MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called on the country’s Public Servants to take a neutral stand and respect the people’s choice of Government, saying the previous administration’s attempts to corrupt the bureaucracy led to its downfall.
He said both politicians and the Public Service existed only to serve the will of the people and the country.
“It’s important that we do this to the best of our ability because the nation’s progress depends on how the Civil Service performs,” Dr Mahathir told a gathering of PS employees.
The Prime Minister said he was aware that some PS staff who previously had an “extra income” were disappointed as they no longer could earn a side income from corruption.
“Some may feel that a kleptocratic Government is better than a democratic Government,” Dr Mahathir said.
“That’s why support for the Pakatan Government and also for myself has dropped, but this will not deter us from continuing the good fight.”
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary to the Government, Dr Ismail Bakar (pictured) said the number of Malaysian PS employees as of March this year was 1.71 million.
Dr Ismail said the armed forces comprised 152,957 personnel; police had 128,536; the education sector, 523,226, health, 240,745 and other Departments, 665,068.
“As Civil Servants, we must constantly improve our quality of work and services rendered to the people … executing our duties in a trustworthy manner and with integrity,” Dr Ismail said.
He foreshadowed a number of initiatives including “a rationalisation process to optimise human resources; redeployment of staff to prevent overlapping of tasks and functions as well as an alternative delivery system”.
Kuala Lumpur, 3 May 2019
