I have to agree with Jam Gerak of the letter Civil servants don't merit a pay rise yet . Civil servants don't deserve a pay rise. Instead, what they do deserve is a public reprimand, from the prime minister no less in his 2007 new year's address. This hopefully will spur them to get their act together for the coming year.

On the myriad of problems that the majority of the government departments continue to inflict on the rakyat daily - as the writer pointed out - little has been done to improve the efficiency of the civil service by way of the recruitment of competent new staff or the removal of the errant ones. In short, there has been much talk but nothing else.

Part of the problem lies in the politicisation of the civil service. This has inevitably led to its downward spiral decline. Senior citizens will recall that in the 60s and early 70s, the non-politicised and multi-racial civil service was the toast of the Malaysia, attracting the brightest graduates from all races.

Meritocracy brought in people like Ramon Navaratnam, Suffian Hashim, Ahmad Nordin and many other luminaries who served the various branches of the government with distinction.

Sadly, the way the civil service functions today is a damning indictment of the government and its myopic policies. Little wonder then that we now have 'little Napoleons' running all over the place causing havoc in the civil service machinery.

Civil servants must be told that they are there for one reason only and that is to serve the rakyat and not their political masters. If they cannot get this right, then show them the door. Forget about the pay rise for now.