I refer to the letter Civil service: Time to bring back accountability, respect .

I agree with the writer's first suggestion that all letters to government departments should be acknowledged and given a reference number to ensure accountability. It is a wonder how such a simple procedure was not implemented years ago and is yet to be done until now.

From coffee-shop talk I experienced , a retired civil servant said the easiest way to cut down on complaint letters was to ignore all letters not written in Bahasa Malaysia!

With the use of the Internet by government departments, I have experienced a better response time from the Inland Revenue Board, for instance, in my complaints to them via e-mail. This could be due to a proper system in place where a senior officer is in charge of all incoming e-mails and the subsequent forwarding of them to the relevant sections.

But then again, except for a few instances of improved customer service at the Immigration Department, the National Registration Department and the Road Transport Department, the generally slow and inefficient image of civil servants remains a sad reality.

Breakfast and extended tea times continue to be on office time, by rotation, if necessary. Clocking in and out by proxy has been refined to an art, if at all punch-clocks are still in use. Senior officers probably close one, if not both eyes.

A more serious waste of time is the necessity to welcome VVIPs on a state or town visit. Only a skeletal staff remains in the office as most look forward to getting out which makes for a change every now and then. This is despite Pak Lah's 'insistence' that there should be no need to stage a grand welcome but I suppose he is open to persuasion.

That aside, the time and expense involved in travel to and from Putrajaya will continue to be the public's payback time for our ex-PM's delusion of grandeur.