PUTRAJAYA, Feb 25 — Civil servants should discharge their responsibilities as members of the civil service with undivided support to the government and country based on the principles of the pledge of loyalty and integrity when they first joined the service.
Public Service director-general Tan Sri Zainal Rahim Seman said the “ Aku Janji” should serve as a reminder for civil servants to always realise at all times that they should remain loyal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the government and the country as required under Regulation 4(1) of the Public officers regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993.
He said civil servants should appreciate the existing government for the various improvements it had made in the public service sector.
The government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, he said, had announced various benefits for civil servants, such as salary increase, promotion, implementation of special leave, leave for performing the umrah, maternity leave and the special payment of RM1,500.
“Malaysia is a country with very good planning and policies. We started with the five-year Malaysia Plan, encompassing the transformation framework initiative under the Government Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme, and have never left out the transformation of the civil service,” he told the media at a meeting at his office here recently.
According to Zainal Rahim, the Malaysian Plan was looked up to highly and praised by other countries which regarded the five-year plan as inclusive and holistic towards a sustainable development and economic growth.
“Why do we have such a framework, it is because we want to mould the people into responsible citizens . We have to remember that we play two roles, first as members of the civil service, and secondly, the citizens of the country.
“As citizens, we want a government that has given us something, like education, financed by the government, and enjoyed facilities financed by the government,
“So, we have to be sincere and be grateful for what we have obtained today,” he said, adding that the government always strived to do the best for the people.
Although some quarters have different opinion, he said, civil servants should think of the efforts made by the government in ensuring the interests of the people in the country were protected.
“For the past 60 years, we uphold our independence with pride. Since 1511, we were colonised and when we got our independence in 1957, our leaders drew up the five-year plan and today, it has been proven with our economic growth at an average of 5.9 per cent. Do we want to destroy it in a blink of an eye?
“Our children and grandchildren, and their grandchildren need a country, so what are we going to leave them with? Don’t destroy the country’s future,” he said.
On the issue of integrity and corruption among civil servants, Zainal Rahim called on members of the public service to make integrity, honesty and sincerity as the pillars of their self-development and personality, as well as to reject corruption in order to have a professional and dynamic service.
“Corruption and power abuse give a very negative implication on oneself, family and the society. So, whatever the rules, civil servants have to hold to the principles of sincerity, honesty, prudence, integrity and care,” he said.
On the chances of graduates joining the public service sector, , Zainal Rahim said the opportunities were available for fresh graduates with nearly 40,000 government staff retiring every year.
“This indirectly means that every year, there is new recruitment of staff to serve with the government. Every year, they are people resigning, asked to resign early due to ill health, death and this reduces the size of the public service to 1.6 million staff. These posts need replacements.
“So, the perception by some quarters that the government no longer makes new recruitment is a lie since every year, there is intake of employees for the government service. This is what is said by transformation of governance for human resources,” he said. — Bernama
