PENJAWAT AWAM BOCOR RAHSIA ADALAH PENGKHIANAT - MB PERLIS

KANGAR: Penjawat awam yang membocorkan maklumat atau rahsia kerajaan melalui apa sahaja saluran adalah pengkhianat negara, kata Menteri Besar Perlis, Datuk Seri Azlan Man. 

Sambil memberi amaran supaya penjawat awam yang terbabit dengan perbuatan keji itu menghentikan segera perbuatan mereka, beliau berkata perbuatan itu hanya membuka ruang dan mendedahkan negara atau negeri untuk diserang musuh. 

Katanya, sejarah membuktikan dalam peperangan atau realiti politik kekalahan sesuatu pihak adalah akibat pembocoran maklumat sama ada untuk kepentingan atau kepuasan diri dan perlu dihentikan segera agar tidak menjadi barah. 

"Ingatan ini dibuat kerana saya masih menerima salinan surat-surat terperingkat didedahkan melalui WhatsApp,' katanya semasa berucap pada perhimpunan bulanan anggota-anggota perkhidmatan awam persekutuan dan negeri di Dewan 2020 di sini hari ini. 

Kata Azlan, beliau lebih suka tindakan terhadap penjawat awam yang membocorkan maklumat atau rahsia kerajaan ditangani melalui saluran undang-undang setelah pendekatan diplomasi tidak berhasil. 

Sementara itu, Azlan berkata kerajaan negeri sangat komited untuk meningkatkan sistem penyampaian perkhidmatan awam dan visi negara maju menjelang tahun 2020 ke arah menjadikan Malaysia antara lima negara teratas dari segi daya saing. 

Sehubungan itu, katanya, kerajaan negeri menetapkan untuk meluluskan sesuatu projek yang biasanya 80 hari kepada 60 hari sahaja. 
"Jabatan atau agensi-agensi kerajaan pula digalakkan mengambil inisiatif untuk meningkatkan sistem penyampaian walaupun hanya idea kecil tetapi mampu memberi impak," kata Azlan. 

Sebelum itu, Yang Dipertua Majlis Perbandaran Kangar Ahmad Hussin dalam ucapannya berkata MPK dijangka membelanjakan kira-kira RM1.3 juta untuk projek pencahayaan Kuala Perlis.

Berita Harian Online

klik imej untuk paparan sebenar

Bengkel Pemantapan Integriti Pentadbiran Awam Negeri Kedah (Corruption Risk Management)

Bengkel Pemantapan Integriti Pentadbiran Awam Negeri Kedah (Pengurusan Risko Rasuah) Pentadbiran Kerajaan Negeri Kedah telah dijalankan di INTAN Wilayah Utara dengan penglibatan semua agensi kerajaan negeri di bawah Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Kedah Darulaman.

Program ini berlangsung pada 5 hingga 7 Ogos 2014 dan merupakan kolaborasi antara Jabatan Integriti dan Tadbir Urus (JITU) Negeri Kedah, INTAN Wilayah Utara (INTURA) dan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).

Objektif program ini adalah untuk mempromosikan nilai-nilai ketelusan, integriti dan tadbir urus yang baik di dalam sektor awam sekaligus menyokong inisiatif pencegahan rasuah oleh Kerajaan Malaysia dan SPRM.

Aktiviti yang dijalankan sepanjang program ini termasuklah penerangan mengenai “Kesalahan di Bawah Akta SPRM 2009”, “Pengenalan kepada Pengurusan Risiko Rasuah” dan “Kawalan Sistem”. Selepas selesai Sesi Penerangan pada hari pertama, peserta dibahagikan mengikut kumpulan agensi untuk menyediakan “Pelan Pengurusan Risiko Rasuah” dan dibentangkan oleh setiap kumpulan pada malam kedua program. Sesi Pembentangan dan Penggulungan Pelan Pengurusan Risiko Rasuah telah dijalankan pada hari ketiga. Majlis Penutup program ini telah disempurnakan oleh YBhg. Dato’ Abdul Aziz bin Hj. Md. Nor , Timbalan Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Kedah (Pengurusan).

Berita@INTURA Julai 2014

Sila Klik Imej Untuk Paparan Sebenar

PENYIAR MAHU PENERBIT SEBAGAI KP PENYIARAN

PERSATUAN Penyiar Kebangsaan Malaysia (Penyiar) ingin merujuk kepada tulisan pembaca yang menamakan diri PENYIAR TUA dalam ruangan forum Jumaat 25 Julai 2014.

Sebenarnya dalam soal perubahan siaran melibatkan radio dan TV pihak persatuan pernah menyuarakan melalui platform dalaman tetapi tiada sebarang respons positif diterima.

Ingin dinyatakan, kami tidak berdiam diri apabila jawatan Ketua Pengarah Penyiaran dan jawatan Timbalan Ketua Pengarah Penyiaran (Rancangan) terbuka pada tahun 2009.Kami telah mengemukakan bantahan pada ketika itu bersama-sama Jawatankuasa Bertindak melalui CUEPACS dan ditujukan kepada Ketua Setiausaha Negara. 

Namun, keputusan pihak pengurusan tertinggi tidak menyebelahi kami. Berhubung jawatan Ketua Pengarah Penyiaran sekarang yang dijangka kosong tidak lama lagi, kami sedang mengambil inisiatif wajar bersama beberapa pihak bagi mempertahankan hak Penerbit Rancangan sebagai calon mengisi jawatan tersebut.

Harapan kami juga agar hak Penerbit Rancangan dapat dikembalikan sejajar dengan skop penerbitan rancangan dan penjadualan siaran adalah 'core business' RTM. Lebih-lebih lagi Jabatan Penyiaran adalah jabatan tertutup.

MOHD AZIMI KASSIM

Setiausaha Agung Penyiar

Utusan Malaysia Online

GST benefits to be seen in long term

KUALA LUMPUR: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) may cause a spike in consumer prices in the short term due to businesses taking advantage of the new indirect tax, but in the long term, it will benefit the country.

To temper the hike in prices, the Profiteering Act must be strictly implemented to check on businesses taking advantage of the GST, which will be implemented on April 1 next year, said Nor Zahidi Alias of Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd.

Describing GST as a more efficient system, he said it also costs less to administer compared with other taxes as a single rate is applied to a range of goods and services.

Nor Zahidi, who is chief economist of the agency’s economic research division, said GST also provides the leeway for the government to tax people indirectly.

This means that taxes will only be borne by those who engage in specific economic activity (consumption) — the more they consume, the more they will be taxed.

“While it is often argued that a higher proportion of income from the lower-income group is used for consumption, basic items that are normally consumed by this group are either zero-rated or GST exempted.

“Therefore, the burden on the lower-income group is less than the higher-income group.”

Nor Zahidi also said GST is an important means of diversification of government revenue.

“One of the critical factors in determining sovereign rating is the degree of diversification of a country’s revenue base.”

Malaysia has been depending on oil-related revenue over the years but oil production has been declining.

“Therefore, GST provides a way for the government to generate additional revenue,” he added.

NST Online

Adapting to new challenges

FOR all the criticism on inefficiency and mismanagement in the public service, government officers of all services, the Malaysian Civil Service officers included, have stood by the government all along.

Records tell us that the civil servants were strongly behind the government in the early years of Independence, throughout the Emergency (1948-60), during the Indonesian Confrontation (1963-64), during the implementation of the New Economic Policy (1971-90), as well as during the economic crises, to quote but a few.

They are involved in policy formulation, programme planning and implementation, budgeting, and day-to-day upkeep of various sectors of the economy, including health, education, and public works. Their detail work includes as micro as drafting ministers’ speeches and parliamentary replies, and accompanying leaders to project visits. Some have to welcome and send off leaders at airports. In the international arena, they represent the country as diplomats, promote trade and investments and participate in negotiations. In fact the list is longer.

As civil servants, they are supposed to be loyal to the government of the day. They are supposed to be behind the scenes and let the government claim all accolades. I remember a senior colleague saying that civil servants should be “nameless and faceless, but never soulless”. This is true.

However, our economy has transformed. Civil servants are no longer serving a government that is dealing with agriculture as well as of maintenance of law and order only, but a government that has to deal with a complex range of issues covering globalisation, international competition, and regional and strategic matters as well as concerns with global warming and biodiversity. Recently, it has to deal with issues related to international aviation, too.

Civil servants have also to deal with domestic issues such as enhancing human capital and labour productivity, managing greater accountability and transparency so that corruption can be wiped out, managing natural resources for sustainable economic growth as well as working for fiscal balance. Not the least is the social concerns to banish drug addiction and promote higher moral values.

Malaysia has responded to these challenges with specialised institutions which help articulate the Malaysian public policy space. To name a few we now have Institute of International and Strategic Studies (ISIS) to help examine regional strategic issues, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) to articulate independent economic viewpoints, Malaysian Institute of Maritime Affairs (MIMA) to deliberate on maritime concerns, and various commissions to regulate privatised utilities (energy, communications, and water) and to check on cartels and collusion. These specialised entities support the Civil Service with greater understanding of the policy issues and responses.

The Civil Service alone may not be able to deeply focus on all public policy issues in a thorough manner given its nature and inherent structures. They are administrators first. Officers often go on transfer for promotion thus affecting continuity of expertise. In-depth research is also minimal in the government service as many of them are largely involved in developmental work and in maintenance. Any policy advice not backed by good analysis can be less effective.

As expected, the policy challenges confronting us are plenty. The budget deficit is one such challenge with its specific issues of large operating expenses and the embedded subsidies in many public services. The system of price controls has to be unbundled to allow for greater market role in price determination. The nexus of labour and skills shortage, productivity and wage issues is another critical policy concern.

The husbandry of our natural resources, our mountains and forestry, rivers and coastline, and our maritime resources, have to be planned, managed, and coordinated, and supervised so that long-term sustainability is assured. More importantly our future generations are given no lesser quality and quantity of good environment.

An area that is often overlooked is communication. The Civil Service must upgrade the level of communication function in the public service so that gaps in understanding between the government and the rakyat can be narrowed. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad often made this remark of the need for prompt response if a comment is made upon the government, in his many National Economic Action Council committee meetings in the 1997/98 financial crisis.

Hence the challenges to policy making within the above context are many and their responses demand deep understanding. Those senior officers who have left textbooks decades ago may be theoretically less equipped while their frequent transfers do not give them enough exposure to provide policy advice. Using circulars to instruct changes for modernisation alone would not effectively deliver the needed cultural changes.

It is in policy making that civil servants need to beef up their capacity. If they do, they will be more relevant. In order to do this they have to work with the specialised agencies mentioned earlier and the universities so as to give depth and substance in their policy analyses. Otherwise foreign consultants will have a field day.

NST Online