Functions of federal, Sabah agencies overlap — Ewon
KOTA KINABALU: It is suggested that the federal government review the existence of its departments and agencies in Sabah that overlap the functions of the state government departments.
Sabah Rural Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said this move should be considered if the federal government wished to rationalise or trim the civil service.
He cited the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM), the functions of which overlap that of the Sabah Fisheries Department.
“My view is that the role and functions of LKIM can be shouldered by the Sabah Fisheries Department. There are other federal departments or agencies in Sabah, the functions of which are the same or almost the same as that of the state's departments.
“Thus, I see the rationalisation proposed by the prime minister in the context of Borneonisation and of empowering the Sabah government institutions to be in tune with the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement,” he said in a statement, here, yesterday.
Ewon said the Malaysia Agreement Technical Committee that had been set up could look into issues related to the rationalisation of federal appointments, particularly in Sabah.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had reportedly said that 1.7 million civil servants were too big a number and needed to be reduced.
Ewon who is also Kadamaian assemblyman, believed the Prime Minister had his own rationale to state this.
“This issue also continues to be discussed and debated by various segments of Malaysian society including the civil servants themselves,” he said.
Ewon said in the Sabah context, Dr Mahathir could carry out the rationalisation starting with looking into the duplication of role and functions between the federal departments or agencies in Sabah with that of the state's. - Bernama