I refer to recent news report where the DG of Education was quoted to say that only officers from the Education Ministry are allowed to officiate at school functions to prevent such functions from being politicised. In the statement he says if other people are to be invited, then special permission must be obtained from the state director of education.

For the benefit of the readers, there is a circular to that effect that was issued by the ministry (SPI 5/1999 dated May 11,1999) where it says that government servants are not allowed to be involved ‘anti-government activities’.

While I agree to some extent the directive from Dato Allimuddin, I felt that the instruction is rather lopsided and reflects a poor professionalism on the part of the government service. However, based on my experience of being a former government servant, I could understand his and his officers’ position in issuing the directives. They are just government servants. They just want to do their jobs and protect their rice bowls. Please spare them a few inches of space when you make any criticism.

What I am about to say is nothing to do with Dato Allimuddin or his officers. I want to touch on the issue of professionalism and independence of the federal and state government machinery. Since the issue of education is close to my heart, I am going to use the recent issues as the basis of my discussion.

Should politician’s be involved in schools? In a very short sentence – The answer is ‘NO’! I feel politicians on both sides of the fence should not come into schools. Their involvement has a major impact on the teachers and indirectly on the children. What has happened previously? Any Umno or BN rep had an easy access to schools. Some of them get to sit on the Parents-Teachers Aassociation. Some use the ‘Yayasan Pendidikan’ or ‘Yayasan Pembasmian Kemiskinan’ as their platforms to enter schools.

In their speeches, it is always slanted to politics and support of certain politicians and their policies. Even many headmasters have become Umno stalwarts. This is not good for schools. When I refer to SPI 5/99, I feel very sad that a lopsided regulation was put in place. To be fair, all politicians cannot hold school posts nor do any official opening ceremony of any function in schools.

There is no need to make life difficult for the state education director where he is put in a spot to approve applications to invite VIPs by a school. It is quite obvious he, too, has to protect his own rice bowl and will only approve BN/Umno people only. So we need to take a long-term approach. We need to show professionalism. In this aspect, I was very happy to see the picture of Lim Guan Eng and his people greeting the PM at the Penang Airport. That is what professionalism is about. Lim as the Penang CM must show respect to the PM.

In some state education departments that I know, local Umno leaders have almost a free access to the department. I have seen an experience how a local Umno leader had a hand in trying to make sure the ‘right PTA’ was appointed for a school. This is not good and not healthy for the school and the community.

A professional government service must show impartiality. It is there to serve the people be they pro-BN or pro-opposition. It must be neutral to its core. This is the only measure to ensure that rakyat ’s interest is protected. In many states, the state government agencies who are used to BN being the ruling government find it hard to adjust. They now find it hard to accept that BN is now the opposition. In Malaysia for the past 50 years, BN has been painting a picture that the opposition are ‘untouchables’ and disloyal to the country.

But now, BN are the ‘untouchables’ and the disloyal in the states of Penang, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak and Kuala Lumpur. It doesn’t feel nice does it?

I urged the Chief Secretary to the Government to take measures to inculcate the conduct of professionalism in the government service and not be a tool to any politicians. Government servants must be loyal to the country and not to politicians. While they are required to answer to their political masters, they, too, must obey the various laws, SOPs etc I know it is tough especially because this their rice bowls might be affected but I believe if the majority of the government servants are united and maintain their good values and professional conduct, then no one can touch them.

I, for one, am not a member of any political party. I can meet both the Umno people as well as the PKR/DAP people and many of them have no problem meeting me. They do not feel unconfortable. I respect them for what they have done and I am loyal to country. For the same reason I have my respect for Shahrizat, Noh Omar, Shahrir Samad and people like Tan Kok Wai, Lee Lam Thye and many others. For the same reason, I felt sorry for the country for losing the services of people like Shahrizat, Tan Kok Wai and many more professional politicians. But respecting them doesn’t mean that I am blindly loyal to any of them or their parties.

Tan Sri KSN (and many other MOE officials who hate my guts and who have been trying to get rid of me from one certain PTA) , please read through what I have said here many times before coming to a conclusion. Put the country and its people first and politicians second.