BINTULU: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg says so far he is satisfied with the level of integrity among state civil servants.

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), so far it’s ok, tomorrow I don’t know but I pray it would remain like this, we carry out our respective duties,” he said when speaking at the closing of ‘Certified Integrity Officers (CeIO)’ programme at a hotel here yesterday.

He said humans are always humans no matter who they are, and they will be tested with all kinds of challenges in life.

“Even for me, I am also weak, no human is not weak but at least we try to empower ourselves,” he said, pointing out that he had spent 38 years as a civil servant in Sarawak.

To further strengthen integrity among state civil servants, Abang Johari said he had set up the Integrity and Ombudsman Unit (Union), which would be focusing on the effectiveness of the state government delivery system by ensuring that it is open and transparent in the effort to develop the state.

He said there are 94 certified integrity officers (CeIO) in Sarawak and they will be attached to several ministries and government agencies to monitor the procedures, laws and standard operating procedure of the government officials in carrying out their tasks.

“A country with high level of performance, with less corruption, is a developed country, for example like Denmark with a population of around five million. Denmark is financially the most powerful in European Union with strong financial status, people with high income and they work hard,” he said.

Abang Johari also said Sarawak was fortunate to have people without corrupt minds.

He said though being the only state in the country with many ethnic groups, Sarawak is able to enjoy unity and understanding among its people which must be protected.

With that in mind, he said the state had set up the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) to look after the affairs of non-Muslims.

He noted that Muslims and those of other religions in the state share the same belief that income must generated through the ‘Halal’ way.

“What is important is for us to have good health, good attitude, and living in peace.

“If we do things that are morally wrong, there will be many problems, we will not be in peace, afraid of the SPRM (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission – MACC),” he added.

Abang Johari thus reminded civil servants to live according to their means.

Present were Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Integrity and Ombudsman) Datuk Talib Zulpilip, Deputy State Secretary (Rural Transformation) Datu Ik Pahon Joyik, MACC deputy chief commissioner (Management and Professionalism) Datuk Jaafar Mahad and Malaysia Anti-Corruption Academy director Datuk Idris Zaharudin.