Bersyukurlah Dengan Pekerjaan Kamu

Aku kerja hari-hari dari pukul 8 pagi hingga pukul 6 petang. Itu waktu pejabat atas kertas sahaja. Petang hingga awal malam asyik kena hadir majlis makan malam, majlis perjumpaan, macam-macam majlis. Tengah malam pula, pergi operasi. Masuk tapak pembinaan penuh lubang, kayu tajam, paku berkarat. Balik rumah awal pagi. Letih mengantuk tak cukup rehat.

Mesyuarat hampir setiap hari. Tiap jam ada staf dan pegawai datang jumpa. Beratus-ratus keputusan sehari kena buat. Silap hari bulan, esok datang SPRM, kena tata tertib, kena buang kerja, hilang pencen.

Hari minggu terbang ke Ibu Pejabat. Kadang-kadang pergi dengan kereta. Merempuh 7-8 jam perjalanan. Pergi sana kerana mesyuarat dengan bos besar. Terima pengarahan baru yang harus dilaksanakan. Ada polisi baru. Ada program baru. 

Akhir bulan, gaji masuk. Tolak sana tolak sini, belanja benda itu belanja benda ini. Bil-bil juga sampai rumah. Semua juga kena bayar. Semak-semak baki, tinggal serba sedikit untuk Tabung Haji, ASB dan bagi pada orang tua.

Bila fikir-fikir, kerja seperti kuba balar. Galo sana galo sini. Fikir nak pecah kepala. Nak pergi kerja, balik kerja asyik risau takut ada orang ikut. Mata tak pernah lekang tegok cermin belakang, cermin sisi kereta kalau-kalau ada orang cuba rapat. Masa rehat, masa nak berkebun, masa nak berbadminton hampir tiada. Cubaan orang nak bagi duit ada sentiasa.

Tapi gaji banyak tu jer. Bonus bantuan kewangan pun RM500 sahaja. Kereta tak besar mana. Rumah pun rumah lama. Tak berapa cukup nak buat ubahsuai. Hutang rumah pun lama lagi nak habis bayar. 

Tak macam kawan-kawan sesekolah dan sedarjah dulu. Ada syarikat kapal, ada syarikat minyak, ada syarikat IT. Ada gaji RM50,000 sebulan, ada gaji lebih RM100,000 sebulan. Ada yang dapat bonus 6 bulan, ada 12 bulan. Ada rumah macam istana. Kereta Mercedes, Lexus 4x4, BMW, pergi melancong ke London, Paris, Tokyo, main salji. 

Mereka mampu menderma bersedeqah buat sekolah tahfiz, buat serambi surau, beli 3-4 ekor lembu buat korban untuk orang miskin, beri sumbangan kepada kawan-kawan sudah beratur-ratus ringgit. Tiap tahun, tiap 6 bulan terbang ke Mekah buat umrah.

Hari minggu mereka lepak sama kawan-kawan, main golf, memancing laut dalam dengan kapal besar, menembak, berkaraoke. Sembang projek besar beratus ribu, berjuta-juta. Untung cukup untuk bayar deposit kereta dan buat rumah baru.

Bestnya kalau dapat jadi macam kawan-kawan yang kaya, senang dan gembira. Rasa macam nak berhenti kerja kerajaan nih. Nak berniaga macam kawan-kawan. Nak senang dan kaya macam kawan-kawan.

Ish ishh ishhh. Astaghfirullahal'azim. Kabar tak aku nih? 

Tahu tak, aku kerja ni, walau kerja banyak, berbahaya, tak cukup masa berehat, berisiko, tapi kerja aku ini adalah untuk negara. Keselamatan negara dan kesejahteraan rakyat bergantung kepada kerja aku ni. Jika aku tak buat kerja, kedaulatan negara akan pasti tergadai! Anak bangsa mungkin rosak telan dadah, telan pil kuda, langgar pelacur, berjudi. Peluang berniaga dan pekerjaan mungkin kena rampas oleh orang asing kalau aku pejam mata.

Aku mungkin tak dapat pergi umrah, aku mungkin tak mampu bersedeqah, aku mungkin tidak ada masa untuk membaca quran, tetapi kerja aku ini membawa manfaat kepada 30 juta rakyat Malaysia. Bayangkan berapa pahala yang mungkin tuhan bagi aku sebagai ganjaran jika aku bersyukur dan ikhlas buat kerja!

Kerja aku nampak berat walau gaji kecil. Namun tahu tak, aku ada kuasa menangkap orang buat salah. Boleh mendakwa orang yang melanggar undang-undang. Aku boleh masuk airport sampai ke pintu kapal terbang. Aku boleh berjalan dan bersalam dengan Perdana Menteri, Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Menteri, Menteri Besar, Ketua Jabatan Kerajaan. Kalau aku ada masalah, aku boleh telefom je kawan-kawan dalam kerajaan.

Haaaa...kawan kau yang kaya senang ada keistimewaan macam kau ada? Emmm...

Eh lagu tu pulok. Okay lah. Tak jadi resign lah. Banyak juga benda yang aku tak tahu kerja kerajaan ni. Banyak kelebihan dan keistimewaan.

Aku insaf. Aku nak kerja rajin-rajin sampai pencen. Aku nak berbakti pada rakyat, negeri, negara, bangsa dan agamaku. Aku bersyukur kerana dapat kerja ini.

Nukilan Ripin Niknah

Challenges As A Civil Servant

Kala Lupur, 20 December 2015 - Good morning mek, tok we, abe, adik, kakok, pok cik & mok cik and readers. Happy Reading.

What would you do when you are asked to implement a political decision that you consider may anger public and people as a whole?

As a civil servant you just have to do it. You serve the rakyat based on orders, instructions and policies made by the politicians. The politicians, in this context refer to the government of the day elected by the people such as the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Chief Ministers and Excos. They decide what the government plan to do for the country. 

Under the democracy system which our country has been adopting since Independence, lawmakers who won the election and command the majority, form the government. The Parliament, is an institution of highest authority debates, votes and decides laws governing the country and it is part of the democracy system. The Parliament also approves money for the government to spend within the parameters set in the laws. 

There are two sides of group in the parliament. The group that form the government and the other one is the group who are not part of the government. Both members of the groups have won the constituency seats in the general election. It means, the members are the elected representative of the people. The democracy system practically recognises, only the group that forms the government able to carry out responsibilities for and on behalf of the people because the rule "majority wins" is the essence of democracy.

Okeh, merapu banyok pulok aku pasal sistem demokrasi nih. Let's continue...

The civil service is the machinery exists to serve the government which has a mandate from the parliament. The government decides and approves policies, programs, implements projects, activities and renders services for the people because they are chosen and elected to do it. That is the government's responsibilities. Who will execute these things? The civil servants!!!

Back to the question "what would you do when you are asked to implement a political decision that you consider may anger public and people as a whole?

As a civil servant, the above question should not arise at all. The execution of a political decision by the government is the absolute responsibilities of the civil servants. Failing to fulfil its responsibilities will make them deserve for a strongest condemnation by the government. On the other side, the Opposition has no authority rights to call upon the government's civil servants not to obey, comply or follow the governments instructions.

Jeng jeng jeng.....dilema dilema nih....pah nok wat gano nih?

To join the civil service requires certain quality. Among the pre-requites are ability to analyse, critical thinking, decisive and most importantly is the ability to advise the government. Civil servant is the pulse and brain of the government. They are located in villages, districts, states and federal administration capital. Some are posted overseas in the neigbouring countries, the near region and far away of the globe. A significant number of personel are also embedded in the society, community and economy as the government representatives in NGO organisations, universities, institutions, corporations and world bodies. 

Information is in the hands of the civil servants because of their mammoth spread and variety of service they are doing. This is the power that no body should take for granted even the political masters. That is why a civil servant plays important roles in developing and preserving the prosperity of the country. Formulating policies, drafting and enforcing laws, executing programs, fulfilling the needs of the people upon orders by the government, are all placed on the shoulder of the civil servants. Thereafter, they are the ones who monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the outcome post-implementation. How well the people receive, react, respond and determine the future fate of the government.

Should an officer feels that a political decision may cause negative effects to the people or country, he or she must has a sense of responsibility to properly advise the consequence from the implementation of the decision. Do not stop there. The concerned officer should be ready with alternatives to offer to the politicians who give the command. There are many ways and means to complement the politicians make a decision. The officer of course needs to be knowledgeable and experienced on the government's policies, rules, regulations, procedures, contraints and capable to anticipate of the future. Again, it is all about information plus the qualities that have been mentioned in the above paragraphs.

What about if the politicians do not budge? The words "just do it" come out from that politicians. Then, there is no more "multiple" choices like A, B, C, etc. Just Do It. But of cource, it has to follow proper procedures, processes and go through the righful approval authority. At this stage, a civil servant has to fulfill its pledge and responsibility to serve the government of the day.

Consequences? If it turns out that the people get angry, protest and suffer from the implementation of a decision by the politicians, the civil service should not be put in the trial chamber of the people's court. The judge and the prosecutor is only one, The People who determines the future fate of the government and its politicians.

Meanwhile, a civil servant will continue to do their jobs serving the people. Your politics? Just leave it at home. 

-- Ripin Niknah

Promotion Exercise

The recent promotion exercise by the Public Service Department (PSD) has taught me one important thing. Read further for the details...

Several officers who worked hard and dedicated serving the organisation were left out from the promotion exercise. One of the main reasons was due to the so called performance evaluation marks were below certain benchmark level used by the central agency PSD. Instead of giving promotion to the existing long serving officers, outsiders who had just joined the organisation were rewarded. The reason being was that the outsiders scored higher appraisal evaluation marks. 

However, PSD failed to recognise the fact that appraisal evaluation by immediate supervisor was very subjective and depended upon the level of generosity of the evaluator and how he perceives the excellenct working criteria and performance result. This is the result of the organisational's performance culture and working environment. Different organisations may have different way and benchmarks how it evaluate their people's performance. For example, the 90% marks and above could be given to those who excel in work performance. But, for some organisations, the excellence criterion is defined within the range of 85% to 90%. The score above 90% would only be give to a handful employees who had shown exemplary and outstanding achievements.

Therefore, if the PSD were to maintain this outdated promotion system, I have learned one thing. If you cannot change the system, then live it with the system and find ways how to exploit the system to your advantage.

What did I learn? When you feel your promotion is coming, be sure to keep reminding your boss of a fair appraisal evaluation. I would not hesitate to request from my supervisor for higher marks if I fully satisfied with my performance. I will clearly say to my supervisor that his fair contribution will have an impact on my soon to be higher grade promotion. I believe, by telling the truth (about our feeling) will result in a win-win situation. My supervisor and effectively the organisation will benefit from positive performance of highly motivated of mine. And of course, I will get higher appraisal marks from the supervisor and hopefully be considered for promotion by the PSD. I give work commitment, my supervisor gives me a high evaluation score. So, fair what???