THE G25 group of retired civil servants today urged the public services commission (PSC) to set up a committee to investigate claims by the Immigration Services Union of Peninsular Malaysia that one of its officers was verbally abused by a senior civil servant.

They said the PSC must establish a delegated committee of inquiry in accordance with Clause (6) of Article 144 of the Federal Constitution to determine what actually happened at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport VIP lounge, and if the director-general of the Public Services Department was excessive and abusive in his behaviour when he accused the Immigration officer concerned of dereliction of duty.

They said the committee should take the necessary disciplinary action if the allegations are proven to be true.

“The inquiry should be open to witnesses and interested parties so that it is transparent to ensure that justice is served to both officers.”

“This inquiry should be treated as a matter of grave public interest as it concerned a very serious allegation on the conduct and integrity of one of the top civil servants in the country.

“Accordingly, its report and findings should be published for public knowledge,” G25 said in a statement today.

The group said the public is entitled to know the true facts about the allegation because it involves the image of the civil service, in particular, the Administrative and Diplomatic Service, the senior branch of the public service.

“G25 strongly believes in opening the report to the public because transparency is one of the pillars of good governance.”

“We must have the humility to learn from past mistakes. We have seen from past commissions or committees of inquiry that reports are classified as ‘official secrets’ under the Official Secrets Act and it takes ages for them to be released to the public, if at all they are released to the public.”

“Some reports by independent committees that we know of, were never made public at all, for example, the Independent Committee Report on the fire at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital, Johor Baru, and the Independent Committee Report on the Recruitment and Management of Foreign Workers,” the group said.

G25 also said that the civil servants are public servants and their conduct are matters of concern to taxpayers as they provide the government revenue.

Yesterday, the public services department dismissed claims that its director-general, Shafiq Abdullah, had verbally abused an immigration officer at KLIA. It said the claims were baseless and malicious and aimed at tarnishing Shafiq’s image.

The department said Shafiq had “rightly reprimanded” the officer, whom it identified as James Lee, over non-compliance with procedures after he failed to check Shafiq and his delegation’s travel documents and passports.

It also said the officer was not reprimanded in front of the general public as was initially reported. – August 5, 2022.