MALAYSIA
The new Malaysian Government is stepping up the pressure on Public Servants it believes were political appointees of the previous administration, with the Minister for Human Resources, M. Kulasegaran saying they were not hired for their talent but for their political links.
“For example, there are one or two people in my Ministry, appointed to the Board, who do not have specific qualifications; it is because they have things to do with political parties,” Mr Kulasegaran said.
“I think this must change, at least give others the chance.”
He said since the election, this was no longer the old Government, but a new one.
“Only people with talents will be given priority in the Civil Service,” Mr Kulasegaran said.
In an interview with UK journalists, Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad said he would scrap “unnecessary” infrastructure projects and fire thousands of PS employees so the country would not be declared bankrupt.
He said he would cancel a multi-billion-dollar project to build a high-speed rail network linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Tun Mahathir also promised to slash spending at Government Departments and reduce Public Service allowances that were “bloated” by former Prime Minister, Najib Razak in efforts to boost flagging support.
He said the new Government’s mission to reform Malaysia would be tough because the Public Service had been tainted.
“The worst part of it is that the machinery of Government has been corrupted and we have to rely on that corrupt machinery because we can’t dismiss everybody,” Tun Mahathir said.
Kuala Lumpur, 29 May 2018
