Govt depts, agencies must take heed of PM’s call for prudent spending — Academician

All government departments and agencies should take heed of the call by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim about being prudent in spending and avoiding wastage.

In this regard, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) Faculty of Syariah and Law associate professor Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow acknowledged that just like many other countries, Malaysia had been affected by the economic uncertainty and the increase in cost of living.

“It is very important for everyone to accept the reality that our world has changed significantly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than two years ago.

“In relation to this, many steps can be taken when it comes to spending money prudently and avoiding wastage. One way is to utilise existing technologies to conduct activities such as meetings, seminars, courses, and conferences.

“Instead of having them be run face-to-face like we’d normally do pre-Covid-19 pandemic, which can be costly and timeconsuming, we can carry them out via online,” the academician said in a statement.

He said with many countries, including Malaysia, having opened up their economic sector and international borders as well as lifted many restrictions, there would be many things that needed to be changed.

“One of these things is our way of working. It’s time for us to adopt and adapt to the new working norms which are more preferable, more relevant to the post-pandemic world and more cost-effective.

“Flexibility and smart use of technology should be permitted in order to carry out such activities and programmes more effectively; without having the need to spend a lot of money on preparing meals, making reservations, printing documents and so on.”

Muzaffar Syah said through technological advancements, there were many new and modern applications out there that could perform basic duties without the need for the leaders and workers to be physically present at the workplace or at any location.

“The heads of departments or the employers should allow their employees to participate in online meetings, seminars, courses and conferences.

“With the continued risk of Covid-19 and its variants spreading, along with economic uncertainties and rising cost of living, do we still want to waste money on carrying out all these activities and tasks face to face?” he said.