DALAT: Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Human Re-source and Training) Datin Fatimah Abdullah yester-day reminded government officers to embrace good public relations, humility, and knowledge when dealing with the public.

Fatimah, who is also Dalat assemblywoman, gave the reminder at the launching of the Dalat-level ‘An Honour to Serve’ and ‘One Government at Your Service’ programme at Stadium Perpaduan here yesterday. Resident Saudi Narani, deputy Resident (development) Mohd Junaidi Mohidin, district officer Yussibnosh Balo and Pemanca Henry Eli Berangai were among those present.

Fatimah said that under the ‘An Honour to Serve’ motto, there must exist a culture of excellence among the officers so that they could discharge their duties and responsibilities well.

“Government servants must also have the entrepreneur mindset; that they must be result-oriented, process-efficiency, and be able to minimise waste, and have integrity in all undertakings and transactions.”

She said that the ‘One Government at Your Service’ motto emphasised among others, that civil servants must improve counter service by equipping the front liners with more information on roles and duties of their department.

“Under this motto, civil servants must discard their self-centeredness, self-importance and the ‘Little Napoleon’ syndrome when dealing with the public,” said Fatimah.

Fatimah highlighted the fact that after 45 years of independence, Sarawak continued to see disparities in the provision of basic infrastructure and facilities between the rural and urban areas, and in some instances, between the ethnic groups.

“In light of such disparities, I suggest that providers of public services be fully aware of the importance of looking beyond the traditional communication approaches to get closer to the people with the aim of improving the quality of their life.

“Efforts to enhance high performance culture must take into account the difficult and challenging physical, geographical and socio-economy of the state. As members of a development-oriented and people-centred government machinery, public service providers must take the necessary and appropriate steps to bring about, inculcate and enhance high performance culture in the workplace,” said Fatimah.