Poor enforcement of discipline has led to lack of work ethics, poor morale
THE lackadaisical attitude towards enforcement of discipline in the civil service is a major reason for complacency and poor morale among its ranks, a seminar was told yesterday.
A retired senior officer from the Civil Service Institute, Prime Minister's Office, Hj Duraman Tuah said this in an interview with The Brunei Times, after presenting his working paper titled " The Achievement of the Civil Service after Independence" on the final day of the "Regional Seminar: History" held yesterday at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
The seminar was co-organised by the Sultan Hj Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation and Brunei History Association (Pesebar).
Hj Duraman said though his presentation focused mainly on the role of the Civil Service Institute in supporting all the government projects in the development of the country, his working paper, also highlighted the issues of poor discipline, complacency and low morale.
He said while still working with Civil Service Institute, he was involved in conducting courses and delivering talks to government departments, with the hope that the civil service would function better, but the main problem lay in the poor enforcement of government regulations.
He said if there was proper enforcement, civil servants would not be complacent, breach work discipline or take the matter half-heartedly.
" They think that the government would not take any action against them even if they come to work late," he said adding that all this boiled down to discipline problems which should no longer exist as the government could no longer tolerate complacency.
" There is also the question of morale, he said adding that morale in the civil service had fallen — no matter how well or bad they do their work, nobody cares," he said.
Enforcement is the main obstacle. Disciplinary action must applied equally to all, regardless of rank. "It is our culture in Brunei, that the subordinates would follow the example of the top people but they do not think that this involves issues of job responsibility or commitment on their part.
If comprehensive training were to accompany enforcement, with emphasis on character and work ethics, it will greatly benefit the country's development. "But we have not seen this," he added.
Since retiring two years ago, Hj Duraman felt that the situation had deteriorated and expressed his dismay considering that the effort put towards organising talks and courses had not really borne fruit.
"Don't put the blame on the system, the system is fine. The problem is in the way we implement it?" he said.
"The problem happens when those responsible have the perception that regardless of how they perform, they would still be getting their salaries."
If the authorities want to take action, there are appropriate regulations for them to do so, as specified in the General Orders (GO).
" Take action once to set an example, then probably the culprits would not dare to break the rules again," he said.
"Brunei cannot afford such complacency, not with the total number of civil servants in the country. However, it appears that this will continue to happen. How long are we going to tolerate this?" he asked.
" This is a reminder to us all. It is us that will have to take any good or bad implications from this. That is why in this seminar, element of history is included, so that we can learn from what has happened and not repeat the mistakes.
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