LETTERS: With the recent announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of an impending 13 per cent rise in their salaries, the civil servants should now take steps to review, renew and upskill their service to the public.
This is important because they had assumed office for the sole purpose of serving the people. They should not be lazy or self-serving.
Very often we hear of public complaints that phone calls to various departments are largely not answered, letters not acted upon, complaints not addressed, and concerns not prioritised.
Lackadaisical officers have also been told they would not benefit from the rise in salaries. This is a clear message that performance matters.
Rewarding only deserving employees can lead to better allocation of resources, allowing the government to ensure that taxpayer money is used efficiently.
Linking salary increments to performance also fosters a culture of accountability and meritocracy as well within the civil service.
It encourages officers to strive for excellence and continuous improvement in their work which can lead to better governance and service delivery. But, in the process of denying some officers a salary increase, one must also be mindful of some possible downsides like bias by some department heads due to gender, age, or race.
Some deserving employees may be unfairly labelled as lazy or inefficient due to factors beyond their control, such as inadequate resources or challenging work environments. This could disproportionately affect marginalised groups within the service and exacerbate existing inequalities.
There must be an independent assessment of an officer's performance. For instance, was there any ambiguity about the tasks that were assigned to the junior officers? Without clear and transparent evaluation criteria, there may be disputes over who is lazy or inefficient, leading to potential grievances among civil servants.
These could take several unproductive manhours to resolve.Therefore, there must also be some independent appeal procedures. With these measures in place, the public can be assured of better service from the servants of the public.
TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times