I am writing to urge the prime minister to make a sea change by introducing some constitutional changes in the light of the controversy over the new Selangor state secretary.

But first can somebody enlighten me as to how an official from Jakim, a religious department under the prime minister's department, can rise up to become a state secretary.

Is he a PTD man or an officer from one of those closed departments like the customs, immigration, education, and health.

As far as I know these Jakim officers can only be seconded to our embassies and other departments but eventually they return to Jakim.

I wouldn't be surprised if a senior magistrate is made Selangor state secretary because (not a lot of people know this) all magistrates are civil servants not members of the judiciary until they are made judges.

The state secretary of the Federated Malay States (FMS) i.e. Selangor, Perak, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and since Merdeka - Malacca and Pinang - are usually PTD officers who started service as assistant district officers or special assistant (bag carriers) to ministers.

Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu refused to join and retained their own state civil service including the state secretary, state financial officer and legal officer.

Even in these states the federal government sent its own PTD officers to head all the federal departments and agencies. Since most of the states cannot survive without per capita federal grants there was very little the opposition-controlled states could do with the exception of Selangor.

Thus the furore over the Selangor state secretary has its roots in our complacency to continue with the vestiges of the colonial era.

We wouldn't have this problem if all the civil servants belong to federal civil service. However. even if this were to happen, I still cannot fathom as to how a Jakim officer could become state secretary.

The only way forward is for the prime minister to institute constitutional changes whereby these FMS states are given back their own state civil service.

Better still, Jakim should be dissolved and the overall powers over Islam is given back to the sultans and the heads of various states, so that all the Majlis Ugama Islam in every state can function more effectively without the interference of this busybody Jakim.

Only then we can see that 'Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan'.

It's time to reduce the preponderance of Putrajaya over the lives of ordinary people. Under the present system public delivery will never be effective.