No rigid rules during disaster - Kuching

Government officers were reminded not to be bureaucratic in responding to crisis situations such as floods.

Deputy State Secretary (Human Resources) Datuk Abdul Ghafur Shariff said that normal procedures such as filling out forms could not be followed in times of crisis.

“There are two levels of operation. One is crisis situation and the other is normal. In normal circumstances you follow the rules but you cannot always do this when a crisis comes.

“For example, when giving out provisions to flood victims, you cannot bring the forms and ask them to fill it first. This is being too bureaucratic,” he said.

Ghafur said the civil service coped quite well with the recent floods in Sarawak apart from one or two instances where flood victims were reportedly asked to fill out forms before receiving provisions.

“We always try to do the best we can in any circumstances. If I go to the ground, I will impart this message to the officers not to be too bureaucratic in times of crisis,” he told reporters after opening a workshop on developing key performance indicators here.

The two-day workshop was organised by the human resource planning unit of the Chief Minister’s Department and the Centre for Modern Management.

On the state’s civil service, Ghafur said it would continue to recruit staff as and when vacancies arise.

“We are not stopping recruitment this year,” he said, adding that there was currently no shortage of staff.

Sarawak has 13,000 civil servants and a further 5,000-7,000 in statutory bodies, government-linked companies and local authorities.