PUTRAJAYA: Civil servants can no longer adopt the ‘mind your own business’ attitude but rather to be mindful of their colleagues’ behaviour in a bid to prevent corruption from becoming a ‘cancer’ in the civil service.
Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman said the corrupt act committed by probably a handful of civil servants would smear the image of the majority who had been upholding their integrity and discharging their duties in a trustworthy manner.
“We used to see it as isolated cases as it involved a minority group of civil servants, but we can no longer sit back and relax as, sooner or later, it will affect us.
“This minority group should be removed. We are the majority group and there are many more of us who abide by the principles of civil service,” he said in his virtual 2021 message titled ‘Facing Challenges, Beyond Expectation’ yesterday.
According to Mohd Khairul Adib, there were civil servants who were arrested and charged in court last year for alleged involvement in corruption and abuse of power in matters regarding the issuance of identity cards, the influx of foreigners into the country and the water supply disruptions.
“So, we can no longer adopt the ‘mind your own business’ attitude. We should be mindful of the behaviour of our colleagues. If we don’t do something (about their corrupt act), it will become an incurable cancer, which is detrimental to our country,” he said.
Mohd Khairul Adib also reminded civil servants to always uphold their personal integrity and to stay away from corruption and breach of trust, to be mindful (of others), and to improve their work procedures and systems.
“If we were aware of any corrupt act or a breach of trust, we have a choice to take the appropriate action.
“We can offer our advice if it involves our colleague or someone we knew and if the case were serious or involved someone unknown to us, we can lodge a report either to our head of department or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.
He said the civil servants should not be scared or wait for any reward before exposing or lodging a report on misconduct committed by their colleagues or any other civil servants.
In another development, Mohd Khairul Adib said every public organisation should improve their work procedures and systems as red tape, non-transparency in making decisions, and unsuitable and obsolete policies were among the bureaucracy issues in the workplace.
“Bureaucracy issues are among the factors that will lead to misconduct, such as in giving quick approval for foreigners’ work permit. There were public officers who would solicit and accept bribe just to expedite the approval for certain applications.
“So, we have to think about how we can improve our work process and procedures without compromising national security and rule of law. We have to close the doors for any possible abuse of power by these officers,” get added. – Bernama