The inquest into the sudden death of a dedicated Department of Environment officer, the late Rumie Azan Mahlie in Kuching, has opened a Pandora's box of entrenched corruption in the department.

There must be a lot of black sheep in that department who are not sleeping well at night given that abuse of power and corruption will be exposed as the public inquest on the matter continues.

I suppose if you were like Rumie, who walked a straight path when doing his work, you wouldn't be popular with your office mates who are on the take. Reminds you of the film 'Serpico', in which an honest New York cop was harassed by his colleagues due to his disdain for taking bribes and abusing his power.

There is more than meet the eye in the death of Rumie who was alleged to have committed suicide. Hopefully, the public inquest will shed some light on his sudden death and lay bare the rot of corruption and abuse of power by those officers who are entrusted to keep our country clean.

One can only pray that his family will find out the truth about the circumstances surrounding his death

It is sad to see that our civil service, which use to be the pride of the nation, gone to the gutter with regards to corruption. We inherited a good civil service from our colonial masters but like football when we were a powerhouse in the 60s and 70s, the decline in both areas has been a rapid downward spiral.

Hopefully, Rumie's death will not be in vain if it can galvanise the top officials in the government service and their political masters into weeding out the corrupt who have given the civil service a bad name.