By Ko Tun Khin
“I go to work. I serve my country, not representing any government. I go to work for I don’t have hundreds of thousands of kyats in my bank account. I go to work, for I am not a business owner. I go to work for I have neither relatives’ background nor financial support. I go to work to support my parents and my family. I go to work with the duty and responsibilities to serve the country following the country’s rules and regulations. I respect your individual choice and ideas, and I am proud of you.” I read this post written by a civil servant on social media recently.
I have been thinking about the role of the civil service personnel after reading this post. Do you also believe you should go to work as a public servant? You do not need to answer, however. There will be different emotions and beliefs.
However, civil service personnel assigned to a civil service organization of the State are the people connecting the government to the public. In implementing the government’s duties and responsibilities, it is needed to cooperate with loyalty dutifully and appropriately with the system.
The civil service personnel have to be respectful and loyal to the State and follow the State Constitution and existing laws. They have to work in the interest of the State and its citizens. They have to maintain the State-owned assets and funds and not to misuse or abuse them.
For a civil servant, there are codes of ethics and rules to follow, and to improve existing services for the public, to be the people-centred and ethical civil service personnel who serve the people, to support the development of the State are the points each and every civil servant should be aware of.
The civil service personnel have to be respectful and loyal to the State and follow the State Constitution and existing laws. They have to work in the interest of the State and its citizens. They have to maintain the State-owned assets and funds and not to misuse or abuse them. They have to perform the duty and responsibilities assigned completely. They have to abide by the rules and regulation of the staff as well as the workplace regulations, orders and instructions of the respective departments. They have to be free from party politics. They have to attend the training courses conducted by the Civil Service Board. They have to avoid manners lack of decency and to avoid abusing the authority for personal gain and bribery. They all need to respect the public. All these things are the duties of civil service personnel.
Therefore, the civil service personnel, the crucial parts of the State, must perform the duty to function the State’s machinery by following the civil service laws, rules, and regulations to develop the country.
Since the civil service personnel are respected as honest and ethical persons, their attitude and belief must be genuine. It is a rare opportunity to be a public servant in Myanmar as the number of civil servants is only about 1.4 per cent of the country’s population.
Civil service personnel’s role is crucial to the country, as the heart, liver, and lungs are for the human body. Although the body needs to sleep, those essential parts of the body do not rest for a moment. While a person is sleeping, the heart is beating to show that it is alive. When those critical parts of the body could not work for some reason, the person will not be healthy anymore, and when the heart stops beating, the body will die as well.
Therefore, the civil service personnel, the crucial parts of the State, must perform the duty to function the State’s machinery by following the civil service laws, rules, and regulations to develop the country.
At present, people who do not want the nation’s development are targeting public servants with incitement to destroy the morale of the civil service personnel by taking advantage of the country’s current situation. Considering others who are different from them as the enemy, they take photos of the public servants and share them on social media to humiliate and threaten.
The civil service personnel have to overcome to fail their plan with zealous determination and unwavering faith. We have to see those challenges and difficulties as the test in our life story, and we have to write our own history with the value, respect and dedication to work.
Let me conclude this article with the urge to participate, as the power of civil service personnel, to the union of our nation from our workplaces and environment since the development of the State is directly proportional to the ethical and efficient public servants as well as there is no difference between the State and the civil service personnel.
Translated.
