousand clinicians in the San Francisco Bay Area signed pledge cards promising to disobey any law that required them to deny services to the targeted migrants.
Nora Roman, a nurse at the San Francisco General Hospital recalled that “we intended to openly break the law… we expected whole facilities to break the law.” (CommonDreams.org, 4 February 2000)
Dr. Sandra Hernández has since gone on to a distinguished career as chief executive officer of the San Francisco Foundation which supports activities aimed at improving access to quality health care for the underserved.
Ramlang Porigi, an imam at the KL Federal Territory mosque may be in more dire straits however, as he strives to navigate the political currents that have engulfed him of late.
Instructed by ‘higher-ups’ to witness Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s sumpah in connection with the sodomy allegation against Anwar Ibrahim, the unfortunate civil servant was clearly uneasy about the propriety of the orchestrated event he was called upon to legitimise.
Much as he feared, he was duly subjected to intense pressure and public ridicule, along with attacks on his personal and professional integrity. His efforts at clarifying the circumstances of his sumpah assignment and the chain of command involved, may now earn him the unforgiving wrath of his establishment bosses.
A month ago, I asked a newly-recruited Putrajaya civil servant what avenues were available to a civil servant if she were instructed to act in a manner which seriously contravened her personal conscience or sense of professional ethics.
Short of resigning from her job (a personal sacrifice), was there a code of ethics for instance, or some tribunal that a conflicted civil servant could resort to? For counsel? For adjudication? Fresh from her orientation, her sardonic reply was: "When in doubt, ikut perintah - the boss is always right."
Yes, but the boss also wants plausible deniability.
The Malaysian civil service hasn’t quite developed that degree of entrenched institutional interests so well satirised in the popular BBC television series 'Yes, Minister' (a subtle, neoliberal critique of the state, according to some).
In the absence of our own 'Whitehall mandarinate’ and its countervailing influence vis-à-vis the political establishment, our civil service rank and file often serve at the mercy of their administrative superiors working in collusion with their political masters.
Anwar has publicly acknowledged his indebtedness and his respect for the courage and personal sacrifices and professional integrity of individuals like Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid and Ustaz Ramlang Porigi.
A fitting tribute to these brave individuals would be a concerted effort to bring about the enabling environment for our civil servants to discharge their duties in a professional and nonpartisan manner.
Along with a meaningful and enforceable code of ethics and credible avenues for independent review and adjudication, this can help minimise the pressures they face which sometimes oblige them to make difficult choices between duty and conscience.
I believe the leader of the Opposition will find a substantial groundswell of support for such an effort, not least from within the rank and file of Putrajaya.
