Tun Daim- The Game has changed: The real game.

Former Cabinet minister Tun Daim Zainuddin today said the obstacles facing the present day government are far removed from those just a decade ago, and old strategies are unlikely to find the success they once did.

Now, I have no direct access to Tun Daim but am in constant contact with his alter ego- someone who I characterized as The Oracle of Syed Putra. This shadowy figure has the inside track on Tun Daim's thoughts and it is to him, that I often refer to when trying to decipher what Tun Daim says.

My interest in what Tun Daim says piqued when he was proven to be prescient in his predictions in the 2008 elections. He warned the government then, that at least 5 states were in jeopardy. At the time, UMNO generally dismissed his prognoses as some ranting of a has-been and a retired politician. Some UMNO people even labeled him as having gone off his rockers.

Since then, people have taken note of what Daim says. This time he's saying and giving the same warnings to the UMNO leadership.

The top leader is impervious to the changing external environment. One thing he observes is that today's younger audiences, demanded communication that was accurate and honest, adding that this applied to businesses and governments alike.

The present generation is a questioning and informed public. Therefore the onus is on leaders of public and private sector to explain their actions. The rise of fuel price, inflation and food price globally is a good example. You can't explain these things summarily without doing more to reason things out.

So I asked The Oracle, what Tun Daim said and what was the occasion.

Tun Daim , said the Oracle recently gave a talk to senior civil servants who wanted to know of the current political scenario. It was also an opportunity for Daim to get to know the mindset of civil servants.

Here is what he said as I interpret from The Oracle.

The mindset of some civil servants is worrying. A section of the civil service is still besotted to the idea that the civil service is an island unaffected by political developments and is automatically identifiable with BN. They think, it is THEY who can determine what kind of government is voted in. hence a section of the civil servants clings to the idea that the opposition cannot govern this country because the opposition cannotfactor in the high opinioned civil service.

The reality is, warned Daim, the country does not operate in accordance to this insular mindset. The civil service gets the government which the PEOPLE vote in. the people vote for a government which they want and what they want may not be in line with the civil service mentality. The role of the civil service is simply to serve the government of the day and the government of the day, is not necessarily what the civil service wants.

This small section of the civil service has better live up to the political realities that are taking hold in this country. Civil service has adapted to any government of the day that is not BN. the civil service can adapt to the government of the day in Penang, Kelantan, Selangor, Kedah. This shows, contrary to the wishes and insular opinion of some section of the civil service, it can operate under a government that isn't BN.

The national government of the day has also got to wake up to the disturbing trend that not all civil servants are for BN. the Police for example may give almost total support. But the government isn't getting total support from the military establishment for example. And there is also an increasing trend for civilian members of the civil service not to support bad policies of the government. Bad policies are read as reflecting a less than desirable government.

So, the top leadership of the present national government would be better off, abandoning rose colored spectacles which lead them thinking everything is rosy.

Tun Daim may just be polite and acquiesce in the general mood of the more vocal sections of the civil servants attending his talk the other day; but it pays for everyone to listen to his private and independent views.

Posted by sakmongkol AK47