Council staff reminded to abide by rules, law
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Permanent secretary to the Ministry Of Local Government and Housing Bakrie Zaini reminded staff of Kota Samarahan Municipal Council ( KSMC) not to be greedy and arrogant in carrying out their daily duties but instead abide by the rules and the law.
“Men are smart and they can think better and because of this they think that they can do anything they want and often it leads to wrongdoing which can jeopardise themselves and others,” he said before witnessing KSMC’s management, staff and councillors take the ‘Corruption Free Pledge’ before the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission ( MACC) here yesterday.
“By nature we are always paranoid and we complain a lot about trivial and smallest of things rather than solving the problems for ourselves and also in helping others to have a better life in the society we live in today,” he added.
He said despite having the gift of power given by the Almighty to think diligently “we abuse such power and do things not according to our creed”.
“By doing so we become destructive beings, get corrupted and lose our integrity and respect from our peers, families and our society, especially those we serve.
“We have to be straight forward in the way we think or else we lose focus and break the law. People we serve will lose the trust and our integrity is gone,” he added.
He reminded staff of KSMC to respect the law and not abuse the power and authority given to them for their own benefits.
MACC state director Datuk BadrulShahNorman,inhisspeech, said to overcome the challenge on the issues of corruption that was getting complex in recent times, KSMC staff needed to stand by the principle of being fair and at the same time transparent and clean in carrying out their duties.
“It is very important to be transparent as it reflects the government’s commitment to serve the people,” he said.
Badrul hoped that KSMC would always be clean and free from corruption and abuse of power as doing otherwise would bring a bad image to local authorities in the state.
His text of speech was read by his deputy Zulhairy Zaidel.
Earlier, in his speech, the Walikota of KSMC Dato Peter Minos said KSMC was very serious in making its councillors and staff totally free from corruption and abuse of power.
“That is why we call in MACC today (yesterday),” he said.
He added that corruption is an assault to integrity.
“Those developing nations which are said to be corrupt are all down, with the vast majority in poverty and distress and only a few in the ruling elite having it very good all the way. Some are failed states,” he reminded.
Minos pointed out that KSMC represents the government at the local level and it must do its work with full integrity and honesty.
“It must have a high sense of responsibility. There is no two ways about it. This is always my message to my councillors and staff,” he stressed.
Present were Louis Andrea Barieng, a representative of Samarahan Resident, and acting secretary of KSMC Abu Bakar Sepawi.