Integrity, where-la your goal post?

Cheers: Malaysia’s public service just launched a new training seminar for its staffers – Module for Strengthening Civil Service Integrity, Bernama reports here. I’m inclined to say I sokong. Anything that sincerely champions the National Integrity Plan is fine by me. God knows we need a potent, well-conceived plan and untainted action.

Jeers: Buried at the end of the story is the not-so-fine print – this module was drafted by Jakim, the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia. *Choke* What’s that again?

What in the world is Jakim, a religious department, drafting modules for the secular civil service? How could one religion, in multi-religious Malaysia, be tasked to carry the beacon of Integrity? And what are you ultimately saying by this, my dear shifty government? You speak in strange tongues.

I wholeheartedly bangkang. I don't question the module's explicit intent. I question its principle. Isn’t that the job of Intan, the Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara? There was nothing mentioned in the report about their role. Rather Jakim will partner Malaysia Insitute of Integrity (MII) in monitoring the implementation at all government departments, said Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman. Don't get me wrong. As far as reported speeches go, I thought Samsudin's had good stuff.

But to the key decision-makers behind this module: You are either (1) sincere but naïve; (2) arrogant and blind. Here’s your own five-second module to ponder:

Integrity 101: Definition of the word.

Integrity:
1. Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.
2. The state of being unimpaired; soundness.
3. The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness.

Good.... now, pop quiz.

Do you think that by getting Jakim to draft a secular program, you are pursuing a condition of being whole or undivided? Are you being ethical, and is your decision sound? Do you sincerely believe this will stitch the fraying edges of multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia? Are you hijacking the National Integrity Plan even before it takes flight? Or - am I mistaken – is this the idea of the National Integrity Plan?