Min. in the PM’s Dept Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz appears to be all about defending our one-eyed man, Jasin MP YB Mohd Said Yusof by going after the Customs officer that complained about YB. I confess to be disappointed.
Given his track record, I can’t help but hear Dtk Sr’s tone as one of reprimanding what he saw as a lowly civil servant daring to come out and say less than pleasant things about a politician and parliamentarian like himself.
Dtk Sr attempts to construe the episode as one where a kurang ajar civil servant bypassed his superiors to try and ‘prevent’ by ’shouting down’ a parliamentarian from dispensing his duties in that august house.
We all know that YB and Customs are engaged in their own little war. Again, I don’t know how clean or corrupt Customs is these days, but I do know I’m reluctant to hear arguments about it from a man who has admitted to actions the PM himself has called ethically wrong (but also not done anything about it).
YB’s continued audacity in holding his head high while going after Customs, despite his ethically suspect actions becoming completely public, was largely due to a party decision to hold solidarity high, high above principle. Sadly, Dtk Sr’s comments seem to me to be made mostly within this context.
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Meanwhile, the country’s No. 1 civil servant jumps into the fray. Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman instructs civil servants not to cari pasal with politicians through the press.
Said Samsudin: “A Customs officer will have to carry out his job and responsibilities without fear or favour. However, if he ever feels threatened by a message, the officer should have either lodged a police report or brought the matter up to his boss, who can then later approach the minister in charge of his department.“
He also says he will seek clarification from the Attorney General regarding the immunity of MP’s.
The NST presents Tan Sri’s comments in a completely different light. Given that they completely omitted Tan Sri’s instructions to civil servants, it could almost be said that they were trying to sensationalize some big fight between politicians and civil servants.
They also carry Tan Sri’s less than inspirational defence of civil servants making comments to the press:
Asked whether civil servants were prohibited from going to the Press, Samsudin said: “There are no hard and fast rules in this kind of things. Sometimes, officers make comments when pressed by reporters and under such circumstances, this is unavoidable.”
All in all though (thanks, in this case, to the Star), I’d say Tan Sri is generally on the same page as Dtk Sr in calling for problems to be solved in-house; which could be not that good for the public.
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Meanwhile, the Star and the NST seem quite on the same page in carrying the story of the Kubang Pasu Umno division calling for Dtk Sr Nazri to be summarily sacked.
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[...] DPM DS Najib comes to his defence, somewhat disappointingly. DPM defends the man who defends one-eye Jasin (MP YB Mohd Said). A little too many loyalties at the expense of a little too many principles. TDM has something to say too: [...]