Thursday, January 05, 2017

It's Government's Problem, Why Punish Civil Servants



A Kadir Jasin

CORRECTION and apologies: The Minister of Rural and Regional Development is (Datuk Sri) Ismail Sabri Yaakob not Annuar Musa as stated.

ORIGINAL POST


MINISTER in the Prime Minister’s Department (Datuk Seri) Azalina Othman Said has called for stern action to be taken against civil servants, past and present, who slandered the government.

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That’s simple. First the government as the victim identifies the slanderer and his or her slanderous utterance.

Then it states its demands. Usually retract the slanderous statement and apologize.

Usually the person on whom the demand is made has 14 days to respond.

If the person retracts his or her accusation and apologizes, the case is settled.

Only when he or she refuses that a legal action is constituted.

That’s how I handled such incidents when I was the editor.

But it won’t be as easy as that for the government now because much of what is being said by those brave civil servants and ex-civil servants are true.

I don’t really understand what the minister meant by stern action because many civil servants had already been sacked, terminated and transferred not for slandering the government but for telling the truth and doing the right thing.

The latest being the ex-director of the Special Operation Division of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission, (Datuk) Bahri Mohamed Zain, who took an early retirement because he was disappointed and felt that he had sinned for not being unable to bring the SRC International Sdn Bhd case to court.

It must have bothered the conscience of scrupulous MACC officers like Bahri and those who retired under similar circumstance that while the “bilis” and the “gelama” are brought before the justice, the biggest “jerung” of all had to be let off scot-free.

Back to Azalina, was she prompted to make that remark in her Twitter Account because a picture, allegedly of her being in a casino, had been circulated in the social media during the New Year?


Is publishing this picture and discussing it in social media and coffee shops an act of libel and slander?


But why direct the anger at civil servants unless the picture was snapped and published in social media by a civil servant without her knowledge?


Of course if the picture was genuine, it wouldn’t be good for Azalina.

A Muslim, whose party’s battle cry is “untuk agama, bangsa dan negara” (for the religion, race and country), should not be seen in such a haram (forbidden) place, especially when her party is romancing the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party and the Felda settlers in her constituency are suffering income crunch.

In reality we don’t need former civil servants or anybody to make statements that cast negative light on the government.

The government itself is better than good at casting itself in a negative light.

On the arrest by the MACC of the Secretary General to the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development for suspicion of corruption, my memory goes back to a similar incident involving another Secretary General of the same ministry.

He was acquitted and discharged after a lengthy trial.

Ironically, in both instances the minister in charge of the ministry is (Tan Sri) Annuar Musa, who is also the Umno Information Chief.

Wallahuaklam.

13 comments:

Fendi Ahmad said...

Kelihatan Bersih adalah litmus pertama dalam menangani persepsi rakyat juga unruk menjuarai jiwa rakyat.

Gagal kelihatan bersih maka apa lagi boleh diharap ?

dt rahman pekan said...

salam dato kj,

our WA grp is abuzz wth d newa that t s shahril has been appnted as d new Felda chairman n he has unooficiaaly confrmed it.

we did our HSC n econs degree 2gether.

this is my SMS 2 him 2day - "se tinggi tahniah tss.harap ia nya tak terlambat n felda masih bolih d selamatkan.
misi utama t sri adalah utk memberi pencerahankpd warga felda tentang pembelian saham eagle drpd peter sondakh.
public perception is that felda is in a financial mess. its not 2 late 2 do a complete spring cleaning.
my plea 2 u is 2 b 'mesra warga felda' at all times.
I know u can do it insya'allah.
GOD SPEED".

saya belum mendpt respon drpd nya.

saya berani menyatakan yg t sri, saperti adik nya yb khalid pintar n tidak segan utk memberi pendpt dgn 'tegas'.

he is one of those who can politely tell najib/rosmah 2 'fly kite'. he may b able 2 salvage what is left of felda. whgich is good so that it will make d efforts of d new gov less burdensome.

to me he n tok pa r PM material that were overlooked - all d rest r just supporting actors n some r worst than court jesters that includes MS Azalina Othman.

even though he is still a friend, nevertherless, politically we r on opposite sides now.



Aku said...

Kadiag, salaam.
Banyak ayag mengaliag bawah jambatan, kata Mat bin Salih, sejak last hang "coret". Antaranya :
1. Isu Mat Tehag @ tongkang yard bawak, macam 1MDB dok belanja orang pi haji,
2.harga minyak naik lagi,
3.FELDA yg kenun dok semput nak biayai tanam semola, bayag kontraktor romah generasi kedua dll. beli 37% saham Eagle High Plantations (EHP)
a. dgn harga luag biasa mahai, yg katanya menyebabkan harga saham syarikat Indonesia itu melonjak naik masa diumumkan pembelian saham 37 % tu olih FELDA,
b. FELDA menjadi pemegang saham terbesag tapi "controlling interest " masih lagi dlm tangan Peter Sondakh yg syarikat dia di Indonesia sendiri dilapog "masih tiarap" dan "masih lesu" di awai 2016.
c. Rafizi pulak pi tambah, dgn pelaburan lagu tu punya besag, namun FELDA tak dapat 'access' tanah milik EHP ni, yg katanya jauh lebih besag (60%) dari tanah (atau lahan) yg kenunnya telah ditanam.
4. Lepaih tu, orang besag SPRM besara awai, tak sanggup dgn undang2 "sarang labah2".
5. Lepaih tu, SPRM pulak tangkap orang besag kementerian luag bandag, katanya sita duit ka jongkong maih ka dgn nilai duit 3 juta, serentak tunjok kad orang, SPRM ada kuasa tangkap orang, tapi dlm kes SRC International yg libat nilai jauh lebih besag tak tangkap pulak. Haruuu...!
Tapi aku nak habag cerita satu hamba tuhan nama Tunku Abdul Aziz, yg hang besa sentuh dlm satu "update" hang....dia ni katanya tera sepikin, kenunnya dia begadoh dgn sorang tauke TV3, tak salah aku, sebab pecat sorang pengarang berita benama Azhar ka apa ka, sebabnya pasai masokkan cerita dan muka Tunku ni dlm tv, lepaih tu 'ratings' tv tun pon jatuh. Aku pikiag pi, pikiag mai, tera sangat ka Tunku ni..sebab dia ni kenunnya bulih sebabkan ratings TV3 jatuh...
Risek, risek, ropanya, ikut sumber aku (yg tak bulih nak 'verify' atau sohihkan) yg utama jatuhkan ratings tv ialah bos depa yg duduk di Putrajaya.

Katanya sampai 60%. Hang ramai kaki dlm bidang media, kod hang bulih 'verify'....
Wallahua'lam.

Aku

sukasamasuka said...

Datuk.

"January 5, 2017...Singapore PM receives praise over foreign worker comment.

“Walking along [The Most Honorable Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong] Changi Beach on the New Year weekend, I saw this man sitting under a tree, alone yet not alone. He looked like a foreign worker, calling home on his cellphone.

“As we enjoy the festive days with friends and family, let us spare a thought for the foreign workers who have left their families behind to work in a distant land,” Lee said, adding it was good that the internet and mobile phones helped these workers keep in touch and not feel quite so far away from their loved ones.

Calling for Singaporeans to appreciate the contribution of these foreigners, Lee also highlighted how the foreign workers have to slog and save every dollar earned to help support their families back home.

“They (foreign workers) build our HDB flats and MRT lines, they keep our roads clean and parks green, and they take care of our young and elderly,” Lee said.

Singaporean Lay Sun Ong said Lee’s post demonstrated the traits of a great leader.

“Thank you Sir for being a caring, compassionate and thoughtful person. Remind us to be more graceful towards the foreign worker. This is how a great leader should be. Lead by example,” Lay wrote."

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2017/01/05/singapore-pm-receives-praise-over-foreign-worker-comment/



Wow! my hat to you Sir, The Most Honorable Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

You are indeed a great leader whom I greatly have so much respect!

A truly great nation!

How wonderful to note that your father, the Most Honorable Lee Kuan Yew, made the right decision way back in 9 August 1965.

Your father is a great leader too like you.

joe black said...

Dato',

Wonder when the MACC will Notice the Elephant in the Room??

Zalman A said...


"Amanah tidak pernah ada kerusi kerana ia sebenarnya milik PAS apabila parti Islam itu memenanginya pada pilihan raya umum (PRU) lalu, kata Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Timbalan presiden PAS itu berkata parti itu tidak pernah berniat untuk memecahbelahkan pembangkang, tetapi kritikannya terhadap Amanah hanya demi mempertahankan kerusi dimenangi PAS sebelum ini.

Beliau berkata PAS tidak akan masuk campur urusan parti lain atau pembangkang tetapi terpaksa terus mempertahankan kerusinya daripada dirampas Amanah.

“Amanah perlu sedar, kerusi yang mereka duduk sekarang milik PAS. Mana boleh mereka mengaku itu kerusi Amanah. Masa PRU13 dulu yang bertanding di atas kerusi yang mereka duduki adalah PAS. Masa itu, Amanah pun tidak wujud lagi,” katanya dipetik daripada Sinar Online.

Tuan Ibrahim berkata Amanah perlu belajar menyelesaikan kemelut dalamannya sendiri sebelum menuduh PAS membawa sikap pecah belah ke dalam gabungan pembangkang."

Still no sense of direction from the Oppo forces.

Makes it hard for voters to move away from the "devil they know".

And time is running short....




hihwag said...


Rising heat in Singapore case....

Najib’s spin-masters will now be forced to add the Government of Singapore to its bizarre list of ‘international conspirators’, who are allegedly seeking to topple him.

This follows today’s court developments in Singapore, where prosecutors specifically and repeatedly referred to the March 2013 transfer of $1.2 billion into the Falcon Bank account of Tanore Finance Corporation as being “suspicious”.

$681 million of this suspicious money was within hours passed into Najib’s AmBank account in KL.

Najib’s excuse that the money was a genuine donation from a Saudi Royal is not dignified with any mention from the Singapore authorities, since there is no evidence for it.

Instead, the Swiss Falcon Bank Manager Jans Sturzenegger has been charged with 16 counts of money laundering, including his failure to report the suspicious money that entered Tanore’s account number 855029901 21st-25th March 2013, which was then passed into Najib’s private account.

This guilty plea matches evidence from the US Department of Justice court filings, which specifically say that Falcon Bank staff were on record expressing concerns about the huge payments that were forwarded from 1MDB, through Tanore and on to Najib, but that they were over-ruled by the hierarchy of the Bank.


IdrisMdIsa said...

Aku..could you please stop writing in your northern dialect? It's both disgusting & annoying, extremely!!!

Mali Bin Muyung said...

Dato, bravo pada Datuk Bahri. Ini la hakikatnya kerja mkn gaji bertuan pula dgn org yg tak pentingkan akhirat.
Msia negara yg bagus tapi our politicians in particular those in umno hv ruins it. The country is going to the dogs.

Faqqirulqhoir said...

I refer to Hilwag's post "Rising heat in Singapore case....(2.15 pm) and wish to thank him for sharing the news that a court in Singapore had deemed that the march 2013 transfer of $1.3 billion into the Falcon Bank account of Tanore Finance Corp as being "suspicious" and within hours $681 million had passed into you know who's account at Ambank...which matches with the US Dept. of Justice court filings.
If true, this would certainly put to rest the 'tale' such as donations" from a Saudi royal.

North of the causeway however, it's business as usual, with visits planned to regularly flood devastated areas in PAS ruled Kelantan. What a lovely coincidence, heart felt care for the unfortunates plus "Islamic" credentials at one go... What a lovely ole time it will be.... Get out your haj cap and your Malay bajus because as in the old dirge:

"If you go down in the woods today, you better not go alone.
It's lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home; but
For every bear there ever was will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic."

hihwag said...


TIME MAGAZINE.....TODAY


She gave her speech from her dining room, which also functions as her newsroom. It is here that she runs Sarawak Report, a nearly seven-year-old investigative news website. Sixteen months earlier, in July 2015, she had published a bombshell of a report: the personal bank accounts of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, she alleged, held nearly $700 million tied to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“I want to say first how sorry I am not to be able to join you in Singapore as planned,” Rewcastle Brown, 57, told the crowd nearly 13,000 km away. Her audience, comprising mostly executives and auditors, was rapt. “The loss is entirely mine as it was a huge opportunity for me to meet with so many people of expertise in financial fraud — where I have been stumbling along as a jobbing journalist.”

“So, where do I fit as a mere reporter into this juggernaut of a story?” she asked the crowd. “You can hardly expect me not to take advantage of this platform you have kindly provided me with, to put in a plea for the vital role of journalism and free media in exposing corruption that threatens to undermine all our democratic systems.”

Rewcastle Brown’s British penchant for understatement is deceptive. The 1MDB controversy uncovered by this “mere reporter” is the biggest corruption scandal in recent memory to involve a head of government, in terms of both the sum of money involved and the magnitude of the sensational news story it has become. Rewcastle Brown is, as Abraham Lincoln apocryphally said of the antislavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe, “the little lady who wrote the book that started this great war.”


Sham said...

tak paham pasai apa tiap kali dok sentuh hal tun, hg dok gelar dia sekali aka tongkang yard. tu saja yg cacat sikit pasai komen aku ni. sama taraf pndatang tanah besaq ka taraf tun? aku tu sapa, apa yg disumbangkan kt negara n bangsa selain dok ungkit memori lama. tak bagus betoi psl bnda ni

Ibu dewi said...

Salam. Regarding rahman 5:29, dont mean to be rude but that is utter nonsense. You think he wasnt vetted to be put where he is? He is there to keep things in line. All of them are useless. Bila dah termakan budi bak kata orang melayu. The renegades, if offered the position, and they accept, rasa rasa ada ke elemen termakan budi disitu?

Let us live in the real world. We are screwed. Simple as that. Come thy kingdom and thy shall flourish.

About Me

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I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).