The government's decision to do away with the civil servant remuneration scheme (SBPA) is "regrettable" says MCA Youth secretary-general Chai Kim Sen, as the policy would have set a benchmark for better performance.

NONE Though a salary increment for civil servant is welcome, the government should not neglect developing "an administrative system of reward and punishment in order to control the civil service's attitude and efficiency", Chai said in a statement today.

"The performance of the civil servants is the key to the success, or failure, of the government's transformation programmes," he said, adding that it would improve Malaysia's competitiveness and a give better image of the BN administration.

"However, in the past civil servants had adopted a ‘little Napoleon' attitude, which has backfired on the BN government by making it a scapegoat," said Chai.

In the past, top leaders and civil servants caused public furore labelling non-Malays as pendatang, si mata sepet, si kaki botol, sons of prostitutes and such.

'Transparent evaluation system vital'

Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that the policy has been scrapped and that Skim Saraan Malaysia (SSM) would be reinstated with improvements, following stern opposition to the new system that favours higher grade employees.

Chai stressed the importance of a "transparent evaluation system" as yardstick for rewarding and punishing civil servants.

"Currently, the civil service is besieged with bureaucracy, arrogance and inaction, along with the drawbacks of corruption and abuse of power," he said.

"All these have created a negative impact on the government and the nation's economy, and have caused the people to lose faith in the government."

Chai reiterated that the BN government has been beleaguered by an image of having a "poor civil service" and tazht it was about time a more effective system was mooted, together with a salary scheme based on meritocracy.

"What the people want is a clean and fair public service mechanism that is more in touch with the people, and MCA believes that to enhance the quality and efficiency of public service administration, the system of rewarding and punishment is a necessary one," he said.