CASE STUDY Nobody s Baby By: Zaliza Bin Zulkipli (Intan Malaysia) Keota Phandanouvong (Central Committee Organisation And Personnel, Lao Pdr) In s House, Sunday September 12, 2004 It was a bright Sunday and as usual, Ms. Yeop, the Director of Family Development Department in the National Population and Family Development Board (NPFB) read the Star newspaper during her breakfast. She liked to read the Readers Column in the newspaper and that morning she found that one article, which was written by an anonymous writer who declared herself as A Busy Mom had attracted her attention. The busy mom complained about the inefficiency of Pusat Asuhan Tasik, a child care centre under the National Population and Family Development Board. She complained about the uncleanliness of the centre, which was unhealthy for the children. She highlighted that there were twenty children contacted diarrhoea after their lunch in the Centre on August 28, 2004. Five children including her child were hospitalised and others were sent home. The writer questioned about the management s lack of interest in maintaining the centre properly. felt uncomfortable with the article as she knew it would become an issue in the office. Immediately after she has finished her reading, her mobile phone rang. It was Dato Fauziah Abdul Halim, the Director General (DG) of the National Population and Family Development Board who called her. Dato Fauziah Dato Fauziah Dato Fauziah Dato Fauziah Dato Fauziah : Good morning. This is Fauziah. : Good morning Dato. : I m sure that you have read the article in the Star today., what is really happening in the Pusat Asuhan Tasik? : Yes, Dato. I read the article. Actually, I was not informed by regarding the diarrhoea that happened in the centre. : How come you were not informed about the matter, considering that you are the Director of the Family Development Department? : I think there must be something wrong in the report. The centre had not faced any problems since it was set up in 1997. : Then, you must investigate the problem. I am worried that the article will become an issue to the Minister. Of course, she will ask me about the incident and the inefficiency of the Centre. I think that you know the setting up of the centre was her idea and it was a pilot project in the Ministry and our office. So, I want you to investigate and give me a report immediately. : All right Dato. : Okay.
took a deep breath after the conversation. As she walked to her office, she wondered how she would handle the situation and resolve the matter. To her mind the Centre was of no interest. She had more important things to think about, and babies and toddlers was not one of them The Background of Pusat Asuhan Tasik The Childcare Centre was set up in 1997, mainly for the employees children of NFPB. It was opened for babies, toddlers and children under age of six years old. Currently there were 20 babies, 21 toddlers and 20 children in the centre. (Appendix 1) Ms. Abdul Rahim had worked as a Project Co-ordinator in the Childcare Centre of the National Population and Family Development Board since 1997. The main function of her job was to supervise and manage the Centre. She reported directly to Ms. Yeop, the Director of Family Development Department. (Appendix 2) She supervised eight staff members, comprising one cook and seven nannies. The staff members were employed on a temporary basis, which often resulted in high turnover of the staff. had requested for more positions in Pusat Asuhan Tasik as the number of children taken in by the Centre kept increasing due to the request of parents who worked at NPFDB. Furthermore, she demanded that the posts be made permanent but the management did not meet her demands. FLASHBACK Wednesday July 2, 2004 Mr.Amien Rais, who was an executive in the Population Department came to see in her office. Amien : Good morning Ms.. : Good morning Mr.Amien. May I help you? Amien : I wish to make a complaint. I am really angry with the Centre. My son is now hospitalised because of your negligence. As you know he has asthmatic and he should be given medication as instructed by the doctor. But your staff member does not really care about him. I pay RM240 each month to this centre for what? : Be patient Mr.Amien. Let me investigate the matter. There must be something wrong as I have instructed my staff to make sure that medication is given to any child if the parents ask them to do so. That is the policy in the Centre. Amien : I do not care about policy you have here! You should make sure that the children have their medication. I know that all of you are working here just for a temporary basis. But still, you should do your work properly! : Yes, I agree. But we always follow the policy. We do not want any incidents that can jeopardise our work here. We do not give medication to any child without instructions from the parents. Amien : Don t argue with me! I will bring up this matter to your Director.
Amien left s office and he went to the office of the Director of Family Development. But he failed to meet the Director because she was away attending a course in Singapore for a week. Thursday July 3, 2004. The following morning, called for an urgent meeting with her staff members. All the staff members attended the meeting except Juhara, who was on the medical leave. Siti Rohani : Good morning. I have an urgent matter to discuss this morning. I have received a complaint from Mr.Amien, father to Roslan, who claimed that we were careless. Roslan was hospitalised yesterday. Mr.Amien complained that we did not give medication to Roslan. May I know who is responsible for taking care of Roslan? : I think it s Juhara. She was assigned to the toddlers. But today she has taken medical leave. I heard that she is attending an interview somewhere in KL. : How can she do that to me? I took her in because she was really in need of a job. How dare this lady fool with me! : Ms., you should keep your eyes to Juhara. She always comes late and sometimes she is absent from work. : I think I should do something. Please ask Juhara to see me immediately tomorrow morning. Friday July 4, 2004. Juhara came to see in the office. Juhara Juhara Juhara Juhara : Good morning Ms.. I am sorry that I could not attend the meeting yesterday. I was not feeling well. : Really! I thought that you were trying to get away from here! Aren t you? : No, Ms.. There must be somebody telling lies about me. Maybe they do not like me to work here. Why do you want to see me? : It s about Roslan. His father complained that Roslan is now in the hospital. He had asthma and nobody gave him medication, as instructed by his doctor. : But during the time I took care of him on that day, he was alright. Nothing happened. Furthermore I didn t know that he has asthmatic problem. His parent did not tell me about it. And I don t know whether they have informed you before. : The parent has not informed me about his asthmatic problem. Anyway, it is our policy not to give medication to children without consent from their parents. You did might. : Why do our staff members here like to live about others? : Be patient Juhara. Your job will be secured here in future. I am fighting for all
Juhara the staff here to have permanent positions. Juhara, some staff members have complained that you frequently absent yourself from work. Is it true? : Of course not! They are liars! Why do they say such things about me? : I hope it s not true. You may go now. Monday August 14, 2004. Ms.Aini Abdullah, a Senior Clerk in the Administration Department met at the clinic. She had received an emergency call from telling her that her son, Yusry had injured his left arm while playing with the other children in the Childcare Centre. Aini Aini Aini : I am really sorry that your child was injured. We are not aware that he was climbing up the ladder and suddenly he felt. I am very sorry, Ms.Aini. : It s okay, Ms.. Children are always active. It just a minor injury. I know you have managed your Centre very well. I like your programme in the Centre and you seem to be able to manage and train your staff members quite well. That should be appreciated. : Thank you, Ms.Aini. Not everybody in the NPFDB is aware about the childcare centre s development. Even though some parents understand our programmes and policies there are others blame us for any incidents that happen to their children. : That is normal in all organisations. People will always try to find fault in our work and rather not recognise our achievements. I am really amazed with you, for having worked in the Centre for so long. Seven years isn t? I feel your staff members are committed to their jobs even though they are employed on a temporary basis. Moreover, they seem to love their jobs, which is very important for the children and the Centre. I think the Management should reconsider their positions in the Centre and give them more formal training on various aspects of childcare. : I hope that will become a reality. I love to work in the Childcare Centre and I have many plans and programmes to improve the Centre. But I am also facing a lot of staff problems and have limited resources. : I am sorry. Hope you can solve them quickly. Good bye now.
IN THE DIRECTOR S OFFICE Monday September 13, 2004. received a call from Suzana, Personal Assistant to the Manager of Family Development Department. Suzana Suzana Suzana : Hello, good morning, Ms.. Suzana here from the Office of Director of Family Development. : Good morning, Suzana. May I help you? : Ms., the Director wants to see you at 8.30 am. She wants you to bring along the administration file of the Pusat Asuhan Tasik. : Suzana, is there any urgent matter? : I don t have any idea. : It s ok. I will come to the Director s office at 8.30 am. hung up the telephone and kept asking to herself whether the article in the Star newspaper would become an agenda in the discussion with the Director at 8.30 am. She too had read the article and felt very unhappy about it. At 8.30 am, went to the Director s Office. : Good morning, Ms.. : Good morning,. Do you know that there was an article of complaint about the inefficiency of Pusat Asuhan Tasik in the Star newspaper yesterday? : Yes, I read about that. : Ok! Do you know that the article is damaging for our organisation? Even though the article was short, it has a bad implication for the Centre. The Director General called me yesterday and she wanted a feedback on the issue of diarrhoea that had happened in the Centre. What is it all about? : Actually, I reported the incident in the weekly report which I submitted to you on September 6, 2004. : I didn t see the report. Anyway you should have prepared a special report. Why didn t you? Don t you know that the issue was very serious as it involved twenty children in your Centre? And now it has been published and made public for all to see! I am also concerned about what to tell to the DG and the Minister. : I m sorry Ms.. Its my mistake for not submitting a special report but I did follow the Department s requirement in submitting my weekly report. You should be aware about the incident if you had read my report. The incident happened because of the poor maintenance of the kitchen. The kitchen is in a very bad state. There are leaks in the drainage system and this has attracted hordes of flies. This has been happened again for a long time. I have already informed the Administration Office, which is responsible for the building maintenance. But, they did not care about my complaints. And now the problem has become serious. I feel really bad because the children have become victims of this situation. : Then why don t you inform me earlier about this problem, so that I can query
the Manager of Administration at our monthly meetings? : I have already informed you in the monthly meeting and even in the weekly reports. But you asked me to solve the problem by myself. And since the Administration Office has ignored my request for such a long time, as the precautionary measure, I have instructed my staff to cover food and clean the kitchen every time they have finished cooking. Then again did you forget that, six months ago the Centre had to be closed for a week because the children were falling ill one by one? : Oh But, now the problem has become serious and I know that the DG will ask me for some answers! Okay, are there other things you wish to bring up regarding the Centre? : Of course! I have already put fourth complaints about the manpower of the Centre many times. The staff members are frustrated and demoralized as they work here on temporary positions. They should be absorbed into permanent positions. Why aren t they are recognized like in the other departments? I think if the other departments can absorb their clerical staff as permanent why can t we? :, I have already made a request to create permanent positions for your staff members. But, the Human Resource Department has been ignoring our application due to the status of the Centre, which is still being tested as a pilot project of the Ministry. I don t know what more I can do! : Ms., I m sorry to say this, but I was informed that our Department is not really fighting for the permanent positions because those staff members in the Centre are being paid by the parents from their monthly contribution. I heard that if the Department makes a request for the permanent positions, it has to put up a working paper to justify the posts and this take a lot of work. Ms. you always know how to blame people but you do not really want to know their problems and grievances. :, you are too much! I know what my job and priorities are!. Now, I want you to write a report on the incident and submit to me by next Wednesday. : It s okay, I will write the report again and I hope it will go up to the Minister and catch her attention. And hopefully there will be some good to it! left s Office and hoped that the incident that had happened in the Centre would open the eyes of Management towards the Childcare Centre. She knew that the Management was not really keen on the development of the Centre after all it was just a place to take care of the children of the employees of NPFDB.
Appendix 1 NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN THE PUSAT ASUHAN TASIK OF NATIONAL POPULATION AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT BOARD AGE NO. OF CHILDREN NO. OF NANNIES 3 11 MONTHS 20 3 1 3 YEARS 21 2 4 5 YEARS 20 2 TOTAL 61 7
Appendix 2 ORGANISATION CHART OF NATIONAL POPULATION AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT BOARD