JOHOR BARU: Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman delivered a stinging message during his annual gathering with Johor civil servants recently when he hit out at the Opposition not to use the civil service as a “punching bag”.
Ghani reminded the state’s more than 8,000-odd civil servants to buck up and improve on the delivery system as the Opposition was already going to town making all sorts of accusations against the civil service and Government in their talks and ceramah’s.
Among the points raised were on corruption, poor delivery system, leakages of public funds, discrimination against people in the state and also on bureaucracy.
The Mentri Besar also reminded the state’s 15 local councils to immediately address issues such as clogged drains and rubbish collection.
Ghani’s tone to the civil service did not come as a surprise as it showed that the Mentri Besar had a grasp of what was happening on the ground and needed all of this settled especially with the looming general election.
He wants to deliver most of the state’s 26 parliamentary seats to Barisan Nasional in the next elections.
Ghani knows that this is no easy feat given the fact that the Opposition is also trying to break Barisan’s “fixed deposit state” by making it their front line state in the next elections.
With the Opposition already moving some of their heavy-weights including PAS’ vice-president Salahuddin Ayub to Johor and regular visits by Opposition leaders including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to various parts of the state.
Ghani, who is also state Barisan chief, has taken all this in his stride as he too started working the ground early settling issues in all the 26 parliamentary areas.
He has already completed one-round to all the parliamentary areas in 2010 and since October last year, started another round with Gelang Patah as the first and moving on to Kulai. Both are described as black areas. He has covered most of the constituencies.
Ghani, who spends between three to four days in each parliament depending on its size, has a packed schedule everywhere he goes and does not travel light.
His entourage comprises top state officials including local politicians, the state secretary, local council presidents, district officers, state treasurer and other top officials from various departments namely land, public works, drainage and irrigation and the police.
An aide said that Ghani wants to know everything happening in the constituency and also gives the officials time-lines to help settle issues especially with regards to land titles or localised issues.
“His few days in each parliament area is packed with about six to 20 party meetings and also meeting the people sessions.
“Before the 2008 election, Ghani listened to briefings from elected representatives during his visits to the constituencies.
“Now he listens to the grassroots and sometimes the picture is not as rosy as painted by the politicians,” he said.
There have been times when grassroot leaders have openly hit out at their elected representatives claiming that the local politician is never seen in his constituency or not working.
After his morning and afternoon sessions, Ghani then met local representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from various races to find out and settle their problems in the evenings.
“Besides giving them direct allocations for their community work or even to repair damaged school roofs or community centres, Ghani also wants to make good all election promises in the past,” the aide said.
But to solve all these problems, Ghani needs the support of the Johor civil service who act as the implementers to get all the work done before the next general election.
Localised issues such as potholes, no proper street lights, parks not properly maintained, clogged drains, rubbish not collected on time are issues that need to be addressed immediately.
Agencies like Iskandar Regional Authority (IRDA) should be emulated when it comes to infrastructure projects such as roads and flyovers that are completed on time or earlier.
One delayed project which has irked thousands is the Senai Flyover project which has been delayed despite work going on for four years.
This has caused a lot of inconvenience for thousands of motorists commuting daily between Kulaijaya and Johor Baru.
Although some projects are supervised by the Public Works Department, the state government could look at imposing a special levy or penalty on projects which take too long to complete to ensure contractors do not drag their feet in completing projects.
With millions being pumped into the state for infrastructure development in Iskandar Malaysia, the civil servants need to be careful and thrifty in awarding contracts so as not to waste public funds.
Weaknesses and recommendations suggested by the annual Auditor-General’s report about the state’s administration and running of agencies also needs to be rectified to ensure that no party takes advantage this general election and blames the Johor civil servants that they are rendering poor service to Johoreans.
THE STAR ONLINE
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