YOURSAY | Delays in executing orders serious problem in public sector

YOURSAY | ‘Taxpayers don’t pay salaries for you to relek and enjoy life.’

'My orders are simple: Bodycams ASAP, no compromises'

RedKiwi9134: It seems numerous instructions have been given under the new government (including expediting the procurement of body cameras for the police).

Many were given as early as a month under the new government, with a lot of them coming from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Disappointingly, many instructions have been issued but no follow-up actions. We already noticed that. No follow-up and no execution mean nothing will change.

In the public sector, we have this serious issue of execution. A good number of government servants will just sit there and do nothing when instruction is given, thinking they have time, "I can do it tomorrow, don't be so serious, relek lah (relaxed lah)”.

Days go by, turning into weeks and months, yet they can't be bothered, partly because there are no higher-ups checking on them. Soon they (even the person issuing the instruction) forget totally about the instructions.

We, taxpayers, don't pay these people salaries and other perks for them to relek and enjoy life.

For an instruction to be executed, we must get somebody with authority to keep the instruction receivers on their toes and give them deadlines.

We must invest in a system to monitor the process and progress from the date and time the instruction is given, to whom the instruction is given, and the turnaround time set in the system with an auto-flagging function.

There must be fields allocated for him to put up his proposed plan allowing him to upload attachments, another field for the reviewers, one for approvers, then execution and the details, completion, followed by periodic reviews.

We must have a system like that for tracking purposes. And must implement performance appraisal, monitor their performance by assigning ratings for each area, do the appraisal every month for 12 months, and then average the score at the end of the year.

Freeze increment for non-performers, reassign duties. No point in shouting out one instruction after another for people to hear, to please people as if to let people know you have delivered.

If you think you are not suitable for the job, just be humble to say so to the PM, ask him to assign you to another more suitable portfolio, and let others with the right experience and wisdom take over.

The “tidak apa” (careless) disease is widespread in the public sector and this debilitating attitude impeding the progress of Malaysia for 60 years must be rid of once and for all.

PW Cheng: I am not a pessimist, instead I am inherently an optimist. But insofar as the police are concerned, I remain sceptical of the body camera for the police.

The great wall of China did not help China very much from the marauding Mongolians. The guards who mostly lack integrity and are corrupted open the doors for the enemy in exchange for a fistful of dollars or other gifts. That explains the importance of integrity against the backdrop of materials.

The fact remains that the police are unduly creative to circumvent anything that can hamper their act of mischief. In critical circumstances, the camera will either be damaged, malfunction, have no power, accidentally loosen and swing at the wrong angle, the officer forgets to wear it, or it may even mysteriously go missing.

If they can avoid the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) for the last 10 years, the camera may be good or of some good for one or two years after which all will become obsolete or a white elephant.

Remember the “anti-rasuah” (anti-corruption) tag? It will soon become nanti rasuah (later corruption) and if you are vigilant enough to notice, the traffic police officers who stopped you by the roadside, and the strap on their chests are creatively aligned to cover their identity tags.

Newday: Police bodycams are well-established use in other countries. Those police agencies would be happy to cooperate in this. What our previous PN prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin stated was just a smokescreen at the time to appease the masses, to be seen to be doing something.

There would have been and most likely still is much opposition from within the ranks for bodycams.

I am glad Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is stepping up to the plate and being firm about this. If it can be expedited, he will finally get some brownie points from the rakyat for his action.

While you are in this mood, order that the woeful CCTV issue in police and prison lockups is fixed and ensure their well-maintained operation.

Very concerned citizen: Hello Saifuddin, before you implement this bodycam thing, what about the IPCMC?

We have been talking about this for many years but until today, it is not implemented. Why are the police and the government scared to implement this? Are you all scared that the truth will be exposed? Do this first before you talk about bodycams!

GalaxyM: The matter of police integrity is a long issue and it should have been resolved a long time ago, why drag on? The police force as part of the civil service has tarnished the image of the whole body.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy and Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim supporting the former over the issue of dominance of one race in the civil service should throw some light upon the delay in implementing the police use of body cameras.

The nation is backward, and regressive in many fields for more than 60 years after Merdeka. If the unity government under Anwar wants to rebuild the nation in the coming years, isn't it a terrible colossal job for him to undertake?

We have to face it, the country has been tremendously intoxicated by race and religious sentiments for far too long under the past governments since Merdeka. Can the PM undo it?

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