The Prime Minister’s Office, through the Public Service Department (JPA), is looking to strengthen the monitoring of public servant attendance and prevent manipulation with new biometric technology.

This was shared by Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Defence II Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof at the Second Meeting of the 21st Legislative Council (LegCo) Session yesterday.

The minister was responding to a question from LegCo member Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Isa bin Pengiran Haji Aliuddin on measures to curb the issue of late arrivals and early departures among government staff.

“In an effort to implement more effective monitoring and also to prevent the system from being manipulated, such as colleagues recording attendance for those who are not yet in the office, the JPA will provide the Human Resource System (SSM) Mobile Application which has a verification method using biometric technology, including facial recognition,” the minister said.

He added that other plans include the use of two-factor authentication and QR Codes for the SSM attendance system, as well as establishing a building access integration system using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

The minister reiterated that under existing circulars, the monitoring of attendance and working hours is the responsibility of each permanent secretary and head of department.

He also noted that adherence to working hours is a key characteristic assessed in the Annual Performance Evaluation Form for civil servants.

(News & pic source: Borneo Bulletin)