Najib: Good news for civil servants in 2018 Budget
PM hints that there will be improvements to public sector
PM hints at goodies but stresses on need to transform, be more efficient, and raise the bar high to create more success stories for Malaysia.
PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has hinted that there will be “good news” for civil servants in the 2018 Budget. He said the good news included improvements to the public sector, but declined to reveal details until the 2018 Budget was tabled by the end of the month.
“I know many of you are waiting for certain announcements.
“God willing, several good news and improvements for civil servants will be announced in the 2018 Budget on Oct 27,” he said to loud applause from the 5,000strong crowd of civil servants at the Civil Service Premier Assembly (Mappa) yesterday.
Najib also stressed on the importance for civil servants to transform themselves.
“Civil servants must transform to become more efficient, break traditional boundaries and go beyond the usual achievements.
“More importantly, you must always raise the bar and keep the bar high to create more success stories for Malaysia.
“Public servants must be better at multi-tasking and should be multi-skilled and multi-talented. Combining these with a culture that promotes creativity and innovation will result in a civil service that is highly productive, highly valued, highly skilled and highly motivated.”
Najib also outlined three major challenges for the future.
He said the first was addressing the era of “the new order” in geopolitics and world peace.
“Our country is facing new geopolitical risks.
“This is a serious problem and involves the crisis faced by Islamic nations, North Korea’s nuclear programme and the impact of Brexit.
“There are violent incidents and bombings in public places by terrorists and extremists in many parts of the world.
“They can happen in Malaysia if the threats are not curbed and managed properly,” he said, adding that the government would uphold the nation’s peace and security.
He said the government strived to keep extremist ideologies at bay and away from civil servants, citing as an example the Islamic State group, which misinterpreted the concept of jihad.
He said the second challenge was protecting the people’s needs, welfare and interests.
He said the government had strategic plans under the National Transformation Policy to put Malaysia on the path towards becoming a high-income and developed nation.
Among the initiatives were 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Projects and 1Malaysia Clinic.
He said the government had embarked on various peoplecentric projects, including the Mass Rapid Transit, East Coast Rail Link, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail and PanBorneo Highway.
He said the third challenge was the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the era of digital economy.
He said this pushed the government to ensure the success of the Malaysia Digital Policy.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution will be defined by three characteristics — velocity, breadth and depth and systems impact.
“This will result in things, such as autonomous cars, quantum computing and artificial intelligence that are beyond our imagination.”
He said the civil service must be able to respond quickly to disruptive technology in a multi-dimensional approach.
“Civil servants must combine top-down and bottom-up approaches as well as inside-out and outside-in approaches in the formulation of policies and new regulations, and at the same time, consider the rights and privacy of customers, security, education, economy and smart technology.”