PUTRAJAYA, Dec 28 — The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) is allowing a temporary postponement of placement and transfer directives according to requests from its officers involved in these orders, said its director-general Datuk Anis Rizana Mohd Zainudin.
In a statement today, she said several transfers of JKDM officers had been postponed due to family, health, and children’s schooling reasons.
“JKDM consistently emphasises the well-being of departmental staff in line with the goal of creating an efficient organisation under the elements of efficiency, agility, and integrity.
“It is to contribute to the country’s economic development through efficient government revenue collection, trade facilitation, and close cooperation with all stakeholders,” Anis said.
Her remarks come after a statement today by Peninsular Malaysia Customs Officers’ Union. (KPKSM) president Abdul Malik Mohamed Zin, who claimed the transfer directives made by the Customs Director-General were issued without first considering the officers’ welfare.
Abdul Malik also claimed the transfer orders issued are final, and any appeal is not allowed, as stated in the transfer directive.
In response, KPKSM urged the department’s top management to cancel the transfer orders involving several of its officers between states.
Anis added the placement and transfer directives for officers are in line with the order issued by JKDM, namely the Permanent Order of Appointment No. 78-Placement and Transfer Policy of JKDM dated to August 10 this year.
It is also in line with the appointment of officers in the public service and related appointment matters under Separation UP.2.2.1 (Employee Transfer Guide) issued by the Public Service Department (JPA), effective January 1, 2022.
The directives are also subject to the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2019–2023 (Half-Term Review) under Strategic Objective 2.1: Engineering Public Service, towards good governance involving initiatives to strengthen mechanisms in enforcing mandatory rotation for civil servants holding sensitive positions.
She said the transfers, among other things, can help enrich and expand the duties (job enrichment and job enlargement) of officers and prevent any possibility of misconduct, abuse of power, and corruption.
“All transfers implemented involve JKDM officers who have served more than seven years in the same locality,” Anis said.
The policy of placement and transfer implementation is to transfer officers who have served at least three years but not more than five years in a position classified as sensitive.
The policy also involves transferring officers who have served at least three years but not more than eight years in a position classified as non-sensitive.
“An officer can be transferred either by the order of the Director-General of Customs or at the request of the officer himself, approved by the Director-General of Customs based on the service’s interest, without being bound by the stated service period in the paragraphs above,” she said.
— Bernama
