{"id":20800,"date":"2013-10-08T04:25:42","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T04:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=20800"},"modified":"2013-10-08T04:25:42","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T04:25:42","slug":"the-ags-report-and-the-public-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/the-ags-report-and-the-public-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"The AG\u2019s Report and the Public Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2012 Auditor-General\u2019s Report\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 points to the fact that much is to be improved of our public service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wastage or poor management of government proceeds and assets is patently manifest in cases of improper payment, works and supplies not according to specifications, poor quality services, and unreasonable delays.<\/span><\/p>\n

To ensure the government\u2019s activities are managed efficiently, prudently and in line with its objectives, the public servants need practical wisdom and skills. On the contrary, there are negligence in obeying specified rules and procedures, lack of clarity in planning, and lack of management skills, as highlighted in the\u00a0A-G\u2019s Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Trust is the mainstay of religion and faith; and how far dishonesty is from both of them.<\/p>\n

The Prophet said that \u201cthe one who does not possess honesty, does not possess Faith (la imana li-man la amanatan lahu<\/em>); and the one who does not keep his pledge, has no religion (wa la dina li-man la \u2018ahda lahu<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n

Another narration from Abu Umamah gives the following signs of hypocrites, \u201cwhen he gets financial opportunity, he acted unfaithfully in taking from the property; when he is commanded in religious matters, he disobeys; and when he encounters enemy or difficult situation, he becomes a coward (not taking appropriate action).\u201d<\/p>\n

Masruq ibn al-Ajda\u2019 states that \u201cNothing is more grievous to God than one\u2019s being untrustworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflect, for example, the Qur\u2019anic story of the prophet Musa who\u2014during his journey to Madyan, a town of northwestern Arabia\u2014watered the goats belonging to two girls and did not ask for any reward.<\/p>\n

After returning home, one of the girls praised him to her aged father, the prophet Shu\u2018ayb, and said, \u201cO my (dear) father! Engage him on wages. Truly the best of men for thee to employ is the (man) who is strong and trustworthy (al-qawiyy al-amin<\/em>).\u201d (al-Qasas<\/em>, 28:26).<\/p>\n

Obviously, while capability, strength and power (al-qawiyy<\/em>) are the requirements of a good employee, he should also be honest, faithful and trustworthy (al-amin<\/em>).<\/p>\n

A dishonest person may lie about his capability or qualifications, presenting himself as something he is not competent of. Hence, for example, the case of fake degrees.<\/p>\n

Trustworthiness lies in the employee\u2019s intellect, while capability in his competence. Both are based very much on one\u2019s true knowledge and learning. It is a combination of the honour of steadfastness with the dignity of honesty and integrity.<\/p>\n

Hence, the importance of upholding integrity applies to diverse areas, including the task of preparing reliable human capital, which involves staff selection and manpower recruitment.<\/p>\n

As Muhammad Baqir Najm-i Thani (an adviser on statecraft for Mughal Emperor Jahangir) puts it, \u201cEfficient civil servants and skillful employees are the adornment of any government.\u201d<\/p>\n

When employees of the government are characterised by the quality of honesty, the foundations of the nation are more intact and the people, too, are kept safe from the public servants\u2019 injustices.<\/p>\n

However, if their conduct is tarnished by dishonesty whereas they are having great influence over the functioning of the government, they will afflict innocent people with misfortune.<\/p>\n

What is worse, not only people, even livestock are not spared from such a mismanagement. For example, the A-G\u2019s Report<\/em>\u00a0highlights how livestock deaths were as high as 74 per cent at one state agriculture department\u2019s special rearing station.<\/p>\n

The government should search for prudent and learned personnel, and not opt for negligent and incompetent individuals over accomplished and skillful persons, and not appoint ludicrous people to positions which should belong to individuals with practical wisdom.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, to quote Najm-i Thani again, \u201cit would be like tying a head ornament to the feet, or hanging footwear on the head\u2026Wherever skillful people perish, and ignorant and ridiculous people assume the reins of power, there complete confusion overtakes the dignity leading to disaster for the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The A-G\u2019s Report<\/em>\u00a0also highlights cases where poor attention is given to impact or effectiveness of public programmes or projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you want to do something,\u201d says the Prophet Muhammad, \u201cponder on its consequences. If the consequence is good (rushd<\/em>), proceed with it; if the consequence is offense (ghayy<\/em>), terminate it.\u201d (narrated by Ibn al-Mubarak from Abu Ja\u2018far al-Hasyimi).<\/p>\n

This is called\u00a0muhasabah<\/em>. Indeed, knowledge of the self implies self-examination. Firstly, it is one\u2019s observing whether the carrying out of one\u2019s duties has been executed in the proper way; and, secondly, one\u2019s correcting any deviation from what is proper.<\/p>\n

Allah says in the Qur\u2019an, \u201cLet every soul look to what he has sent forth for the morrow (the Day of Resurrection),\u201d (al-Hashr<\/em>, 59:18) as one\u2019s acts will become one\u2019s provision for the next life after death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2012 Auditor-General\u2019s Report\u00a0\u00a0 points to the fact that much is to be improved of our public service. Wastage or poor management of government proceeds and assets is patently manifest in cases of improper payment, works and supplies not according to specifications, poor quality services, and unreasonable delays. To ensure the government\u2019s activities are managed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-star","category-220","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}