Ability vs Pangkat

This is an observation which I have found to be true in most situations in this country: the inverse relationship between ability and pangkat (which means position or rank at work, in Malay).

Good hardworking people do not get promoted, only egomaniacs, assh***s and idiots do.. especially among the country's civil servants.. If you are a good worker, you stay right where you are cos the office/department needs you to make sure it is functioning as the rest of your so-called colleagues can't work or obscenely lazy.. You won't get promoted, because any promotion means your current job will be below your pay grade and your boss would need to find someone (as hardworking and efficient as you) to replace you.. that will be too much work for him/her.. So in the end, in order not to be the ant when everyone else is happily being the grasshopper, you can either quit or join the merry-makers.. and in doing so, you might just get a promotion and (still) not have to work..

So what about those deadwood, nutcases and troublemakers?? Well, the preferred way to get rid of them, is not to fire them, but to promote them and send them away to another office/department/district/state/ministry/whatever and let them be the problem of others.. It is the "Taichi"-way of solving inefficiency and problems, which this government has mastered to perfection.. In the end, those idiots, crackpots and loose cannons become the pengarah (directors) and ketua (head) of departments/district/state/ministry... They became "somebody", which will then "motivate" others to follow their footsteps (by being a third wheel, screwball, nuisance or all three!)..  Now you know why heads of departments and (all level of) directors love to have mesyuarat after mesyuarat (meetings).. And why most of these HOD (head of departments), high-ranking senior officers and ministers tend to come out with half-baked moronic ideas/programs, put their feet in their mouth whenever they speak or just plain good-for-nothing..

And it is also no wonder that our government employs such a huge disproportionate number of civil servants compared to other countries.. anyone who can't get a job in the private sector can easily apply and get one with the government.. while you need to contribute one-hundred-and-ten-percent in private companies (or most probably even more), you only have to work one-hundred-divide-by-ten-percent in the government.. in private firms, one person has to cover the workload of two or more person, while it is the opposite in the government departments, where two or more person is doing the work of a single person.. which definitely explains all the long waits and unsatisfactory works by civil servants..



No one wants to be the "bad" guy and fire staff who cannot perform.. No one ever got fired from their government jobs in this country, heck, even when those big-shots are caught doing things that they shouldn't be doing they will be let off with nothing but a "symbolic" surat amaran (warning letter).. Heck, if your pay grade is higher than a certain number (like when you are a principal), even the DPM is unable to take any action against you!! Cos everyone is just "cari makan" (means earning a living), so no need to be so strict/demanding.. just make-do lar.. And also the office/department is not your father's nor your grandfather's, so no need to get so worked up and be so hardworking.. Everyone is just earning their wages.. That is, unfortunately, the general thinking in this country.. which is causing the government to bleed unnecessarily.. imagine the money the government can save by booting half of those useless civil servants.. but again, this government is incapable of doing something logical as such.. This government does not wish to rock the boat, does not wish to ask the people to bite the bullet and go through REAL reform, and it certainly does not want to be clean and fair..

And they wonder why GOOD people are leaving the country and those who are out don't want to come back...