What civil servants think of election result

There's cheer, but also uncertainty and indifference.

PUTRAJAYA: “It’s like a heavy burden has been lifted,” said a civil servant who called herself Siti when she was asked how she felt about Pakatan Harapan’s victory in the recent election.

“Change is good, and it looks like the new government will be more transparent, less bureaucratic and fairer to all civil servants.

“All this time, we have always felt the pressure to please the higher-ups.”

Siti, who is an administration and diplomatic officer, said she hoped senior civil servants would now be more willing to go to the ground so that their planning of policies will benefit from consultation with the people who would be affected by those policies.

One of Siti’s colleagues, Chong, said she was not quite sure how to feel about the outcome of the election.

“On the one hand, I am happy that we have change,” she said. “On the other hand, there’s an air of uncertainty. We still don’t know who will be our new boss in the ministry.

“And the prime minister has said we will have fewer ministries. So we’re not sure what’s going to happen.”

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that he will reduce the number of ministries from the present 35 to 25.

Chong said there was talk among civil servants that some of them might be asked to resign although Mahathir has said that his government would not reduce the size of the civil service.

Chong also said she wasn’t expecting a drastic reduction in the cost of living.

Selva, a communications officer, said he wasn’t as excited as many people apparently were about the change of regimes.

“I know many people say it’s a new dawn, but we won’t really know until at least six months down the road,” he said.

He also said the outcome of the general election would not have any effect on him because the nature of his work had nothing to do with politics.

He said he wasn’t expecting the new government to increase salaries or provide new perks, adding that he was satisfied with what he was getting. -FMT