CIVIL SERVANTS, PAMPERED & COCOONED, GET A RUDE & LONG OVERDUE AWAKENING: 52 DROPPED ‘UNEXPECTEDLY’ FROM TOP COURSE – ‘IN THE PAST ‘Bs’ WERE ACCEPTABLE, WE TOLD THEM 2 MONTHS AGO THEY HAD TO WORK HARDER, TRY TO GET ‘As”

A total of 52 government servants who were undergoing a special course to become administrative and diplomatic officers (PTD) were suddenly dropped from the programme on Friday, said sources.

PTD officers are often regarded as key players in the civil service, responsible for helping to craft and implement government policies.

Those terminated from the course include four contract officers, who were said to have automatically lost their jobs, while the rest had been ordered to return to their old posts with immediate effect.

The sources told Malaysiakini that the termination came following a decision by the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) and the Public Service Department (PSD) to raise the passing grade for the Special Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management (Special DPA) programme.

“The participants were told on Tuesday that the passing grade (for the course) had been raised to A- from B, before they were each given letters of their termination on Friday, and told to vacate their hostel in Intan by Sunday.

“This came when they were already in their seventh month of the programme, which had commenced on April 16,” said a source close to the programme.

A source later claimed that many who were terminated from the course had scored well in the academic component, but were informed that they had not passed a separate sahsiah (personality) module.

The 10-month diploma course had a total of 86 participants.

According to sources, those who were terminated from the course consisted of 31 women and 21 men, five of whom are PhD holders and 20 of whom are master’s degree holders.

It is learnt that the participants were informed that their enrolment had been terminated after they sat for an examination earlier in the day.

Another source who is close to several of the terminated participants said they were shocked about the decision, as it came when they were close to completing the programme.

“Since the beginning of the course, they were informed that the passing mark was set at B. But now, they were suddenly told that it had been raised to A-, and shortly after that they received their termination letters.

“The participants felt that this is unfair as the bar was raised when they were nearing completion. Worse was the four contract officers, who are now left jobless,” said the source.

Higher expectations

Malaysiakini contacted Intan director Suriani Ahmad, who confirmed that the participants had been terminated from the course, saying that it was decided by PSD.

The raising of the passing grade for the course, she said, was decided together by Intan and PSD. Suriani cited higher expectations due to participants’ additional working experience as the reason for their decision.

“The reason was because they joined (Special DPA) laterally. In normal circumstances, PTD appointments come through the PSD course, and upon completion, they would enter the service in Grade 41.

“However, the participants joined in laterally from various grades, including 41, 44, 48, 54 and even Jusa. That is why the course is called Special DPA.

“So since they are special, the expectation is higher because they had working experience,” she said.

Jusa refers to the highest rank in the civil service.

“They should have striven harder to get ‘A’s since the beginning. When we informed them about their performance two months ago, we told them that their marks were not up to our expectations.

“We have told them to improve since the beginning. Their results are not satisfactory,” said Suriani.

She added that while it was true that the participants had initially been told that the passing grade was B, it was the institutions’ right to change it.

“In the beginning, yes. But Intan and PSD, we have the right to change the passing mark. We have the right to do so.”

‘Sahsiah’ module

Sources added later that the raised passing grade was a two-notch leap from its previous requirement.

Under the programme, a B grade is achieved by getting a 3.00 grade point average (GPA).

The GPA for B+ is 3.33, and 3.67 for A-.

However, the sources claimed that the participants were not dropped because of their academic performance.

“Those dropped have a cumulative GPA (CGPA) of at least 3.6, with the highest CGPA among them being 3.95.

“Most of them managed to achieve the A- grade, but they were dropped because of the sahsiah (personality) module,” said a source, adding that only a couple of the participants got B+ for their academic assessment.

At least three of the sources told Malaysiakini that the sahsiah module was a subjective assessment, and claimed that participants were never informed about their performance until they were told to leave the course.

According to a document of the programme sighted by Malaysiakini, the sahsiahmodule shared an equal assessment weight as academics, and required participants to sit for exams and have their performance monitored.

It listed four categories under the sahsiah module: facilitator assessment, discipline, force ranking, and a self-reinforcement module (modul pengukuhan diri).

A source added that the participants had been accepted into the programme upon recommendation by their respective services, and after going through a stringent series of tests.

MKINI