CIVIL SERVANTS’ LOYALTY IN DOUBT
Many officers campaigned for BN in GE14, says Dr M
THE Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led government is facing loyalty issues with civil servants. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said many civil servants had actively campaigned for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th General Election, which raised questions about their loyalty.
“Many government officers took part in the election and campaigned for BN in a voluntary capacity. We are suspicious of their loyalty now,” he said after chairing the PH presidential council meeting here yesterday.
Present was PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Mahathir added that the loyalty of civil servants needed to be determined, as it might “affect the government’s administration”.
He added that the government must determine whether it could get the cooperation of officers in carrying out their duty.
“We do not want to punish them unnecessarily, because that is not the way we do things. But we need to know where their loyalty lies because they have committed themselves to propagating the agenda of the previous government.”
Dr Mahathir added that the government had video evidence of many civil servants wearing blue shirts and campaigning for BN.
He said as civil servants, they should have been neutral and not campaign for any political party.
“They should not… campaign for any particular party, but they can vote for whichever party they wish,” he added.
The prime minister also said that the 17,000 politically-appointed civil servants were eligible for the special Hari Raya aid.
He added that the government would not be unfair to them even though they were political appointees of the previous government.