No civil servants, contract workers laid off after change in govt

 

There was no immediate termination of employment in the civil service including contract workers after several agencies were dissolved during Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Duties) Armizan Mohd Ali said the restructuring process after the change of government including the dissolution of several ministries and agencies only involved redeployment of staff to new places.

"For example, the dissolution of the Federal Territories Ministry, the Public Housing Unit and the merger of the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry and Environment and Water Ministry, did not involve civil servants or contract workers’ termination.

"However, we redeployed the existing civil servants to new positions," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy (BN-Kalabakan) on whether the dissolution of several ministries and agencies under the unity government involved civil servants and contract workers getting their jobs terminated.

Meanwhile, Armizan said the restructuring and reorganisation of ministries, departments and agencies from the aspect of new existence, dissolution and re-establishment, was implemented holistically taking into account various factors.

He also said that among the considerations that were taken into account were the scope of functions, duties and roles of each agency; duplication of functions and effectiveness of the delivery system.

"Any decisions and actions are guided by the Public Service Optimisation Policy (DPPA) to maximise the use of public service human resources.

“This is in addition to improving the efficiency of service delivery and controlling the increase in the government's financial implications.

"At the same time, the agenda to deal with the issue of unemployment is implemented in a comprehensive and focused manner through various initiatives mobilised across ministries including involving the private sector and other stakeholders," he said.

Armizan said this strategy and approach were implemented to ensure that efforts to deal with the issue of unemployment and create job opportunities are sustainable for the long term and not only depend on job opportunities in the public sector alone.

He said this in reply to the original question from Andi on whether the government would consider re-establishing the previously closed agencies to reduce the unemployment problem, especially among graduates.

Meanwhile, answering another supplementary from Rushdan Rusmi (PN-Padang Besar) regarding cost savings after the restructuring, Armizan said the government's liability rate for paying emoluments this year decreased to 23.4 percent - compared to 27.8 percent in 2022 and 27.5 percent (2021).

- Bernama