YOURSAY | 'What good has he done, except assisting Najib to brainwash civil servants...'

Chief sec Ali Hamsa to retire on Aug 29 - report

I'm Groot: Chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa should have been removed from office on May 10. What good has he done?

Nothing, except assisting former premier Najib Razak to brainwash civil servants to trust and stay united under Najib, and abuse his power to appoint cronies to fill up government senior posts to take ‘blind salaries’ (gaji buta).

YOM: Indeed, he should have been sacked for incompetence and lack of integrity in allowing civil servants to play politics instead of being neutral and professional in carrying out their duties.

Anonymous 133971438080786: Ali Hamsa needs to go as he cannot be trusted. The other person who needs to go is inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun. Both are from the same boat.

Dr Spin: Some people commenting here are expecting everything (firing of the corrupt) to be done immediately.

I do respect how Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wisely timed some of these moves, watching carefully to see who else is involved.

It's called giving enough rope to hang the guilty.

Fair Play: At least, Dr M treated Ali Hamsa fairly. If we remember, on the night of May 9, 2018, when Dr M declared Pakatan Harapan had won the election and instructed Ali Hamsa to declare two days' public holiday, he followed the order.

Those two days were monumental days because the government offices and the business community were closed to prevent any panic or fund movements out of the country.

Sunshine: Unfortunately for Ali Hamsa, as he leaves the service at the pinnacle of his career, he does so with suspicions of stains on his professionalism as chief secretary.

Whatever substance of commendable service he had rendered on the way up in a long career is diminished in esteem now.

Obviously, extensions of service beyond normal retirement age has its perils of overreach. Probably a good retraining and refresher training module for those currently in the higher echelons of the civil service is needed.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Good riddance to bad rubbish. The reason for the degradation in the integrity, professionalism, neutrality and ethics of the senior grades in the civil service was largely due to Ali Hamsa's own collusion with the previous Umno/BN regime, and his enabling of corruption and abuse of power not just by his political masters, but also senior civil servants.

The public services are rampant with little Napoleons who do not tolerate any form of questioning and criticism, have a penchant for abusing their power to prove a point, and accept corruption as a way of life because the previous political leadership religiously practised it with impunity.

I have experienced this first hand at certain government ministries and departments. The entire ethos of the civil service has been destroyed by successive Umno/BN governments but made worse under Najib over the last nine years.

To make matters worse, the culture of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ is entrenched in the service to the extent that merit, integrity, competency and experience are no longer valued as opposed to conformity to a political agenda to only reward subservience to race and religion.

No wonder non-Malays refuse to join the public services, because they will be sidelined until they retire with virtually no prospect of promotion and reward. As it stands, the civil service no longer represents our national and common values, let alone demographics.

What is greatly valued is mediocrity and malaise, coupled with a servile attitude to politicians. In the long run, it will destroy the public service and weaken effective governance in the country.

The Wakandan: The civil service has been abused by the BN government by making civil servants work for them.

Many officers from the ministries were openly biased and partial towards BN during the elections. They campaigned openly for BN, and those officers suspected of being indifferent were either transferred or ended up not getting their promotion.

Ministers and MPs were often involved directly in local district offices deciding whom and where projects and contracts should be carried out and given to.

The lure of political rewards was nevertheless very tempting, and thus almost nobody wanted to make their stand known unless it was to support BN government.

Ali Hamsa obviously played to this tune, and being in the highest position, he was effectively the prime minister’s right-hand man to do his bidding.

Legit: The chief secretary to the government has to take full responsibility for the atrocious state of affairs in the current civil service. The civil service, including the government agencies and departments, are synonymous with corruption, arrogance and abuse of power.

If the chief secretary does not know, is unable or unwilling to manage and control the government staff and instil the sense that they are there to serve the public, and not to throw their weight around, then he has failed in his duty.

In this case, Ali Hamsa has not only failed in his duty but he also played ball with Najib to run the country to a cliff. This man should not be allowed to retire, but should be fired instead and denied his pension.

Bright Morning Star: Untrustworthy civil servants who knowingly abet their criminal bosses have to go, period. Ali Hamsa is one of them.

Any head worth his salt would have resigned. Ali Hamsa is another selfish low-class sycophant of that despicable figure.

He has no shame, no self-respect. How are we to have a strong civil service with a weak boss like him?

Cogito Ergo Sum: The entire civil service, with the exception of a handful, are wage earners, corrupt, inefficient, racist and bigoted. They have no inkling about what it means to serve and implement fair and equitable policies or projects.

All this has been ingrained at Intan or the Civil Service Academy. They were taught to be subservient and obsequious to their political masters.

If you dare question any claims made by the minister or superior officer, you remain stuck in your pay grade all your life, and would be transferred to a place that is at the back of beyond.

It would be a monumental task to undo the damage done. But it can be achieved. Recall those who have retired and were bypassed, to help straighten out the system.

Appum: It is said in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. So it is the same in the kingdom of incompetence where the ‘bodek’ kings and connected ones will be promoted, and this will lead to more failures and incompetence.

It is high time to review and reset the civil service to make it more representative in terms of racial make-up, like it was in the old times, and revive the General Order examinations, set up SOP (standard operating procedure) values to evaluate officers for their competency, and set up promotion selection committees to review all top promotions.

Make efficiency, performance, innovation and leadership skills criteria for promotion, and do not allow the practice of political party sympathisers, members, or sycophants getting all the promotions to continue.

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