Letter from a concerned citizen

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I wish to refer to the news on the demonstration against the licence being issued for a quarry operation in a national park at Page 6 on April 25, 2017.

In the news report, the state assemblyman for Tasik Biru claimed that he has personally written to the agencies involved but, however, no action was taken and the operators of the quarry might continue on to blast away the cave!  Luckily, the minister intervenes that ‘stop work’ order has been issued.

It is appalling that some government agencies can ignore or refuse complaints and concerns written to them.

I personally, had the misfortune of writing letters to Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan (MBKS) dated 03.01.2017 and requesting for the status of the matter on 23.01.2017 but there was no reply forthcoming.

Further, I have also again written to MBKS, Kuching and Bomba, Kuching on 6th March, 2017 regarding the sudden erasure of the ‘NO PARKING YELLOW BOX’ drawn on an existing fire hydrant to prevent illegal parking in front of my house but also sad to say that there is no response as to the status of the matter as at date of writing.

I am sure that I am not the only one who is being given such a cold shoulder by the government agencies.

In light of the above, perhaps the government of the day represented by The Chief Secretary of the Government/or the Federal Secretary in the State and the State Secretary to the State Government should seriously look into this matter that it is the sole responsibility of the respective agencies of the government to respond to all letters of enquiries by the rakyat or even the assemblymen elected by the people.

By Section 38 of the Local Authorities Ordinance 1996 (Cap.20), it is provided that officers and employees of a local authority may be transferred to another authority.

So also by the same token, the General Orders or the appointments of any government servants are always subject to transfer.

Thus, if these officers in question are not able even to reply to letters from Rakyat or peoples’ elected representatives then that goes to show that they are incompetent and a suitable replacement should be found to replace these incompetent officers, with a view to serve the rakyat.

I sincerely hope that the trend of not replying to enquiries or letters from the public or peoples’ elected representatives is not a ‘norm’ of these government agencies or the policy of the government of the day.

It is high time that this matter is looked into so that the public who make enquiries will not be left in the dark any longer.

Certain powers accorded to the agencies must be dispensed with urgency otherwise the agencies involved will look like being ‘toothless’.

Hope the above will help to contribute to the betterment of this nation.

A concerned citizen