Heads of departments in the civil service are fighting back, saying ‘No’ and reprimanding government staff who use alleged political influence.

The message is clear by the authorities - no more to political influence for postings, promotions or career development.

Government staff who use supporting letters and recommendations from politicians are being issued show-cause letters over why they resorted to using political influence in their careers.

This includes recommendation letters from ministers, deputy ministers, parliamentary secretaries and elected political representatives who attempt to wield their power to influence the decision-making process of government officials and administrators.

Azih Muda, president of the umbrella union for civil servants Cuepacs, said that the more than 1.52 million civil servants cannot use letters of recommendations from politicians to favour their transfer, promotion or seek any special position in the civil service.

“This is a policy matter and any influence by politicians or outside parties will only obstruct the implementation of a fair and just system in the civil service. Any special treatment of civil servants can also be misinterpreted in the civil service,” Azih added.

The government departments have disregarded recommendation letters from politicians as it is a violation of government orders.

Section 4 (2) h of the Public Services Department’s Government Orders under ‘Tatatertib’ (discipline) states that government staff “cannot use the influence of outside parties or politicians (cites example) to their advantage”. These can also include the use of letters or personal approaches for favours for the staff member’s career development.

According to a head of a government department who did not wish to be named, recommendation letters from politicians and other parties have increased dramatically for cases of promotion, postings and transfers recently.

“It has come to a point where staff using politicians are interfering with the heads of department’s duties and responsibilities. We want to carry our daily duties without fear or favour,” he said.

He added that it was also affecting the effective distribution of manpower in government departments and agencies. “Teachers and doctors are seeking postings with minister’s letters.”

As result the teachers and doctors are being issued “show-cause letters as to why they had sought political influence.”

Under the government administration, an official said such reprimand letters would be filed in their personal service records and this can affect the career development of the government staffers.

On the civil service, last week Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin ( left ) had pointed out that the government could not force civil servants to support the ruling party and government because Malaysia practised democracy.

Khairy said the political views of civil servants must be respected on who they wanted to support.