Improve integrity and governance

Under the Pakatan government, the time is ripe for removing the excess fat in the civil service by eliminating the corrupt and the incompetent.

OVER the past week, much has been said and written about Pakatan Harapan’s first 100 days in power, what it has achieved and where it has failed.

In summary, the new government has largely met many of its core promises and is working on the remaining areas.

The GST has been abolished, petrol prices have been stabilised and mega projects awarded through lopsided agreements have been suspended.

Investigations are under way into the 1MDB, Felda, Mara and Tabung Haji financial scandals.

For graduates earning less than RM4,000, the repayment of their National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans has been deferred.

And there is now an EPF contribution scheme for housewives.

The government is now looking at the rights of Sabah and Sarawak under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, the waiver of debts incurred by Felda settlers, an improved health scheme for the poor, and the equalisation of the minimum wage across the country.

However, there are still complaints and it is absurd that among those making the loudest noises are those who were previously in government.

After the decades of abuses and mismanagement, especially the nine years under the previous administration, it is not realistic to expect too much.

Given the government’s wobbly start and its inherited burden of a RM1 trillion debt, the results achieved so far are impressive.

Let’s not forget that the ruling coalition’s Buku Harapan election manifesto covers two stages – 10 immediate objectives and the main promises to be resolved over five years.

In any case, what matters more to most Malaysians is that the country has been unshackled from the ignominy of corruption and financial scandals.

In spite of the constant race- and religion-based drivel from the opposition, the government continues to work on improving integrity and governance.

The ongoing reform of key institutions – the judiciary, Attorney General’s Chambers, the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Election Commission (EC) – is unprecedented.

Over the years, confidence in these institutions have been gradually eroded by poor leadership and the evident disregard for the rule of law.

Another step towards Malaysia becoming a more progressive nation is the review of laws impeding civil liberties and media freedom such as the Anti-Fake News Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Official Secrets Act.

As Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has vowed, regardless of which party rules or whoever is the country’s leader, the strengthening of key institutions would prevent corruption, abuse of power and theft of public money or property.

Those who break the law would not be able to escape legal action and stringent punishment.

But before that can happen, there is a huge problem to resolve – the weak state of the country’s civil service.

The Prime Minister is well aware of the difficulties in changing corrupt heads of agencies, pointing out that there are also corrupt officers below them.

“Sometimes, we have to go down three or four steps before we can find an officer who is not involved. Without a clean head of department, we will not be able to bring about the reforms that we need, nor apply the rule of law,” he said in a recent interview with Hong Kongbased business news portal Investvine.

The deeply entrenched “relaxed culture” in the civil service, even among senior officers, also poses a big challenge.

“When everything is guaranteed without trying too hard – jobs, benefits, promotions and pensions – there isn’t much motivation,” lamented a friend who is among the new Pakatan state excos.

Relating his experience of trying to reorganise an overstaffed agency, he said the overriding thinking among the staff was to hire more people instead of figuring out how to do their jobs more effectively or how to achieve better efficiency.

It is a problem reflecting Malaysia’s bloated civil service, which employs 1.6 million people – the highest in the world relative to population.

The ratio is now 1:19.37 people compared with Singapore’s 1:71.4, China’s 1:108 and Indonesia’s 1:110.

As for the salaries of public servants, they amount to RM78.1bil or 33.8% of the total operating budget of RM234.3bil.

That is not counting the allowances, benefits and bonuses and costs incurred through the hiring of contract staff and officers, especially for political reasons.

Does the efficiency of our civil service match the increase in salaries, which have grown by more than 90% over the past decade? Surely not.

Under the previous government, politicians shied away from talking about this elephant in the room out of fear of losing the votes of the civil servants.

Now that a Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption has been formed, the time is ripe for removing the excess fat in the service through the elimination of the bad apples.

The newly established Gover- nance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre has the power to hold meetings with the secretaries-general of ministries to identify areas in departments and ministries where corruption takes place.

And the onus is now on the secretaries-general of ministries and heads of department to act accordingly.

Judging from the tone of the Prime Minister’s townhall meeting with 3,500 diplomatic and administrative (PTD) officers, the supposedly crème de la crème of the civil service last week, there is hope that changes are coming soon.

Besides the politically connected high-level civil servants, the PTD is also perceived as a “mafia” within the service, with its own cartels and favoured cronies.

Often the best and brightest are overtaken by the mediocre with the right connections.

“Why wasn’t he promoted? Actually, somebody’s wife didn’t like him,” said one senior officer, recalling the case of a veteran colleague.

Heads must begin to roll, and soon, if the government is serious about reforming the system.