Harapan: To trim civil service, start from the top

Putrajaya can trim the civil service by restructuring or abolishing redundant government departments or agencies, said Pakatan Harapan.

In a joint statement today, DAP, PKR, and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) said Putrajaya should start with trimming the Prime Minister's Department, which currently has nine ministers and three deputy ministers.

"These appointments are designed purely to accommodate BN components and was not based on meritocracy or ability," said the coalition.

Harapan also proposed that Putrajaya abolish the position of special envoys and ministerial advisors who are given the same status as cabinet ministers.

"These positions serve no purpose in developing the country and overlaps with the duties of our diplomats," they said.

The coalition also proposed that the Federal Territories Ministry be abolished because its role overlapped with local authorities such as Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the Putrajaya Corporation.

The ministry's RM1.61 billion budget would be better spent on the Housing and Local Government Ministry in providing affordable homes, they said.

The three parties also cited three "unproductive" agencies that should be abolished: the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), National Civics Bureau (BTN) and the Permata Programme.

"Permata, an agency under the Prime Minister's Department, should be abolished and its funding be redistributed to other agencies under the Education Ministry," said Harapan.

The Harapan joint-statement was signed by Amanah communications director Khalid Samad, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and DAP political education director Liew Chin Tong.

The trio was responding to recent statements by Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani and former treasury deputy secretary-general Ramon Navaratnam, who both opined that the civil service needs to be trimmed to improve efficiency.

Presently, the civil service salaries cost about 30 percent of the national budget while the number of civil servants form 15 percent of the work force.

There are currently 5.1 civil servants for every hundred Malaysians.- Mkini