I am afraid the chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan will not get his term extended when he reaches retirement age in the not-too-distant future.

The reason being, to my mind, he is a trying to annihilate a thriving 'cottage industry' - the practice of government ministries, departments, GLCs and statutory bodies placing advertisements in newspapers thanking or welcoming Pak Lah and his ministers for attending or closing their events.

This money could be better used for more beneficial purposes, says Sidek in circular in June addressed to all ministry secretary-generals, federal-level heads of departments, state government secretaries and heads of statutory bodies.

Such a conscientious public servant but sadly Sidek is quite out of step with the present culture of 'ampu bodek' among ministers, menteris besar and every big boss in the government machinery. Pak Lah, too, seems to be encouraging this culture not to mention Umno-owned newspapers who get hefty revenue from it.

The biggest 'ampu bodek' menteris besar are Mohamad Hassan of Negri Sembilan and his Melaka counterpart, Ali Rustam. These two seem to be in competition for Pak Lah's attention despite the fact that all BN-controlled state governments are practically insolvent. They don't seem to realise that every single ringgit they spend on this culture is funded by the poor taxpayers.

The most outrageous is the recent award of 'Datin Sri' title for the prime minister's wife recently. By whom? It was by none other than Ali Rustam's Melaka state government. The circus then continued with Ali, on behalf of the state government, taking out a half-page full colour congratulation ad in Utusan Malaysia and the other half as head of Umno Melaka.

Thus a full-colour full page ad revenue for Utusan . Quite hilarious isn't it? Mohamad Hassan must have been furious because Ali Rustam beat him to it but he got his turn when Pak Lah paid a visit to Negeri Sembilan.

Utusan seems to be awash with these congratulatory ads by these two state chief executives. Thus this 'ampu bodek' culture has now become a growing industry which Sidek - who is mindful of the poor 'rakyat' - is trying to stop.

He is not only incurring the wrath of Mohamad Hassan, Ali Rustam, Shahidan Kassim, Idris Jusof, Mahathir Khalid and the whole of that lot but even that of Utusan, Berita Harian, NST and the rest would go after him for trying to meddle with their 'periok nasi'.

So I am afraid, Tan Sri, you are not likely to get any extension by way of a contract like your predecessors after your mandatory retirement age.