I wish to comment on Tengku Adnan Mansor's statement after his landslide victory over Keadilan's Abdul Rahman Othman in the contest for the Putrajaya parliamentary seat.

He said time and again that his victory proves once and for all that civil servants do indeed support the government (read BN). I am rather skeptical about the accuracy of his statement because as most of us know, our votes are not exactly confidential.

It is perfectly traceable as our reference numbers will be written down on the small slip of paper from which our ballot papers are severed. Using these reference numbers and the serial numbers already printed on both the small slip of paper and ballot papers, it is easy to trace who voted for whom.

I wonder if most civil servants, being reasonably educated and informed about this situation, are playing safe by voting for the government in order to avoid possible negative repercussions in the form of transfers, delay in promotions and so on.

Of course, if civil servants sincerely wish to vote for the government, it is their absolute right to do so. However, if they voted for the government out of pressure, it reflects the sorry state of fair play in our election process.