Nor’ain (left), Selangor MACC officers and a contractor representative posing for a group photo during a briefing by Selangor MACC’s Community Education Unit for MBPJ’s Engineering Department contractors.
A VIDEO depicting a local council enforcement officer and a young man in a physical altercation over a parking summons goes viral.
Another situation sees several local council officers called up to assist with investigations into alleged wrongdoings in a million-dollar project, resulting in one senior officer being transferred out.
The above incidents are among reasons why an Integrity Unit (UI) has been established at local councils, as steps are being taken to enhance integrity, accountability and good governance practices.
StarMetro speaks to three local councils in Selangor to learn about the functions of their UI and reforms by the government to bolster transparency and ethical conduct.
This includes an updated circular on receiving or giving gifts, entertainment and sponsorship for the civil service.
Subang Jaya
Subang Jaya City Council (MBSJ) staff have been wearing body cameras during enforcement operations as a measure of safety and accountability.
“This is to ensure enforcement operations are carried out properly and footage can be used if problems arise,” said MBSJ Integrity Unit officer Mohd Herman Musanip.
Mohamad Zahri (left) making his rounds during a spot check by MBPJ’s Integrity Unit to departments and units.
He said the city council’s enforcement personnel started wearing body cameras in March 2020 and it has 11 such units.
“Sometimes, the public perceives MBSJ staff as rude when we are merely being firm in carrying out our duties and ensuring compliance with the law.”
He said the UI worked closely with other internal departments upon receiving a complaint.
“It is necessary to initiate investigations as fast as possible because of time sensitivity or possibility of losing evidence, and identifying the staff involved.
“Similar to investigations carried out by the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), we speak to the complainant, the staff, possible witnesses and other agencies involved in the case,” said Mohd Herman.
Mohd Herman: MBSJ enforcement staff wear body cameras during operations as a measure of safety and accountability.
MBSJ has three UI officers authorised to carry out probes.
Depending on the case, it will also have an internal and external investigation committee, the latter involving support of other government agencies including Selangor UI.
“UI’s intervention is needed for cases involving bribery, false claims, fraud, abuse of power, violation of law, and staff discipline,” said Mohd Herman.
“If someone is being investigated, they can continue working if the case is unrelated to their job.
“But if the case is related to their job, they will be temporarily transferred to a different department.
“If found not guilty, that person can resume their duties and some improvements will be implemented to address the issue.”
However, if found guilty, the punishment would depend on the severity of the offence, ranging from a warning or fine to demotion, pay docking or even dismissal, he added.
Mohd Herman said MBSJ had a no-gift policy and that all local councils referred to a circular issued by the Public Service Department serving as a guideline on receiving or presenting gifts, events and sponsorship in civil service.
“The latest circular in January 2024 overrides previous circulars.
“For formal or work-related situations, a recipient has to submit a declaration form when receiving gifts valued at RM300 and above (see graphic).
“We are only allowed to receive certain items such as fruits, books and plaques at official functions,” he said.
Mohd Zulfahmee: MBSA is introducing an integrity profiling assessment to better understand staff behaviour and attitude.
For events such as MBSJ’s Car-Free Day, he said strategic partners would be asked for sponsorship in kind and to sign a declaration form to ensure transparency.
“One of our success stories is the implementation of the Community Integrity Building – a programme introduced by Malaysian Institute of Integrity at three local councils in peninsular Malaysia namely MBSJ, Melaka Historic City Council and Hulu Terengganu District Council,” he said of the programme introduced in 2016.
“The idea is for local residents to serve as the city council’s ‘eyes and ears’ to monitor contractors carrying out work such as landscaping and infrastructure repairs.
“This is so that contractors know they are being watched and will carry out their work properly.”
Mohd Herman said MBSJ had been invited to share its experience with other councils on the programme’s effectiveness.
The city council, he said, was the only local one in Selangor with a Drug-Free Workplace Special Committee and all of its 14 members were certified by the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) to carry out random urine screenings.
“The move for a drug-free workplace is in line with ensuring high integrity and good governance practices.
“The urine test is done randomly for all departments, on a specific department if there are complaints and on an employee’s first day of work.
“If someone tests positive, the case is referred to AADK for further action.
“We have a team trained to conduct the screening although the samples are tested in a lab under AADK’s supervision,” he added.
An example of body camera used by local councils’ enforcement officers. — Filepic
Shah Alam
Shah Alam City Council’s (MBSA) Integrity Division will be introducing an integrity profiling assessment to better understand staff behaviour and attitude in carrying out their duties.
“We will develop a set of psychometric questions to understand their approach towards dress code and attendance, and assess their knowledge of integrity to understand why staff do what they do,” said MBSA Integrity Division head Mohd Zulfahmee Ismail.
“This online assessment and survey outcome will be developed by our division, with assistance from a professional consultant.”
He said the assessment was among improvements being carried out following integrity cases involving MBSA, such as incidents involving Sungai Buloh traders and flood mitigation project (see graphic).
“MBSA’s top management views these issues seriously. It is also an opportunity to strengthen or reinforce integrity matters within the organisation,” said Mohd Zulfahmee.
MBSJ says its Integrity Unit can initiate an investigation based on informal complaints such as viral videos of an enforcement operations.
“We need to ensure all MBSA staff uphold integrity principles and know what can and cannot be done.
“We have to work harder to ensure staff send the right message and the public understands what MBSA is trying to say.”
The Integrity Division is an independent unit reporting directly to the mayor.
The division has full access to investigate officers and internal affairs within the city council, as long as there is compliance with the law.
“We receive complaints in any form.
“Informal complaints could be based on an anonymous letter or viral video on social media,” said Mohd Zulfahmee.
“A formal complaint has to have complete details, including who, what, where, when, why and how, to facilitate investigation.
“We have a team to assess if a complaint has a basis for investigation, whether it is based on facts or a mere allegation.
“We also work closely with internal departments such as Corporate Communications and Legal when carrying out investigations, as it involves MBSA’s reputation and image,” he said.
As local councils are frontline service providers, Mohd Zulfahmee said it was always a challenge to manage public perception and expectation.
“We have to deal with public complaints and comments on a daily basis,” he said.
“Some callers complain that our staff are slow in answering phone calls.
“Some get upset when issued with summonses by our enforcement officers, although they violated rules such as parking illegally.
“Internally, we have to deal with issues such as attendance and dress code compliance,” he elaborated.
The Integrity Division regularly sends out alerts in both physical and digital formats such as posters and emails, as well as holds awareness programmes reminding staff about integrity and good governance practices.
“We also have spot-checks by visiting departments and frontline counters to check if staff are on duty and doing their work,” said Mohd Zulfahmee.
Several initiatives to enhance practices at MBSA, including Crisis Risk Management (CRM), Organisation Anti-Corruption Plan (OACP) and Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS) have also been implemented.
“CRM serves to identify corruption risks within each department and flag departments at higher risk of corruption, like licensing and enforcement,” said Mohd Zulfahmee.
“From that, we established OACP to identify steps needed to address those risks.
“For example, to prevent issuance of fake licences, the Licensing Department has verification methods to ensure licences cannot be easily duplicated.”
He added that MBSA had established a Rakan Integriti Anda (RIA) programme too.
The RIA representative’s role in each department is to monitor, implement ABMS practices and share information on integrity matters.
Petaling Jaya
Petaling Jaya mayor Mohamad Zahri Samingon is hoping to introduce improvements at Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) UI based on his experience handling integrity matters at the state government.
“I want the investigating officer to look into the accused’s background, such as his family and household situation during investigations.
“Sometimes, issues with those situations could affect a person’s mental state or trigger them to react differently than they normally would,” he said.
He wants MBPJ’s UI to review its existing processes and guidelines to ensure everything was aligned with the Selangor government.
“The state government has more experience dealing with integrity-related cases such as bribery, attendance and staff discipline.
“I also want to share best practices from my time at the state government with MBPJ’s UI,” said Mohamad Zahri, who previously served as deputy state secretary (management).
The seventh Petaling Jaya mayor said he preferred the santun approach (to do things in a polite and considerate manner).
“This includes addressing public complaints, whether on staff behaviour or council-related services.
“For complaints involving city council staff, I will ask the department head to investigate the matter, then report the outcome to me.
“I prefer handling staff-related matters internally.
“The UI steps in if there is evidence of wrongdoings, such as police reports, bribes or physical proof of staff misbehaviour.”
He added that MBPJ’s UI, established in October 2013, served as an internal “check and balance” system to manage integrity-related matters within the city council.
MBPJ Integrity Unit senior assistant director Nor’ain Adam said the unit functioned on six core pillars – governance, integrity strengthening, detection and verification, complaint management, compliance and discipline.
“We investigate complaints, misconduct as well as matters related to staff behaviour and attitude that go against the law,” she said.
According to Nor’ain, MBPJ’s UI has three officers authorised to carry out investigations.
“All our UI officers undergo MACC courses on carrying out investigations, identifying misbehaviour and carrying out good governance practices.”
She said the most common complaints received were about counter staff’s behaviour such as slow in answering phone calls and delays in responding to applications.
Mohamad Zahri has reminded enforcement officers to behave when carrying out enforcement operations.
“Our enforcement officers are legally empowered to carry out raids and operations, such as seizing moveable assets of illegal businesses.
“But other parties might view this action as enforcement officers being rough or rude,” he added.
On the Taman Kanagapuram dog-catching incident (see graphic), Nor’ain said MBPJ made peace with the elderly man because they did not want it to drag on.
“We also used it as an opportunity to improve MBPJ’s dog-catching standard operating procedure.
“This included having a task force with a non-governmental organisation to rescue stray dogs, and we had a working visit to Penang to see how stray dogs are managed,” she said.
