1Malaysia - "Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan"

First and foremost, do forgive me for my recent apparent disappearance from my blog. There have been many things that I wanted to blog about but every time I sit before the computer, it all seeps away from my mind. This time, I am making myself sit in front of the computer until I am able to write something. Also, do forgive me as this will be a post addressing a mixture of issues.

I have been reading the news lately and there are certain things that I would like to voice my opinion. Again, this is not to put down Malaysia (I still think it is a beautiful country in a certain sense) nor is it to criticize certain policies or people groups, but rather it is just purely my opinion regarding certain issues based on facts and recent events that happened in Malaysia.

A couple of days ago, I was reading the papers when I stumbled upon the news regarding the Teoh Beng Hock Inquisition. One horrifying piece of news that really highlighted some government agency's apathy and bad management was published on March 9 (read the news on The Star here). Allow me here to quote certain portions of the news:

Assistant enforcement officer Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus told the commission that he had not bothered about the political aide after helping his colleague Arman Alies to question Teoh.

He said that after handing over the relevant documents to his superior Hairul Ilham Hamzah at 12.30am on June 16, 2009, he told Teoh to wait at the sofa while he went into his office to sleep.

“Is this fair to treat a witness this way? You told him to wait but had no courtesy to see him?” asked Justice Foong.

When Commissioner Prof Dr Mohamed Hatta Shaharom asked Mohd Ashraf if he knew what had happened to Teoh then and that Teoh “was no more his concern”, he said he had no instruction about Teoh.

This prompted Justice Foong to ask if that was the attitude of all MACC officers.

“Yes, it’s been like that. We follow instructions, which are like that,” Mohd Ashraf said.

This is really shocking as it paints a picture on what is happening within our government agencies. We have government officers who are really apathetic and would even go to the extent to ask some one to wait while he sleeps whereas the waiting person is thinking that the officer concerned is still working on his case and therefore patiently waits. What is even more horrifying with regards to this apathy is that they (in this case the officer) feel no remorse.

Asked if he did not feel anything wrong with the way Teoh had been treated, Mohd Ashraf said: “No, because that is the way.”

1Malaysia has a slogan that reads "Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan" (which a rough translation would mean "People first, achievements placed top priority" or something to that note. The English slogan is "People first, performance now", even though I feel that it is an inaccurate translation of the original slogan in Bahasa Malaysia, but it gives a similar notion). Is this what is exemplified by some government officers? In my opinion, this does not only apply to the politicians and ministers but it extends to the government as a whole. It reads to me to be more than just a slogan. To me, it reads as if it is the promise of the government to the people. If it is so, should not the people in the government agencies also exemplify this? In order for 1Malaysia to be truly a concept that is tangible and not just remain unrealistic, much social paradigm shift is needed. This is one area that needs to be looked at. People queue at clinics or government hospitals awaiting for their turn while the nurses and M.O. are busy chatting and drinking coffee (not every place but a significant number of such places have the same issues). I was at a specialist hospital in Johor once to visit a patient with cancer there. After some while, a nurse came up to us to check on the patient's condition (while the other nurses were at the nurses station for almost 20minutes chatting). We asked her, how was he and all she could answer was "I tak tau la" (I don't know). She knew not his condition, what he was in for, then my question is, what are you checking then if you have no prior knowledge of how the patient is? How are you to determine if he is better or worse if you do not even know how he was before? Is this "Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan"? In what way was the patient (who happens to be a Malaysian citizen) was placed first and achievements placed top priority? With regards to the feasibility of 1Malaysia, is it possible to even have a change in paradigm and attitude in such areas of the government officers?

The Teoh Beng Hock Inquisition is one news that I will continue to follow as things are starting to get interesting. I would like to see how they handle such a case - with the issue of the apathy and government system that has been highlighted (if any actions will be taken to improve such a situation), with Mohd Ashraf's "selective amnesia", especially with his contradictory statements, as seen in the news report dated March 9 (read it here).

Till then, we can only pray that the seemingly impossible concept of 1Malaysia will miraculously be a reality in the life of Malaysians in the near future. That truly Malaysia will be a nation of peace and harmony of all nations, and that the government (not only those elected but those employed as well) will truly serve the people, holding true to the 1Malaysia slogan, "Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan".