Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam: "We'll transfer out (from Malacca) any government servants found to have worked against the state administration." (The Star, March 6)

Dr Syed Husin Ali (PRM): "That's unfair and stupid." (Malaysiakini, March 6)

P Ramakrishnan (Aliran): "The government should not politicise or abuse the civil service, which does not belong to the government of the day." (Malaysiakini, March 7)

Siva Subramaniam (Cuepacs): "Government servants should be loyal to the government of the day, but ..." (malaysiakini, March 8)

I'll start with a short story.

A man took his child to the latter's great grandfather's funeral. To the child's surprise, the body was taken out of the coffin before it was buried in the grave. When asked, the father told the son that the coffin could be re-used and it was taken home for storage in the barnyard.

Several years later, the man and his son, now a teenager, went to attend the latter's grandfather's funeral. Just as the coffin was being lowered into the grave, the boy shouted to the grave-diggers, "Stop! Take out the body and let the coffin be ..."

Surprised, the crowd and father turned to the boy. The lad calmly replied: "Dad, don't you remember? We can use the coffin again when your time comes ..."

After this tall spin, let's move on to the Malacca folk tale.

Of the precedent quotes, the first extracted from a local newspaper just a week ago, is an "alarming" precedent in Malaysian politics. I thought momentarily I was back in Malacca in the 16th or 17th century.

The issue flagged off by the Malacca chief minister Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam holds great import for some 850,000 workers in this country - no less all the civil servants, and by extension their immediate families. More significantly, its impact, if left unchecked, will leapfrog us back to the just ended millennium in terms of the nation's political and societal development.

Mohd Ali said that a directive had gone out to all state departments and agencies to stop engaging the services of panel doctors, lawyers and other professionals who were opposition members. He also warned that government servants who worked against the state administration would be transferred out of Malacca.

Obviously Mohd Ali has defined the term "government servants" in the literal sense, meaning that these workers paid by the government belong to the government. Hence, they are at the political masters' beck and call, and these serfs must support the Barisan Nasional government at all times, at all costs, without question. Either you toe the line or ship out (I believe the Straits of Malacca can hold many ships!).

As Malaysia embarks on building a knowledge-based society in line with its goal towards developed nation status by 2020, some of its leaders' visions must have gone astigmatic before time. Mohd Ali wants government servants to be servile, with unquestioned loyalty to the Barisan Nasional government, but human beings are not horses, you can't put blinkers over their eyes.

Government workers are urged to be innovative, creative and thinking as they compete in a borderless world in this Internet age, where the mind is constantly challenged with information technology progressing at breakneck pace. The Prime Minister has clearly propelled us in the right direction with his Multimedia Super Corridor project, at least conceptually if not in implementation. But here comes a chief minister who throws a spanner into the wheel and wants civil servants to become unthinking robots all of one political hue.

Mohd Ali also urged federal agencies to take similar action. So it was unity in action when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, when questioned by reporters later, backed his state leader's action, saying, "It's the government's prerogative and right" to appoint or terminate whoever they wished. I hope the astigmatism is not that contagious!

Commenting on Mohd Ali's action, PRM president Syed Husin stressed that people in government service do "not" belong to the government of the day. They are not expected to be loyalists to the government, and political masters like Mohd Ali cannot punish them for their political affiliations.

Quite "alarming" to me, however, was the response from Cuepacs, the umbrella union representing all civil servants. Its president Siva Subramaniam advised that "government servants should be loyal to the government of the day". Siva's saving grace is that he was quick to add: "...but if any of the civil servants in Malacca were unfairly treated, Cuepacs would meet with Mohd Ali to discuss the matter".

If one ties up Siva's assurance with Syed Husin's comment that Mohd Ali 's action was "stupid and unfair", then Siva's seemingly "compromising" stand is mitigated, although not completely vindicated. Will the close to one million Cuepacs members stand up to voice their opinion on their leader's stand?

However, if Mohd Ali seriously carries out his threat to transfer out opposition supporters in government employ, Siva may have to start looking at setting up a second abode in folksy Malacca, for before long, hundreds of his union members will come knocking on his door, seeking redress for "unfair" transfers out of Malacca!

durian runtuh, Mohd Ali's initiative could be seized by PAS supporters working in Malacca to knock on the CM's door for a fast-track transfer to Terengganu and Kelantan. In fact, "dissenting" Umno members there may just discard their party cards for the "green card" and emigrate too, no, not to the US, but to the two east coast states where the moon shines bright.


New Straits Times on Wednesday datelined Sik, that quoted Dr Abdul Hamid Othman, a minister in the PM's Department, saying that six groups, including the local media, had been identified by Umno to have discarded the party to support the opposition.

ulamas (religious experts), youths and intellectuals.




The Social Contract (1762) by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.