Gov't officers can't back political parties

Government officers cannot advocate support for any political party, Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Aziz Yusof said today, adding that they should always maintain their “professionalism”.

He was responding to the case of a high-ranking Johor civil servant urging teachers to support "the government's campaign" for the vacant Tenang state seat in the by-election to be held on Jan 30.

Abdul Aziz explained that the civil servants must set aside their "political views and positions" and maintain "professional" decorum and always remain neutral.

Nomination for the by-election, called following the death of BN's Sulaiman Taha on Dec 17, has been fixed for Jan 22.

However, Abdul Aziz (left) said, "it is not wrong" for a staff of the state to advocate the policies or programmes of the state government.

"Be it Pakatan Rakyat or BN, government officers must be loyal to the state governments, no matter which party (runs the administration of the state)," Abdul Aziz told Malaysiakini.

"It's no harm if they inform the people of the state government's initiatives, but it is different if a civil servant campaigns and explicitly asks those present to vote, for example for the BN or PKR," he added.

Malaysiakini reported last week that Johor Education Department director Markom Giran had openly canvassed for support for BN among teachers.

The greens, greys, whites and blues

A video footage of Markom making his call has been uploaded on YouTube, in which the Johor education chief asks the teachers present "to help the government to win the by-election in this round".

In the video (right), Markom tells the teachers to organise motivational programmes for their students, after which they are required to meet with the parents of the students.

"(When you meet the parents), ladies and gentlemen, you will likely identify four colours - green, grey, white and blue. The greens are the hardcore opposition supporters, that category we leave it for another time.

"But if you discover those in the grey category, you need to feed us the information and work with us to help us win. If you find yourselves also in the grey area, then you have to change to support the blues," Markom had said.

According to the complainants, Markom is under the TG54 category of the civil service, which explicitly bars him from participating in politics.

A police report on Markom's campaigning has been lodged by Johor PAS deputy commissioner Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Abdul Aziz also said that if Markom had committed an offence, "disciplinary action" could be taken against him according to the regulations outlined for government officers.

He said the EC could only act on complaints committed during the campaign period.

“The EC is not empowered to act on complaints about campaigning carried out before the official by-election campaign period kicks off,” Abdul Aziz added.