Civil servants confined in the box

I REFER to the letter “At times we need to think outside the box” (The Star, Nov 28).

This is the real situation many civil servants in this country face. Many things that don’t make sense are implemented because those are the instructions given by our superiors or politicians.

If we don’t do it, we are labelled as “Langgar Perintah” and action is taken against us. If we follow the instructions blindly, then we are criticised as people who cannot think outside the box.

When we try to clarify with our bosses, we are put off in a rude manner as to “who are you to question me, just follow the instructions”. Many civil servants suffer in silence as we don’t want to be slapped with show cause letters or transferred just because we voiced out something which is not right or applicable.

It is worse when the superior says one thing and the politician says another. So what are we supposed to do? Who listens to us?

The public don’t understand our predicament and call us “stupid”. Yes, we are stupid for being a government servant with very little perks but many criticisms.

The civil service system has to be reviewed or else we will forever be condemned by the public.

We are all under the rule of “Saya seperti yang diperintah”.

LMP Butterworth