YOURSAY | ‘Stop thinking of how to appear like a hero in the midst of our suffering.’

Minister not posing, was cleaning lizard and bird droppings - Welfare Dept

GanMu: Is this one of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun’s ministerial duties? Cleaning up bird droppings?

It’s beyond the dignity of a minister. As a minister, if she is genuinely interested in doing a gotong-royong (community clean-up) project, just round up some of the Welfare Department people and work with them as a team.

With all due respect, why is the department requesting its minister to clean up bird droppings? For the department, it’s better to remain silent and let all and sundry think you are wise than to shoot your mouth and confirm you are a fool.

Both actions by the department and Rina were intended to be a PR stunt which backfired and failed miserably.

Rina has no idea how to handle the crisis as the minister in charge of women, family and community development.

One thing it should have done by now is having a liaison person in every locality who would be able to gauge the problems for the community and communicate with the ministry for effective solutions.

It’s a shame the PM still keeps such people in the cabinet. It appears that politics triumphs over efficiency.

Malaysia Bharu: Rina took cluelessness to the next level when she posed for a photoshoot washing a clean floor and the Welfare Department has taken it to unprecedented levels by defending her.

Is Rina a sampling of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's bloated cabinet plus a hoard of advisors, political secretaries, personal assistants and support staff?

Rina seems hopelessly oblivious of the duties and responsibilities of a minister, let alone her specific role at a time of a national calamity such as the devastating floods.

She wears high heels on her trip to gauge the flood situation. When that is criticised, she poses for a photoshoot spraying water on a clean floor, and when that is mocked, she has the Welfare Department under her oversight to back her up.

The irony is that her inability to grasp the rudiments of her ministerial function is mostly the underlying reason for the criticisms levelled at her.

That her priorities are misplaced at a time people are inundated with floods and she is not paid five-figure salaries plus privileges and perks to showcase washing floors or stains of bird and lizard droppings of schools or other premises.

That she ought to be taking charge of logistics such as planning, mobilising and directing flood relief efforts. If she rises to the occasion she will be appreciated and even her occasional hiccups like her preference for high heels will be inconsequential.

IndigoKite6964: In my opinion, ministers and VIPs should not turun padang (go to the ground) and do this sort of thing because it will always be interpreted as a publicity stunt even if it was sincere.

Ministers and VIPs should help in their field of influence by moving government agencies and providing material aid to those affected. She would be more effective that way since 999 does not even entertain the rakyat's call for help.

If there is any criticism, it should be directed at the Welfare Department for requesting Rina to do community work. What are they trying to achieve by doing so? To show that this minister hasn't gone on holiday and is so concerned for the rakyat that she is cleaning bird droppings?

I have often wondered where the department has been all this while, especially so when I come across beggars and the homeless. As such, all this is a knee-jerk reaction since the PM banged the table for the criticism he received.

Kingfisher1974: It is pathetic that it has come to this. The Welfare Department attempting to salvage their minister’s reputation.

Some ministers lost their credibility long before the floods by the silly things they say and do. When the floods came, their self-seeking publicity acts captured by dozens of photographers made it worse. Their advisers who arranged for these photo ops are also hopelessly lost.

Stop milking publicity for yourselves. Stop thinking of how to appear like a hero in the midst of our suffering. Think of the people you swore to serve just for a change.

OCT: The rakyat prefer an incognito minister going around to size up the situation and mobilise government assets to help the victims.

This said school doesn't need this kind of help from the minister. A minister’s work is about overseeing and managing government assets, resources and logistics for greater impact to speed up the recovery process.

Rina is doing no brain work, which is not her pay grade. The rakyat doesn’t pay her big for this. It is definitely a bad return on investment from the minister.

Purple Occa 8200: How stupid and idiotic is the statement from the Welfare Department? Cleaning birds and lizard droppings.

These are the normal things encountered regularly by most schools and they have their own cleaners and gardeners. They even get the teachers and parents to do gotong-royong.

We are talking about the devastating floods, where victims need immediate assistance.

Hmmm: This is the result we get when we vote cleaners to lead us. The Welfare Department requested the VIP to clean the lizard droppings?

It will be a cold day in hell if any government department can get any of the ministers to do any work.

To the minister, I say, stop fooling around and get back to work.

Falcon: When civil servants are caught playing political games instead of being dedicated, independent and truthful, the nation is betrayed. This has been going on for far too long in Malaysia.

It is obvious civil servants are still beholden to their political masters rather than to truth and to the people of Malaysia.

Now those who scripted this photo opportunity at the Welfare Department have tarnished what little respect left. Once again, they missed the point.

There are currently thousands of individuals on the ground helping those impacted.

And I have personally seen even politicians and former ministers dressed in work clothes and were in the trenches of dirt and discomfort, so to speak. None of them had their communication crew, photographers and videographers with them.

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