This morning as I was parking my car here, I noticed this lady who was sweeping the streets, when everyone else was having their breakfast at the mamak restaurant just a stone’s throw away.
A thought came, “What about just saying a word of ‘Thank you’ to her?” I decided I must do it even though the thank you costs hardly anything.
When I decided to take a picture while she was in action, she immediately stopped, and asked, “Why?” She appeared to be worried that someone may be complaining on her. After all, this is their fate. They work, but hardly anyone notices, but when the road is dirty, people just know how to COMPLAIN!
To me, my feedback to the local authorities is nothing but just a feedback. It only becomes a complaint if it is not attended to, and the problem becomes in issue if it is dragged on for too long. Once it becomes a big issue, it goes to the press.
For me, because I care for our neighbourhood, and the facilities we are provided, I will tell the local authorities that the potholes need to be fixed. When it is faced with an attitude of can’t care less, then, when I naik behrang, I would not hesitate to reprimand the officer. It is usually the junior officers who drive me up the wall. The senior officers are so much more amiable; I would hesitate to be tough with them unless they are the little Napoleons.
Mindset Most Difficult to Change
Just this week, I had to reprimand the person (s) behind the ADUAN POTHOLES at DBKL. After my daughter and I took all the trouble to video a few sections of Jalan Lang Emas and Jalan Bukit Maluri just to show how badly damaged the main road has been, the response I received was: “This is under the purview of the DUKE concessionaire.”
I used a voice message intentionally to display my tone of displeasure.The staff may have felt humiliated but, if he /she were in my position, how would he/she feel? It is easier for me to express my disgust with him/her because I don’t even know him personally. The same screenshot along with the video was sent to both Minister of FT and the mayor just to let them know that the condition of the road had deteriorated over months of neglect. It is up to them to respond positively, but I believe I am not the only one who is complaining; many would be scolding in their cars if they have to drive past it everyday.
Nothing irked me as much as this experience with ADUAN POTHOLES (which I once praised) because the junior officer represented the City Hall, which has direct authority over the DUKE Concessionaire. And if DBKL cannot instruct the concessionaire to repair the road, who am I, an ordinary citizen to talk to the DUKE concessionaire, especially if their behaviour is similar to my experiences with Litrak and JKR Cameron Highlands and Tapah? If the minister reads my article here today, this being mentioned probably for the third time, he or one of his senior officers is free to use it to evoke a change in mindset, if JKR is serious about improving its internal culture. The culture of an organization is a reflection of the most senior officer’s attitude. And if it is a road concessionaire, it is the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA).
Contrast with this Case
Let me illustrate. I had some problems when I called the Telelink of Bank Negara over an issue with the insurance company that I had been dealing for months. It was about MICARE saying that they are not an insurance company; hence, they are not answerable to Bank Negara. The verbal response was followed by a written response staying the fact that MICARE is a management company for the insurance company; therefore, BNM does not have any jurisdiction over them. What the hack! How could they say that. I wrote a strong letter which I emailed to a number of senior officers to highlight the flaws of the argument.
Before long, I received a phone call from one senior officer asking if I could meet with him for a drink so that he could explain to me. This led to a wonderful experience as a complainant I have now, with Bank Negara because of this officer’s action, and his immediate superior who joined in the meeting. Plus, I was able to meet the knight in silver armour who often worked behind the scene to solve many of my issues with insurance companies. What impressed me the most was thier willingness to admit that their staff had made a mistake, and had been counseled. That settled it! They agreed that overall, BNM still has jurisdiction over the insurance company even though it may have appointed a third party to face off their clients.
Many of these experiences have been turned into pieces that I wrote for Malaysiakini, which became a lesson for most people on how to deal with insurance companies. Since then, I have always shout praises about how proactive our national bank is. I sincerely hope that every officer at BNM is like these two gentlemen.
Mindsets Hardest to Change
Mindsets are the hardest to change. Although the present government believes in reforming the system (even limited a prime minister to only 10 years), that has been rotten over the past sixty years, it is the mindset of civil servants that is hardest to change.
Even with our Prime Minister trying to adjust the salaries of public servants to counter inflationary pressures, many of them are still attempting to sabotage the reform process. Because he adjusted their salaries — the last adjustment was 14 years ago - yet Malaysians criticise him for pandering to the civil servants.
The only way to change the mindsets of the public servants is, a change of our own mindsets.
As citizens, we should form the public pressure to see a change of mindset, rather than helping them achieve their objective of sabotaging the government of the day.
Unless the country hits rock bottom, and civil servants are forced out of job by a new government, their entitlement mentality will not change.
Think about this if this is true even for ourselves from my real life experience:
- When someone goes the extra mile to help arrange another garbage truck to collect the garbage, instead of saying Thank you, you just say, “Why should I? I pay the assessments every year!” My friend, I am talking about a staff from my zone who has nothing to do with the services provided by another supervisor in your zone. He took the trouble to help, even that, what’s wrong to just say Thank you?
- Several others whom I had helped - in fact, not me, but the good civil servants we have in our government agencies who attended to the complaints- some have ignored their courtesy although it is not difficult to say thank you. The only person I can say is consistent with his appreciation is my senior pastor who was himself a former director of a private hospital in the past.
This was hoe I did it, and how I will suggest people to do it, too
Here, I recount the story of my encounter with a former FT Land and Mines’ director. I contacted him about my Mom’s Hakmilik Sementara (Privileged Title). He told me, nothing could be done about it.
It was only then that i learnt the privileged title is not that privileged after all. It was only a temporary title issued because the developer failed to carry out the land survey.
That means if your house is burnt down, and your neighbours on both sides decided to expand into your land, leaving only a walkway in between, you have literally lost your right to rebuild your house that legally does not belong to you since there are no official records about the size of the land you own!
Many people are unaware of this issue since it has been left unattended for decades. In my Mom’s case, the house was already 40 years old but she did not get the real title we call “Geran” until a major campaign was launched against the FT Land Office.
The campaign through the media lasted for about four years. Meetings were held with the land office with the help of former Kepong MP, Dr Tan Seng Giaw.
Finally, a few thousand house owners of Taman Kepong received their titles, thanks to the help of Dr Tan. As for me, this was one of the more senior government officer whom I had to take the bull by the horn.
Most other senior officers that I was in touch with those days such as Halimah Hassan (director of Selangor DOE) and Tourism Malaysia director-general Abdullah Jonid, TNB Chief Executive Officer, Ani Arope, DOSH director-general Abu Bakar Che Man, and many more, were all mostly gentlemen. This is the reason why they were able to climb their career ladder.
Back to this street sweeper. I comforted her immediately. “I just want to say THANK YOU for helping to keep the streets clean. If not for your good work, the car parks would still be full of dry leaves!” And, I keep to my word. Not just wanting to say thank you, since I took her picture, I might as well spend some time to use this story to encourage people to treat the ordinary people on the street with some dignity.
Just spending a few minutes thanking them can make a big difference, not that the streets will be even clearer - as it is, the streets is spotless without a dry leaf as I can see it — but at least she knows someone appreciates their work, rather than going unseen.
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