In Malaysia – Everything is Secret
Taken from The Malaysian Insider
NOV 26 , 2009.
Dayakbaru:
In Sarawak specifically – EVERYTHING is a secret. The Civil Servants are very scared to help the people or even to show them what needed to be done. There seemed to be a “secret eye” everywhere in their office. So much so that the government servant has to be wary of who they sit and drink coffee with or just having casual talk. It seems words will get back to the “top’ and the person would be “blacklisted” or punish by the power that be.
Do you know what this mean?
It means the citizen of Malaysia and in Sarawak cannot ask for any information and that every conversation is being monitored. Is that a FREE and JUST societal environment or are we being oppressed and kept under “unofficial” dictatorship by BN government?.
How many Dayakbaru working with the CIVIL SERVICE now dare to stand up and make an open and honest statement to say that many of BN government dealings and project implementations are not in accordance to standard rules and guidelines.Why – they fear for not getting “job promotion” and even disnmissal from their job.
In a free country without oppression and dictatorial control no one should have any fear in voicing out their opinion and observation. This is especially true when the “TRUTH” is spoken.
BN must remember that we are all Malaysian and there is no need to fear us if you are doing your works the correct way. There is no need to use scare tactics and put the rural population into submission through the Community Leaders among Dayaks.
We should be a free country. Sarawak should have more freedom to determine its future. The people should be free to register their own political party. BN – you just need to be opened with the people of Malaysia or they will open the door for you to get out of your comfortable office.
Official Secrets Act
Should anyone be surprised that Putrajaya has invoked the Official Secrets Act to block the disclosure of the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide report?
Landslide
It seems that Ronnie Liu, Selangor state executive councillor is. “It is a mystery why this information is so secret,” he said.
Well, you know, it’s not like the controversial Official Secrets Act hasn’t been around long enough for politicians and legislators not to know about it. It’s about, well, 37 years old.
OSA is a ridiculous Act – a tissue paper from a meeting is a secret
After all, it was Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s own political secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who told me how ridiculous the Act was: “It is so broad because everything is classified until it is deemed to not be a secret. This means that even the tissue paper from a government meeting can be considered classified until someone says it isn’t.”
Let the court help us sort this Act out
I suppose the whole matter has to go to court or be resolved diplomatically before we can know if the MB really has the power to declassify a document from a federal agency. And even if he can’t, the debate over what is a “national security” concern will surely be reignited by this debacle.
BN will use any mean to bring failure to PR
I’m not a legal expert but neither of these points really excuse the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government from committing this gaffe. Given their own claims of non-cooperation by the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal administration in terms of disbursement of funds and talks over the state’s water assets, they should have known in advance that BN would use any leeway to scupper PR’s plans.
It is all about power - by UMNO honcos
But above and beyond that, any politician worth his election deposit should know that a contestation of what is “national security” or “secret” is about naming, and naming is about nothing other than power. The ones who have the power to name such matters in our country, is undoubtedly the head honchos of Umno.
A duck is a duck: because it has characteristic of a duck
The historicity of this idea is a long one. In classical European thought, essentialism is the preferred method of the natural sciences as it works upon the premise that things have inherent features which make them what they are and are independent of external circumstances. A duck is a duck whether it is on land or water or in the air because it has the characteristics of a duck — be it feathers, wings, webbed feet or at the DNA level.
Those in power – change the duck into something elses through changing rules
But nominalism (nomen is the Latin for “name”) argues that the world is variably and changing. What we call a duck depends upon the culture of the naming. Names are a convenient tool so others know what we are talking about. But who does the naming? As mentioned earlier, those in power — and this can be political or even social power.
We should know what is civilized and what is barbaric
The elite and/or bourgeois have often been able to decide what is “cultured” and “civilised” versus what is “barbaric” and well, “unacceptable.” But for power to be exercised, the powerful must argue that there is some essence which transcends historical and cultural contexts, e.g., listening to classical music is good not because it is within the domain of the powerful, but because it is “better” than folk music.
Political styles
Essentialism and nominalism are often linked to political styles. Authoritarianism is seen by liberal critics as resting upon propagating “essential truths” which are inescapable. Nominalism, however, tends to be associated with more liberal accounts. But then again, the “leaders of the free world” gave us the “truth” of terms like “terrorist,” “collateral damage” and, most recently, “change.”
Definition based on our “difference”.
In philosophy, it has been long accepted that one defines himself based on his difference to the “Other.” In the the United States, the terrorist is always the Other. The Other is collateral damage while we are victims of terrorism. And change, other than the skin colour of the president, has really yet to materialise into something definably different from what past presidents have done — meaning to say, every president of the US has “changed” something or other in terms of policymaking. Barack Obama would have to change much more to justify his presidential campaign.
We are Malaysian – others are foreigners
Similarly, national identity is based on the Other. We are Malaysian because we are not Indonesian, Thai, Singaporean or Filipino, although in many of these cases, the differences may be purely a matter of what passports we hold. Many observers and Malaysians/Singaporeans are cognizant of the fact that people living along the Straits of Malacca have far more in common than with those in Borneo — even if state policies of both countries have reduced the disconnect somewhat over the past 50 years.
Malayans is so confusing
Yet the way the two states have been carved out means that Malaysians and Singaporeans see each other “threats” to their own national projects. They are each other’s bogeymen and constantly, the so-called “Malayans” on both sides of the Causeway are defining themselves against the other — although it is probably the case that Sabahans and Sarawakians have never been at all fussed about what Malayans have been agonising about.
1 Malaysian is another form of naming – and rule changing by the powerful
This brings us to the latest incarnation of the Malaysian project. 1 Malaysia, so generously bestowed upon us by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is yet another form of naming. We are Malaysia and we are united.
What is Unity here?
But what does “united” really mean here? Ideas of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism may be concocted by the propagandists but the threat of homogenisation and naturalisation — such an elegantly conceived term, as if your differences make you artificial — remain as clear and present as they were in 1957.
What does it means to be Malaysian through Najib’s 1 Malaysia
Whatever becomes of 1 Malaysia, Najib has certainly rejuvenated the discourse of what it means to be Malaysian. The most visible incarnation has been all-round entertainer Pete Teo’s 15Malaysia film project.
It immediately invokes the idea that in fact, Malaysia is not just multicultural but also multifocal and its 27 million citizens have a kaleidoscopic view of the country. It simultaneously complements and challenges Najib’s vision of Malaysia in its display of the social fabric at work.
It was not the first and will definitely not be the last time 1 Malaysia created debate but what is interesting about Teo’s project is that it was another “naming.” And the invocation of all its meanings and subtexts were also an expression of power, in this case, a cultural one, facilitated and enhanced by mass media.
Don’t use the power willy nilly.
And, of course, there are PR’s constant challenges to BN to live up to its slogan. In this attempt to co-opt power by turning 1 Malaysia back on its creator in an effort to then wrest it, there is a clear sense that having the power to name does not mean that it can be used willy nilly.
Mistakes can happen. Just as they happened when Khalid forgot about the art of keeping a secret.
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Inspirational word from gkm2020
[...] original post here: In Malaysia – Everything is Secret : Dr. John Brian Anthony ~ www … Comments [...]
secara umum kenyataan di atas memang nampak benar dan betul.
walau bagaimanapun perlu dijelaskan dengan terang bahawa para penjawat awam/civil servants adalah tertakluk kepada perintah-perintah am, akta keterangan, kod etika kerja, pekeliling-pekeliling semasa yang berkuatkuasa dan berbagai perundangan dan prosedur tatakerja yang perlu ditaati.
oleh hal yang demikian kenyataan seperti “…In Sarawak specifically – EVERYTHING is a secret. The Civil Servants are very scared to help the people or even to show them what needed to be done. There seemed to be a “secret eye” everywhere in their office. So much so that the government servant has to be wary of who they sit and drink coffee with or just having casual talk. It seems words will get back to the “top’ and the person would be “blacklisted” or punish by the power that be.” ….adalah janggal serta berat sebelah dan perlu diperbetulkan.
adakah ini sebahagian dari taktik DB untuk mengelirukan orang awam seolah-olah civil servants are puppets on the making. by using a litmus test ask this question, Mengapakah jawatan-jawatan di sektor awam masih popular dikalangan pencari pekerjaan?
Hakikatnya civil servants are bind by the rules and regulations seperti kata perpatah melayu “Di mana bumi disembah di situ langit dijunjung.”
as a kerani opis welfare, i consider myself as an obedient civil servant.
remember “Saya Yang Menurut Perintah’” or, more or less “Your Obedient Servant.”
kerani opis welfare,
What Akta Keterangan (Evidence Act) has to do with the civil servants? Are you saying that Evidence Act is relevant to the civil servants in discharging their official duties?
May I correct you, it is Official Secret Act and not Evidence Act, atau dalam Bahasa Malaysia Akta Rashia Resmi.
Yes, only a civil servant is required to give evidence in Court and he has to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then Evidence Act is relevant.
Well said dr.
Kuli perintah bisi GO enggau prosedur ka dititihka. Uka ka peneka ati sida enggau duit nya, nyual enggau nadai nitihka prosedur. Au…enti perintah meri duit projek, rayat nyau peneka ati ka bejaku ke sida kuli perintah ulih ngambi duit nya alu simpan dalam akaun diri. Nyamai endar meh nya. Enti duit nya diberi agai rayat to manage it, aku enda nemu nama enda meh penyadi enggau duit nya. Tentu nyau bedua ke duit nya sida ba ruai TR, deka kena meli TV, kerusi dunlop, astro, daba kibin, ai kemi remaung etc..
Dear friends,
It is not true, “In Malaysia, everything is secret”.
It is as secret as we want it to be on matters that are not classified as ‘confidential’ or ’secret’.
It is in our mind or in the mind of those who want to play ’safe’ or ’stupid’ or ‘unhelpful’, that everything is secret.
It is up to us, everyone of us to dare to speak up, to dare to talk, to dare to discuss, to dare to help others, not for one own interests but to SERVE.
Yes, if you are a government servant, your job is to serve the general public. Since when have the civil servants been punished for doing their duties – in serving the public.
It is more likely the civil servants are not knowledgeable on their own organisation and the duties and responsibilities of their fellow-workers or colleages that they cannot explain the situation to their ‘customers’ and take the easy out by saying, “I don’t know’ or worse still, ‘I can’t tell’.
The answer is, when we visit a DO or a government office, insist on seeing the right person. He or she may likely provide the correct information or advice to us.
It is also true, some office makes the rural folks wait and wait and treat as nobody. Be bold, complain to the office boss or their YB for the poor service. Yes, dare to complain and demand for good service. That is lacking as far as I know. Rural folks dare not demand for their rights and courteous and efficient services.
The YBs must station themselves in government offices and spot-checks on the services rendered to the people and see for themselves whether they are happy with services provided. If they love their people, they would be the ones to cry FOUL. They would be the ones to cry, ‘why everything is secret, if they are all secret.
Since when you last heard of a Dayak YB complain of the service of a government servant or a DO? Try hard to remember.
Be smart and get the right asnwer when you visit a government office. No information that is ‘unclassified’ is secret or not within reach. You should get it.
The approach is important. After all, civil servants are human.
God bless you when you next try to get information from a government office.
Cheers and thank you.
Dear friends,
‘Everything is not a secret’, I say. It is lame excuse for lack of knowledge and poor services by YBs as well as government offices.
I really sympathise with the poor people especially the rural poor when they visit the government offices and are poorly treated and managed.
They spend time coming all the way from longhouses and waiting without complaint and many a time do not get what they come for.
They go home, thinking when can they come again, after spending so much money on this trip.
Who do they turn to when they fail to get what they want? Please pick a choice below”
a. A YB.
b. A community leader.
c. A District Officer.
d. A relative.
e. Nobody.
What have the YBs been doing on the above? Do they care to study the problems faced by the ordinary dayaks day-in and day-out, their many problems and burdens they are carrying, some of them could be your parents or uncles or brothers or cousins.
Have the YBs stood-by to help the people solve their problems? These common rural problems should be the priority of YBs’ everyday tasks in helping their people jointly with the government offices concerned to be productive and reduce the so-called ‘everything is a secret’.
The dayak YBs are the key leaders to ensure the dayaks are served everyday by those who are duty-bound to serve them.
Change ‘everything is secret’ to ‘everything is served’.
Everything is secret? Does this include all the very little thrifty things we do? I won’t tell anyone here that I have ‘beleman’ with someone’s wife throughout my career as manang.
Manang Empangau, through your confession you are found guilty under section 17(3) undang undang DL and as such you are to be sentenced together with the ‘Paramount Leader’ for commiting such crime.
That’s just a fake example. That’s why we have to remain silent. Sapa ka bebeli manjong madahka diri udah beleman deh Igat?
That’s what we called “Privacy” in DL. We need to respect the privacy even from our own family members. Our wife have a secret not to reveal to the husband and vice versa of the husband and our own children.
Do DB know that it was an offence to open the letter of your children or wife which are not intended for you eventhough you feed them?
There are always secret that are not to be revealed even from God to humankind.
dayaklama, what about the “Skeletons In The Closet”. what shall we do with it?