The deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is in a tether. Malaysians care not about work and service that Kuala Lumpur is a "national shame". It is time this changed, he thunders. But is it enough? Twenty years ago, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister, he wanted a tree-lined garden city in Kuala Lumpur.

Today, no one talks about that while the few, far too few, green lungs are ripped up for yet another unfillable skyscraper. The legacy of that is seen in fits and starts when exotic trees are planted at a few thousand ringgit a piece all over Kuala Lumpur only to be cut down a few months later because the road has to be widened.

He blames it on a poor work ethic. When Malaysians would rather have illegal Indonesians or Bangladeshis do their dirty work, how could this bring about a proper "work ethic"? It is national policy to encourage mediocrity in government and in commerce. Pride in one's work is not encouraged. The moment the supervisor's eye is turned, the workers go for their obligatory minum kopi , often several times a day. Phones are routinely unanswered in almost all government departments.

Underclass city

Buildings, unkempt for years, are spruced up when a VIP is about to visit. If this spring cleaning had been routine, Kuala Lumpur would not be the underclass city with "first world structures in a Third World country", as Abdullah claims. But a Third World country does not automatically mean poor work habits or a first world country ensure good work habits.

When Dr Abdul Kalam, the man who oversees India's nuclear weapons programme, was asked on a BBC interview, after India's atomic explosion, if he feared the labourers and menials in the programme were up to the mark, given their propensity to down tools at the drop of a hat, he said he was more afraid he and the scientific establishment would let them down by failing.

The Indian worker, once allotted a task would do it to the best of his ability. He had no fear they would not. There is pride in their work, no matter how low or repetitive. There is a sense of purpose in India about what is good for India. He was more afraid of having to face them after he failed. It is a matter of how a worker perceives his role as in the society he lives in.

Here it is different. No one cares. There is always the Bangladeshi or Indonesian who could be hired to do what he would not. Abdullah can beat his breast about all this, but nothing would change so long as mediocrity rules. It is not limited to menial or semi-skilled work. Telephone any 10 senior officers this morning, and they would be, inevitably, away at interminable meetings. You want to find the status of your application? You cannot. The officer is on leave and no one can help you.

Rot at the head

Let the deputy prime minister go on an official visit, as he did this month to Singapore, and he would be accompanied by sundry cabinet ministers and chief ministers and a huge contingent of officials. Why? If he had taken a handful of officials and politicians in his entourage, he should have set an example. As it is, most of those who went with him went for the ride at government expense. And he dares complain that those at the bottom of the civil service totem pole do not pull their weight?

The rot in Malaysia begins, like in fish, at the head. There is no direction. Only statements of intent. Cabinet ministers are good at this. But they would not follow it up. Nor would those in his ministry. The newspapers are on hand to publicise it. But nothing happens. No one bothers to send written instructions to see that this is carried out. It is an offhand statement the worthy makes at an impromptu press conference. It is not meant to be taken seriously.

So, Abdullah wants a superb work ethic for menial and semi-skilled workers he does not want for his officers and others. We do not nurture skills. We do not pursue excellence. We have tuition colleges preparing students for degrees in a dozen universities and proudly proclaim we are the cutting edge of education. We allow Malaysians to be medical doctors, engineers, architects, townplanners by this means.

We cut corners at every stage of national life. We buy a house and invariably it is poorly built. I have not met a single Malaysian happy with the house he bought from a developer who built it in the same way he would make sausages. Complain, and the ministry of local government and housing is happy to tell you why it is all right for you to stay in it. Or that the guarantee ran out yesterday and you have no recourse.

Malaise in society

The police had to have a fire sale to pressure people to settle hundreds of thousands of traffic summons it had not, in negligence, pursued. The road transport department suddenly discovered that tens of thousands of driving licences were issued in stealth.

Look at the world-class sports stadium we built for the 1998 Commonwealth Games; it is now rundown and seedy for lack of maintenance. It cannot be used for another sports extravaganza without a few hundred million ringgit worth of sprucing up and replacing looted equipment. All this points to the malaise in Malaysian society, one which the government routinely ignores.

The government was once so upset that it was understaffed and went on a spree recruiting staff so that it now has about one million workers. No attempt was made then, nor is today, if the workers work. This goes down the line. So, why should anyone bother to clean up Kuala Lumpur just because the deputy prime minister is angry?

If Abdullah means what he says, he should start from the top. That is where the rot begins. Let him in public pull up cabinet ministers and senior civil servants who do not meet expectations. Make it central to his position as deputy prime minister and, with luck at a future date, prime minister. He must set the example. But he would not. He cannot. As the prime minister finds after 20 years in office. As the prime minister in 2020 would find.

For this to change, there must first be a reformation in attitudes and worldviews. This the Barisan Nasional administration would not agree to. So, blaming sections of the community for not pulling their weight will not buck the trend. When there is no incentive to change, and much to gain from not doing one's work, most would give up the ghost and join the crowd. When that happens at the top, those down the line would do with alacrity. I should not have to tell Abdullah that.