The 'broom award' given to underperforming local authority heads by the Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo needs to be commended, although this sort of award could indeed be humiliating .

For far too long, both the public and, I suspect now, even politicians are at the mercy of civil servants who have adopted a couldn't-be-bothered attitude when it comes to service to the public.

Khir Toyo has come under fire from the unions, other civil servants and even the prime minister, but he must stand firm. It is easy to say that civil servants who cannot deliver will opt to take the VSS (voluntary separation scheme) but in reality under our horrendous, burgeoning, bureaucratic civil service regulations, civil servants consistently only get a rap on their knuckles, or at most just get transferred.

This is one of the main reasons the country is sliding towards third world status. Politicians should have acted firmly with civil servants from the out-start and if they had done so, they would have avoided the malaise now permanently ingrained in almost every sector of almost every ministry in this country.

Unless and until the Public Services Commission or whoever else is in charge of civil servants wakes up to reality, citizens and taxpayers will have to consistently put up with their inefficiencies.

If the BN ever wins the next election, and Khir Toyo remains, I would like to suggest that he be immediately made minister of health. He may perhaps then be able to get rid of thieving attendants and ambulance drivers, shoddy doctors and all the little Napoleans in this ministry which have caused havoc to the deliverance of proper healthcare to Malaysians. (Yes, Malaysians. Not Bangladeshis, Indonesians or Filipinos)

Khir Toyo as health minister may perhaps finally save more lives for the amount of money the government has been pouring into the healthcare system compared to the current lot who appear to have brought the service to its knees.