Zam Speaks Freely On Office Politics In Information Ministry.

For a person who likes to keep a tight lid on any and all news however remotely controversial, it did come as a real pleasant surprise that Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin actually took the trouble to tell all about the politics now in play at his ministry. He spoke candidly about the existence of "blue-eyed staff" and indeed took pains to justify their presence. At the same time he took to task the ubiquitous writers of poison-pen letters, the bane of Malaysian life, especially in politics and the social scene.

Why this new found openness and frank admission to the media of something which should be strictly within the confines of the ministry is not clear. Perhaps he is indirectly targeting someone or is giving vent to his frustrations on the glacial pace at which the officials there work. Whatever the reason, his frank exposition makes interesting reading.

***** Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin Friday lashed out at some quarters in the ministry who chose to write poison-pen letters on the presence of "blue-eyed staff" than to rectify their own weaknesses.

While acknowledging the existence of "blue-eyed staff" in offices, Zainuddin, who described the writers of the poison-pen letters as rogues who did not want to change for the better, said the phenomena existed because of the workers' attitude.

"I do admit this phenomena of blue-eyed employees do exist. But why should there be favourites? Reason is, this person does not complain when given (extra) work by the boss.

"But another person would complain to his/her friends of being given extra work, and his/her complaints get to the boss who will then not give him or her work to do," said Zainuddin at the ministry's monthly assembly here today.

As a result, he said, the boss would give the job to the same people.

"When this happens, some people get envious and write poison-pen letters," he added.

He said officials should not complain or refused to be given extra work if they wanted to see the ministry achieve its mission.

Zainuddin said he would not be able to change the ministry's image alone without support from the staff.

"I am not asking for everybody (to help) ... I cannot change all, but I will do the best I can," he added.

Zainuddin also advised Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) producers to be more proactive and sensitive to the needs of their audience if they wanted to compete with other television stations.

However, he said, efforts by the ministry to change RTM's image as a station for all races had shown success.

This, he added, could be seen from the response shown by Chinese film producers to participate in the Short Film Award jointly organised by the ministry and Filem Negara Malaysia.

"I was informed that 38 per cent of the participation for the award are Chinese," he said and attributed the encouraging response from the Chinese to efforts by his deputy, Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye, in promoting the award. *****
--Bernama

Just who Zam was gunning for I don't know, but obviously he is really cheesed off with the work attitudes prevailing in his ministry which is the same as in any other government department. Let us see if he can whip them into shape before the end of his tenure.
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