My late mum used to have a description for people who are extremely good at appearing to be hardworking and not shirkers in front of their bosses.
She'd call them "front-end workers" because they'd always show their superiors that they're working hard on something.
But, when the cat's away, the mice return to their shirking side-steps.
Amid some very genuine and dedicated workers, we often get side-tracked by the antics of malingerers. These "actors" are almost everywhere.
But, I'd like to focus on the government sector today because I'm intrigued by the number of times that our prime minister has had to cajole, encourage and even needle the public sector to perform better after taking office on Nov 24, 2022.
Let's face it: he wouldn't have touched on the matter if there was no reason to do so, as there are other important, if not more, things for him to consider.
PMX, the moniker given to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the country's 10th prime minister, has been perceptive to zero in on the subject.
He knows too well of the situation after the 14th General Election in 2018, when many "shell-shocked" civil servants, even the senior ones, didn't know how to operate with their new political masters.
And, PMX doesn't want a repeat of that.
Most telling was Anwar's plea to civil servants for their support to bring change to the country in his maiden address to them just five days after he was sworn in as the head of government.
"There is no way I can succeed if the backbone of the civil service is not with me," he emphasised.
Two weeks later, Anwar again said the government needed civil servants who are professional, honest, trustworthy and efficient to bring change for the country to be back to its glory days.
And before 2022 was out, Anwar again took the opportunity to remark on lingering, wayward civil servants still bent on pushing for ill-gotten gains, which he said he wouldn't brook any longer.
Still, wanting the wheels of change to move faster, Anwar told his cabinet colleagues and the civil service on Jan 16 to work together and abandon their culture of contentment.
I hope his message wasn't lost on the audience as the monthly gathering of the Prime Minster's Department was held indoors at Putrajaya's more accommodating Dewan Seri Endon instead of Dataran Perdana, where male civil servants had to sweat it out in their ties and jackets under the heat and humidity.
It took PMX to observe their discomfort and change this so-called "traditional" or "revered" location for a better venue.
If his detractors say that PMX is only all talk, then this simple change alone spoke volumes of his empathy for his frazzled officers under the blazing sun.
I hope his discernment will spread to other areas which need rectifying for the betterment of Malaysia under his watch.
Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, the chief secretary to the government, hit the nail on the head on Feb 9 when he told heads of departments and agencies to emulate Anwar by going out of their offices more often to see what's being done on the ground instead of poring over working papers.
Civil servants were also told to employ a people-friendly approach, something which needs great re-examination here, given the absurd happenings of late.
Two of the items above, if done earnestly, would produce the results that PMX is hoping for.
Coming back to what my late mum said earlier about "front-end" workers, I'd like to say that ever since Anwar became PMX, the highway connecting his abode in Sungai Long, Cheras, to Putrajaya has been spruced up.
All street lamps are in working order, signboards are bigger and brighter, and the overgrown shrubbery has been trimmed.
I hope other under-served areas would also get the same attention under the GREAT approach that Zuki touted for good governance, responsibility, empathy, accountability and tenacity of purpose.
Like many Malaysians, including Anwar, I am optimistic that civil servants can be great (again) by just focusing on the tenacity of purpose for a start.
The writer is a former Bernama chief executive officer and editor-in-chief
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
