IT is bad for good governance when many public officers, including some Penang Island City Council councillors and personal assistants, choose not to answer phone calls or return calls from the people who put them in office. This includes text messages that indicate they were read by the receiver but strangely not replied after a few days.
Calls to elected representatives are strategic when an urgent issue faced by an individual or a community needs to be raised quickly.
Pragmatically, a phone call from the public can hold more weight in getting immediate answers as compared to an email, a Facebook post or a tweet.
Many B40 families and non-profit organisations are concerned over this practice, especially when they have urgent issues to raise but are unable to call the people in the office. The callers are usually parked, so to speak, with wait music and pre-recorded messages until the line is cut off. This scenario is becoming an idiosyncratic feature in these offices.
Notwithstanding the excellent service displayed by a larger number of state government officers who manage to build a good rapport with the public, this damaging mannerism is only seen in a few officers. Nonetheless, it reflects on the overall organisation.
Ironically, the publicity posters and name cards of the officers have boldly printed phone numbers to call when help is needed. However, the calls or messages usually never get through or remain unanswered.
This issue may sound trivial but the Penang Hindu Association (PHA) believes that by reducing this unethical practice, it will be an added element to sustain good governance and help the public office to function efficiently.
In line with this, PHA hopes that our honourable chief minister and mayor will look into this matter seriously and take proactive actions to come up with a feasible telephone etiquette standard operating procedure (SOP).
A constant monitoring of this SOP will help maintain service consistency.
Additionally, PHA also hopes that hotlines could be set up to report on ineffective public officers who flout the norms and do not respond or listen to the grievances raised by the public.
PHA hopes for immediate action as it involves the reputation of the state government.
Datuk P. Murugiah
President
Penang Hindu Association
