I have been trying to contact several ministers and top officials for the past three weeks. But long before the Hari Raya break, most were already not around.

And now, one week since the Hari Raya break, when everyone should be back at work, I still cannot not reach any of them.

The receptionists did try to pass the phone call but there was no one at the desk and the phone would ring till it gets cut off. Where are their personal secretaries?

I wonder how sincere these office-bearers are in serving the people when they are hardly at their desks and are hardly seen in public.

If anyone visits the government websites, it seem these ministers are so ‘open’ and ‘reachable’, with their emails and phone extension numbers displayed.

But what is the point of leaving your e-mail address when the e-mails themselves are never read, let alone replied?

If important officials are inaccessible to commoners like me, then what are the personal secretaries for? They are not even at their desks where they are supposed to be screening calls. So in the end, only a selected few can reach our ministers.

Good salaries are paid to our ministers and their staff but their attendance at work is no better than students playing truant. So much for ‘Performance Now’ it rings very hollow indeed.

Even the top ministers and their assistants do not even show up. ‘Perform Now’, I would say.