Many civil servants still remain loyal to BN, making it tough for PH to get things done.
Is the “lack of motivation” among certain civil servants the reason why the implementation and enforcement of several government policies are being delayed?
It is no secret that the presenting of gifts, which included holiday packages, watches and even dinner vouchers was openly practised during the Barisan Nasional administration to “get things done”.
Back then, I recall how packed five-star hotels were during the breaking of fast.
It was a norm for BN politicians to meet at expensive joints and simply throw money on those who used to run errands for them.
Just look at the alarming figures surfacing at the ongoing trial of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
It was rumoured that if all the corrupt money stolen by Najib and his cronies were returned to the nation, it would be near the tune of about RM20 billion at least!
This would surely help put the country’s economy back on a sound footing.
What has been uncovered to date is probably just the tip of the iceberg and sadly, a large portion of it would probably never be recovered.
Najib’s administration had allowed corruption to seep into all levels of the civil service, right from the top to even the cleaners.
Sadly, there was never an element of honesty involved, but mainly monetary rewards.
Civil servants are supposed to be loyal to the government of the day and to serve the rakyat, not those who provided them with avenues to make dishonest gains.
However, bad habits do not die easily and this is probably the biggest dilemma the PH administration is facing right now.
They cannot possibly replace the entire civil service and have no choice but to work with many who were groomed and trained by the BN administration.
Ministers cannot oversee the implementation of policies and have to rely on their down-liners to get the job done.
This is where the hiccup arises and when those responsible do not carry out the tasks delegated to them, the government of the day ends up looking bad.
It would be safe to assume that there is still a huge amount of sabotage going on within the civil service.
The clean-up process is going to be hard and painful as the negative culture that “cash is king” as repeatedly mentioned by Najib is unfortunately very prevalent.
PH is indeed working against the tide and sadly, the force is still strong in the dark side – as long as mindsets don’t change.