Termination of political appointees 'just the beginning', warns Zahid

Former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has warned that the Pakatan Harapan government will not stop at the termination of over ten thousand political appointees' contracts. 

Calling the move unhealthy, he cautioned that it was "just the beginning" of more layoffs to come.

In a statement today, the acting Umno president accused the new administration of using the "excuse" of high national debt to justify laying off more civil servants.

"Do not make them the target and (part of your) political agenda. They are part of the rakyat that need to be defended and they are also voters.

"Umno is worried that the attempt by the Harapan government to project an inaccurate picture that the government debt was much higher than what was previously reported will be used as an excuse to fire more civil servants in the near future," he said.

He singled out Harapan component party DAP, claiming that the latter once promised to reduce the number of civil servants by "hundreds of thousands."

"It is not improbable that these thousands of civil servants (being laid off) are just the beginning", he added.

The DAP-led Penang government had in April denied the claim by then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak that the state government wanted to reduce the number of civil servants to 430,000.

'Not cronies'

Zahid also denied that these political appointees were "cronies of ministers" hired directly by heads of departments, and insisted that they were merely low-wage earners with families to feed.

"They were appointed with the agreement and reference to the Public Service Commission (SPA), which decided the pay scale appropriate to the level and qualification they (appointees) hold.

"Many of them are ministry and (government department) facilitators, and they do not receive comprehensive benefits of the civil service.

As part of the new government's cost-cutting exercise, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had announced on May 16 that his government would be terminating the contracts of up to 17,000 political appointees.

He stressed, however, that contract staff who were recruited to carry out administrative work would be retained, while low-income staff would be relocated to other posts according to their qualifications.

This announcement did not sit well with members of the opposition, with Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi saying the measure could have been avoided had the government not abolished the GST.

MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong, meanwhile, called on Mahathir to hold off on the terminations until after Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations next month. -Mkini