KOTA KINABALU: Disciplinary actions had been taken against 17 out of the 17,974 civil servants in the State Government last year.
State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman disclosed this during the closing ceremony of the Disciplinary Action Management in the Sabah Civil Service 2011 held at the Pacific Sutera near here.
He said in 2009, disciplinary actions were taken against 49 people. He said the reduction in disciplinary actions taken between the two years could mean that civil servants were now more aware on matters related to integrity.
“The reduction of 0.18 per cent in the number of cases may show the effectiveness of the actions taken by both the ministry and departments’ disciplinary committees,” he said.
But at the same time, the reduction could also be due to the failure on the part of the implementors to take full disciplinary actions on errant staff since such actions were very technical, had legal implications and took a long time to process, he said.
He added that there could also be a lack in understanding on the regulations and department heads might feel heavy hearted to take action on those involved.
The leading offences in the State’s civil service were absence from work (42 per cent out of 45 cases addressed), followed by offences stipulated under Rule 208 of the Sabah Civil Servants Regulations (12 cases) and corruption (10 cases).
He called on all department heads to consider the following approaches to rectify the weaknesses in managing the human resource at both ministerial and department levels.
His recommendations were: “To take a systematic approach to ensure disciplinary actions at both levels are implemented effectively; to focus on the offences that are conducted often and to implement heavy disciplinary actions for repeat offenders; to conduct regular meetings between heads and their workers to understand the problems that are being faced; increase the efficiency and expertise of officers in managing disciplinary actions; department heads are also encouraged to prepare social and welfare activities to foster better ties with their workers.” Sukarti added that disciplinary actions should not be viewed negatively as such control was crucial to inculcate adherence to all regulations imposed. “As with the management of other fields, the management of disciplinary actions must also be of high quality, and this must be achieved by all responsible personnel in the civil service,” he said. He stressed for the speedy and just deliverance of disciplinary actions, and said this should be based on the principle of ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ and the ‘Law of natural justice’.
At the same time, disciplinary actions should also be concise and orderly in terms of procedures to avoid being challenged in court, he said.
Disciplinary actions taken must also be at par with the offence conducted, he said.
Sukarti also mentioned on the delays in meting out sentences for some cases.
“There are many cases that are still not handled. I hope those involved in carrying out disciplinary matters will speed these up,” he said.