WHEN Pakatan Harapan came to power, the civil service was elated that the “dominance of political appointees” would come to an end. The rule of law would finally prevail; circulars and procedures would be sacrosanct once more.

The hoo-ha over the recent appointments of political appointees is not new, nor is it unique to the current government. Those in the know would acknowledge that “political appointees” since the Barisan Nasional regime had always tried to punch and kick above and beyond their weight.

BN, too, wrestled with the civil service, albeit not as publicly as PH. Not so much because of decorum, but because they were highly unpopular. The popular British series Yes, Minister even made a spoof about the tug of war between civil servants and political appointees.

Therefore, Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement, indicating that the civil service had purposely not paid officers in their first three to four months out of political motivation, is untrue. But, I do not doubt that the delay did happen.

Most civil servants would attest that their first three to four months went on sans salary. Is it slow? Yes. Is it shameful? Yes.

But, the root cause is administrative lethargy rather than politics. I would recommend that Dr Mahathir make sure that civil servants who had just joined the government are also paid within the first three to four months. Not just political appointees. And, definitely not to politicise it.

Now, we are at a crossroads – should we follow procedures, or should we “langgar” like we did with our previous political masters? Our new chief secretary to the government might have had the best intention when he said civil servants should uphold the rules and laws when doing their job, but really, look at the way things are these days. Back to square one. Najib Razak or Dr Mahathir – it remains “saya yang menurut perintah”.

And, who would back us up now? It seems to me that all politicians are the same. Bloody dumb when it comes to government administration, but drunk on highfalutin ideas about themselves and their “grand strategy”.

Last but not least, you can stop with the sabotage crap. If you understand the civil service, you would know that the federal civil service also serves the once “Federated Malay States”, Malacca and Penang. Other states have their own civil service.

Now, that means both Selangor and Penang were, and are, served by the same civil servants serving both the former and current federal governments. If I recall correctly, both Mohamed Azmin Ali and Lim Guan Eng were proud of their state civil servants, and I believe they know that these civil servants are from the same “federal service”, unlike the former “Unfederated Malay States”, Sabah and Sarawak.

But what do we know. I guess it is one of the techniques to “justify” why their manifesto cannot be materialised. The same threat like our former BN masters, when they were intoxicated with their ideas.

Foolish of us to think that our new political masters would want to follow procedures or renew outdated ones. It has always been my way or the highway, anyway. True, the new political masters may not be as corrupt as the previous ones. But looking at the way things are, I’d say, “not yet”.

PS: The Malaysia External Intelligence Organisation had been in existence since the 1970s. I was rather amused Dr Mahathir mentioned that he never had any intelligence agency. A quick search on WikiLeaks will, perhaps, be revealing, if not enlightening. – September 11, 2018.

* Jaded reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.