Ismail Bakar is new chief secretary

PUTRAJAYA: Treasury Secretary-General Datuk Seri Ismail Bakar has been appointed the new Chief Secretary to the Government, taking over from Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, whose contract ended yesterday.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad handed t he l etter of appointment to Ismail during a brief meeting in Perdana Putra yesterday.

Ismail said he would i mplement t he prime minister’s instructions well to ensure efficient delivery of the public service.

“In this era, we want to ensure that integrity and accountability are at the best levels among civil servants,” he said.

On the performance of the public sector, Ismail said that overall, it was at an excellent level but it was necessary to regain the people’s trust following several incidents involving civil servants over the past several years.

“Generally, we are happy with the performance of the civil servants,” he said.

Ismail, 58, who has been in the civil service for 32 years, has extensive experience in economic and financial management.

He holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree from Universiti Malaya and a Master of Business Administration degree and a doctorate from the University of Hull, United Kingdom.

I s mail j oi ned t he Administrat i v e a n d Diplomatic Service in January 1986 and had served as the secretarygeneral of the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry and the Transport Ministry.

He has also served as the budget director at the National Budget Office of the Finance Ministry and senior adviser at t he World Bank headquarters in Washington DC, United States. – Bernama