YOURSAY | ‘This same story will be repeated this time next year.’

COMMENT | Making civil servants accountable

Falcon: Is veteran journalist R Nadeswaran serious about making civil servants accountable?  I thought I had misread the headline.

Nadeswaran, have you forgotten that they carry out the instructions of their boss - the minister who also has “bosses” instructing them?

We both know what I am alluding to. We have both been in the process far too long not to know.

You cannot touch the untouchables. So, likewise, those following instructions, both verbal and other methods.

Of course, you can pin the blame on the office boy!  

The art of corruption within procurement and white elephant projects has been refined so much that we have crimes but no criminals.

As a result, for example, our public healthcare system today is in a dire crisis. We have a once state-of-the-art hospital whose IT department has been in shambles for the last seven years.

The hospital, like many others, is a pale shadow of what it was once!  What is Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad doing about it?

Apanama is back: Nadeswaran, the issue with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s approach to corruption is that he appears to be overlooking the significant financial burden it places on Malaysian taxpayers, particularly when it comes to the widespread waste and leakage of public funds.

He should include corruption, wastage, and leakage (three-in-one) for the heads of the departments and agencies to buck up or they will be denied increments, promotions, and any other benefits.

In this country, you can’t separate corruption from wastage and leakage. These three meanings work hand in hand.

Wastage happens due to corruption. The same goes for the leakage of public funds.  

The Auditor-General’s Report usually highlights the wastage and leakage of allocated budget and taxpayers' money.

The prime minister is not serious about tackling the three-in-one menace.

OCT: Don't expect any civil servants to be charged and jailed for the mismanagement of funds.

The Auditor-General’s Report has no impact on any civil servant as the auditor-general has no authority to prosecute.

The enforcement agencies pretend not to know, not to see, and not to rock the boat.

The blame is always on the standard operating procedure (SOP) and not on anybody else.

When nobody goes to jail for the misappropriation of funds, most civil servants think it is SOP as no action is taken.

The government is always generous even though the stolen funds are not recovered, even though the culprit goes to jail like former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

There was also an incident where those civil servants who caused the loss of funds did so due to stupid decisions and not due to corruption.

There is no law to charge for stupidity. When the head of the government can do what he likes with impunity, the civil servants just follow.

The rakyat won’t be able to see any changes now and forever as the ruling coalition depends on the civil servants to vote them in.

This corruption is so deeply entrenched within the civil service that it is nearly impossible to rectify.

FellowMalaysian: Year after year, the Auditor-General’s Report has highlighted many cases of government bodies and agencies being shortchanged and Nadeswaran has done a wonderful job alighting the public on such abuses of public funds.

The unity government must pluck enough resolve and courage to plug such leaky holes.

Otherwise, it will risk losing the confidence and trust of its people and supporters.

Very concerned citizen: We should ask the auditor-general to stop presenting the reports. It is a waste of time.

Who are the people working in the government departments? Birds of a feather flock together and will not harm each other.

It is not their money and so they don’t care. It has been going on for many years and no action has been taken.

Anwar will not do anything as he is busy talking about the Palestinians. 

VS: If you rely on civil servants for your votes, any amount of threats is not going to hurt them.

Why do you think bonuses are handed out to civil servants in election years, even during hard times? Simple, it is for votes.

The civil servants know this. These dirty politics have been there for decades and are still really alive.

Some things never change. Don’t waste our time telling us about low-hanging fruits.

We are a corrupt nation because of our politicians and our civil service. 

Salvage Malaysia: As long as Anwar doesn’t implement the many reforms that he has promised for the last quarter of the century, Malaysia will still be stuck in the old system waiting for the ultimate rot.

Pakatan Harapan tends to talk too much but does too little. That’s ok if you are the opposition.

However, as you are now part of the government, this is considered a big failure. 

F5_SPM_Nages: The fish rots from the head. This is obvious from past corruption cases that have been reported.

Yet there is no will to improve the procurement SOP that is intended to leave some loopholes for own cronies to loot.

Knucklehead: Political appointees who occupy some of the board seats of these government-linked entities must be first held accountable and removed.

Otherwise, it will end up just another Madani stand-up comedy joke!

Punchie101: This same story will be repeated this time next year.

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