Several years ago our State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani urged public sector employees to adopt the Sarawak government civil service motto “An Honour to Serve” as their guiding light.
He advised them to apply this in all their daily tasks.
The official web portal of the state government also states its vision as “A World Class Civil Service” (verbatim).
Its mission is stated as “… to deliver excellent service through high performance teamwork”.
The Civil Service Common Shared Values are Integrity, Kind and Caring Professionalism, Sense of Urgency and Ownership, Team Spirit and Result-Oriented.
The statements above are very well-crafted and commendable indeed.
So why bring them up?
Well, it’s due to a recent Malaya-made video which went viral on social media about a person who allegedly waited to be served for four hours and subsequently blew his top when told to come back later.
His anger, I am sure, struck a chord with many people who have been at the receiving end of less than satisfactory service.
I am happy to note that government counter service has improved vastly over the years since the above Vision and Mission were espoused.
However, it seems there are still pockets of resistance to the motto: An Honour to Serve.
In conversations with friends, we still get stories of service which leaves much to be desired.
A very common one is about queuing up for some time (as the videoed person did), only to be told that some document is still needed.
I suppose this might be alright if it happens once, or if the case is an exceptionally complicated one.
However, it would be ridiculous if each time a person goes back he/she is told there is yet another document required.
Occasionally this can really stretch out a person’s patience.
Why can’t they just inform us immediately with a checklist of everything required in one go?
Actually, it is quite surprising that most people don’t blow their tops.
But then again, instead of blowing their top, they relate it for all to hear, near and far. It becomes good topic for coffee shop talk.
They do say that good news travels slowly, and bad news spreads ten times faster and further. And with social media at their fingertips, this slow, seething frustration has a multiplier effect.
I recently experienced a situation at a “meet the people” session whereby a lady mentioned she needed to make a request for more lights along a particular street. Therefore I informed her of the relevant person in front of me who could attend to her request.
To my surprise, she stormed off within one minute and informed me that the “council” said it was not their job.
This came as a surprise to me since the local authority policy is to receive and record all complaints and requests which they redirect to the relevant authority or agency to resolve or comment on the matter.
So what could possibly have happened?
Was it an uncaring staff or was the staff not informed about the policy or was the staff not aware that street lighting is actually a council responsibility.
Oh well, some areas of improvement I suppose are in order here.
Another common grouse heard across the coffee table is that a document or request cannot be approved or vetted because the person in charge is attending “kursus” (course). Every time the client returns for a follow-up, the person is attending another “kursus” or is “outstation”.
Now, my question is, why does everything have to come to a grinding halt because of that?
I wonder what happened to the concept of delegation.
After all, I am sure a lot of these so-called “kursus” must surely have taught the staff about the art of delegation.
Moving on, how many of you have entered a fully-staffed office, but no one bothers to look up and ask what you want. I presume this “no eye contact” approach is so that the staff can pretend you don’t exist.
Many years back, I travelled all the way to an office in Kuching to get something done because my calls were not answered. Once in that office, I was told to ring up another office.
However, although the phone rang, no one picked it up. I then asked the person at whose table I was sitting, who I was supposed to speak to on the phone?
She pointed to a cubicle office behind me. There was no one inside, but the office phone had not rung although the one I heard in my handphone earlier was loud and clear. Then I noticed through the open door that the line had been pulled out of the phone.
I later saw this practice at a service centre in Miri as well and when asked about it the answer was “too many calls … need to rest”.
This lack of response to phone calls has also spread to emails and letters.
Some people even have to fly to Kuching to get things moving from table to table, and I am not referring to businessman but to us common people trying to sort out personal matters.
I have sent emails and letters which seem to have been swallowed by some black hole and never get any response.
Maybe some in our civil service know that these black holes are closer to home and use them, unbeknown to our astronomers!
However, as I mentioned earlier, there have been vast improvements.
Our National Registration Department counter in UTC Miri has a good practice. They first ask you what service you require. They then immediately inform you about the necessary documents needed. If you have them, they are quickly checked and then the officer gives you a queue number.
This prevents people from waiting for hours only to be told at the service counter about the required supporting documents. Adopting some of the proactive attitudes by staff in the banking sector can also be beneficial to the civil service’s reputation.
Most UTC counters are also very effective and provide fast and good service.
This is the way forward. I have also heard many good stories about helpful and effective civil servants. It seems that times are changing for the better to serve us all with honour.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
