GEORGE TOWN (JaN 14, 2009) : The Pakatan Rakyat Penang government has cautioned any civil servants in the state who harbour ulterior motives not to try making things difficult for the new administration.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today his office had received feedback that certain quarters had been deliberately mismanaging government work and even stoking racial issues.

He said that while most public servants were doing their jobs well, there were a few who were involved in maladministration.

“I have come to know that that there are certain parties in the state public offices who are using whispering methods, that are malicious, to ignite race-related sentiments,” he said.
 
He pointed as an example the case of a Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) staff who rented out council-owned tents at a much higher rate than that charged under the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) state government, without informing his superiors.

There were also cases where there was discrimination in the issuance of summonses.

Addressing a gathering of state-level government officers at Geodesic Dome in Komtar here, Lim stressed that the PR government intended to eradicate corruption as well as racial attitudes in the state’s administration.
 
“Don’t make things difficult for the state government,” Lim said, stressing that the public was not fooled by the work of such government staff.

He said there was a general public opinion that certain civil servants were working to “sabotage” the new state government.

“The public is not ignorant unlike what the BN assumed,” Lim said. “They are able to evaluate the situation and understand what is going on.”

He warned that stern action will be taken against any government servant found to have breached the state’s rules and guidelines.

He also urged civil servants who detected anything amiss in their departments to report the matter to his office.

He said the state government intended to serve all Penangites with equal care, regardless of race, religion or social standing.

Lim pointed out that the state was working to eradicate hard-core poverty across all races, and had given RM100 in water rebates to each low income households regardless of its ethnic background.
 
He also noted that the state had made contributions to huffaz (people who can recite the Quran) even though it was led by a Chinese chief minister, thus cutting across the ethnic divide.

“We will not compromise based one’s race if we find that an individual or organisation has gone against the rules and policies set by the state government,” he said.