An Exciting Civil Service: Stories for the Soul

Authors: Wan Hassan Wan Teh
Publisher:  IIUM Press
ISBN: 9789674913410
Weight: 0.48 kg
Pages: 332
Year: 2024
Price: RM90

This memoir of an ordinary Malaysian Civil Service officer contains 'stories' of his 30-odd years of service in the districts of Parit, Tapah, Keroh (Pengkalan Hulu), Port Dickson, Papar and in the states of Selangor and Sarawak where he had the most cordial relationships with the then Chief Minister Tun Rahman; and finally at various ministries especially at the Ministry of Finance where he was posted twice and able to compare and contrast between the two periods. In the last case, he observed that a relatively well-organised ministry under a very capable leadership could be turned into a disorganised one as a result of political meddling like putting 'square pegs in a round hole. At both ends of the relatively smooth journey, he met many capable and admirable leaders among the senior MCS officers like Tun Abdullah Salleh, Tun Ahmad Sarji, Tun Haniff Omar, Dato Elyas Omar, Dato Hassan Ibrahim, and many others and some politicians too. He also came across a few ugly personalities, one of whom denied him a promotion to ultimately reach the pinnacle of his career.

Overall, civil service is a profession to be reckoned with where one is given the opportunity to go for further studies overseas or locally, attending short. courses and conferences at prestigious institutions overseas, as well as being conferred with a reasonable lifelong retirement scheme. The book should. serve as an interesting reading for those already in the civil service and those who want to know more about 'stories' inside the MCS and government administration in Malaysia.