MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s huge Civil Service has long been a concern. Photo: Bernama
New legislation aimed at a separation of power between the Malaysian Public Service and the country’s Government has been drawn up according to top Government official.
Director-General of the Public Service Department, Borhan Dolah said the Public Service Act was being finalised and would likely be tabled in the next Parliamentary session in March 2019.
“Malaysia is the only country in the world that has no Public Service Act,” Mr Borhan said.
“The Bill will also incorporate initiatives that will enhance the Civil Service.”
He said the separation of power was crucial to ensure smooth implementation of public services that would not be hindered by political power.
“We want Civil Servants to be apolitical and, at the same time, to strive to achieve the goals of the new Government,” Mr Borhan said.
He said changes and improvements in the Public Service would take some time because the Service had “become too comfortable with the ways of the previous Government”.
His message came as Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad once again took up the issue of the size of the Public Service, saying the country could not afford to be granting it frequent pay rises.
“You increase salaries, the private sector will follow you and the cost of everything will go up,” Dr Mahathir said.
“So that is not the way to run any organisation.”
Dr Mahathir, who resigned in 2003 after 22 years in power, said he was not happy that his smaller government philosophy was not followed by his successors during his 15-year absence.
“What they did was, they increased the number of workers, from one million at the time when I stepped down, to 1.6 million,” he said.
That burden had now been passed on to his Government.
“They left us with 600,000 extra salaries to pay, and they increased salaries sometimes twice a year, 10 per cent and then 10 per cent again,” Dr Mahathir said.
“In 2003, the Government spent MYR22 billion [A$7 billion] on salaries for Civil Servants.”
He said in 2016, this figure more than tripled, to MYR74 billion (A$24 billion).
“Similarly, Civil Servant pensions cost the Government MYR19 billion [A$6.2 billion] in 2016, from just MYR5.9 billion [A$2 billion] in 2003,” Dr Mahathir said.
Kuala Lumpur, 4 December 2018
