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| Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh's long standing fiance, Dato Jean Todt rehearsing a royal ceremony with Dato Patrick Lim |
If yesterday's posting was about the alleged questionable integrity of a senior government official, tonight's posting is about the most senior government official, i.e. Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, the Chief Secretary to the Government (or the Malay acronym KSN).
Just received the story this evening.
It is with regard to the swearing in of a Tuan Yang Terutama (TYT) as the head of a state. No details on the state, the name of the head of state and when it happened will be mentioned. Too embarassing to know the KSN has no common sense of protocol.
Protocol is both "the forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state" and "a code of correct conduct." It is also the way a certain tradition translate the proper manner to carry oneself for certain occasion.
After being in the civil service for so long and having moved high up in the ladder, does the KSN still not understand protocol or just do not have manners?
As the story goes, the swearing in of one state TYT was done at the state capital and made to the KSN on the pretext as the representative to the DYMM Yang Di Pertuan Agong (Agong).
Words reached the Agong.
His Majesty was furious and insisted the ceremony be redo again properly at the Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur.
The state had once tarred out of town a group of Indian Bar Council lawyers trying to seditously instigate the locals.
In one of their roadshow, the audience walked out confused.
There is only 7% Indians in Malaysia and less than 1% in the state. They asked, "What business is a group of Indians trying to tell them how their state should be and what to do?"
The office of the KSN is at the Prime Minister's Department in Putrajaya. There is supposed to be a COP or Chief of Protocol on stand-by to refer on matters of protocol.
Even if there is none, common sense should tell us that the KSN is not high up there in the pecking order.
In any formal ceremony at the palace, the front rows would usually be for the royals and TYT head of states. Then only the executives of Prime Minister and Ministers, and then followed by the judges. Or perhaps the judges in front of the executives.
Senior government official would most likely be at the forth or fifth row.
Quite sure, Dr Ali Hamsa had been at several ceremonies at the Istana in Kuala Lumpur. Thus, he cannot not realised that he is not of higher or even equal in stature to the TYT. It just makes no protocol sense for TYT to do the swearing ceremony to him.
Despite not having any formal knowledge or experience in high level protocal, anyone with common sense knows that the swearing in must be to someone of a higher stature than a KSN.
Senior civil servants are known to be slick in their ampu mengampu. Yet the KSN cannot understand something so basic like this.
Maybe that is why these days they say common sense is not so common any more and the civil service is so screwed up.