Govt has resources, but no will to reform civil service, says economist

 

Economist Chung Tin Fah attributes the government’s reluctance to implement major reforms in the civil service to ‘political and social expediency’. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

An economist said Malaysia has the resources to reform the civil service, including by retraining staff for future needs, but lacks the political will to do it.

Chung Tin Fah of HELP University attributed the government’s reluctance to implement major civil service reforms, such as job cuts and redeployment, to “political and social expediency”.

“How can the government execute reforms like redeployment or downsizing in the Malay-dominant civil service when they rely on them as their vote bank?

“The government needs to figure out how to navigate (civil service reforms) in a multiracial society like Malaysia,” he said.

Chung Tin Fah.

In 2022, it was revealed that about 90% of the 1.2 million civil servants were Bumiputeras.

Chung also said it was unrealistic to expect improvements in efficiency and productivity by reassigning or redeploying civil servants without giving them proper training.

“If you want to redeploy civil servants, they must be retrained.

“Malaysia has the necessary ideas and institutions to provide training, such as the Malaysian administrative modernisation and management planning unit (Mampu), but, once again, I doubt whether the government has the will to execute this,” he told FMT.

Chung, who has undertaken consulting work for various bodies and institutions, including those in the government, said the national audit department (NAD) had identified the “bloated” civil service as a significant issue to be addressed.

“The NAD has the numbers. They have done their work, but the real question is how the government chooses to act on this information.

“The apparatus, thought process and many other things are all there. The ‘how’ to do it is there but the will is not there,” he said.

Chung proposed that the government boost productivity and efficiency in the civil service by prioritising improvements to working conditions and providing competitive wages, rather than focus solely on redeployment and retraining.

In early February, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin suggested that Malaysia set up its own version of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to streamline and reform civil service operations.

However, he dismissed the possibility of job cuts, proposing that workers be retrained and redeployed as the civil service adapts to automation and future demands.

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University agreed with Khairy that job cuts were not the solution.

Wong Chin Huat.

He told FMT rightsizing the civil service in Malaysia must be done strategically and with careful forward planning. He also warned Malaysians against viewing DOGE so “uncritically and out of context”.

“DOGE’s approach to government efficiency is one of ideological warfare that not just reduces waste in the civil service, but also cuts social welfare, aid and public goods.

“Rightsizing the public sector must be carefully discussed, planned and carried out with empathy and respect for all stakeholders to have any chance at all of improving government efficiency,” he said. - FMT