Selangor local authority officers "masih tak O.K."

Ah ... another interesting piece of news coming from the first developed state in Malaysia.

Bernama reported yesterday that Selangor's MB has proposed the setting up of a training centre in Selangor where officers from every local authority in the state must attend a compulsory 3-month training course to enhance their competency and efficiency as well as improve administrative skills. At the end of the course, they will be assessed by way of a special test and if they should be so unfortunate as to fail the test, they need to re-sit the course for another 3 months.

Hmm ... I'm curious as to why it is necessary to waste public funds on such an exercise. In the private sector, training of personnel is almost always conducted in-house because then the stuff they learn will be directly relevant to the kind of work they are tasked to undertake. No unnecessary man-hours will be lost while the training is going on in the course of carrying out their daily tasks.

Besides, would it not be more hands on to learn your job from your senior officer who is supposed to know what it is that the department wants out of you, rather than from a training officer who may not have an iota of an idea of how your specific department functions? I mean, surely not ALL departments in ALL local authorities have the same uniform kind of work mechanism. Other than the tea breaks, I mean.

One other thing that is curious to me is that all the local authorities in Selangor must be over-staffed to be able to afford sending their personnel on a 3-month course out of the office. And not to mention that while they attend such a course, they will continue to get paid out of taxpayers' money for zero productivity.

Also, Selangor must have ample surplus in their budget allocation because surely the next step is to spend money to fund the training centre as well as all the attendant expenses that go with it. Is all the money spent on such an exercise even necessary? Could it not have been better spent on projects that directly benefit the poor and needy, like sprucing up orphanages, old folks' homes, run-down schools, or even improving the state of public toilets in Selangor?

Something must be very wrong with the management of our local authorities if they cannot even handle the training of their own staff. Maybe the MB needs to look clearly at the source of the problem instead of taking the easy way out by throwing money around. And money is such a precious commodity during these difficult times when every single person on the street is struggling with inflation and increased costs of living brought on no less by a hike in everything from utility bills, assessments to interest rates on their existing loans. It seems almost obscene when taxpayers' monies are being wasted on unnecessary ventures.

Maybe it is a case of realizing too late that despite Selangor having been declared a developed state, the people who run the show in Selangor are still lagging behind and having a most undeveloped way of doing their jobs.

Or is it the other case of the state having reached developed status, can now afford to throw some money around and create some sort of activity to take the mundane existence out of the daily lives of its officers.

We throw our arms up at those "lawatan sambil belajar" trips that was such a favourite among local councils before it became politically sensitive. Now, I'm scratching my head at this latest compulsory "kursus" and I can bet you that at the end of this dubious exercise, nothing much changes at the local authorities and their way of dealing with the public.

Do you seriously think that a 3-month course can change a lifetime of bad manners and bad attitude? Give me a break!