BALIK PULAU Barisan Nasional has questioned the rationale in increasing the number of staff in Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's office by more than one-fold in the last three years.
Pulau Betong assemblyman Muhammad Farid Saad said there were 28 people serving in the chief minister's office now compared with only 13 under former chief minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon's administration.
Farid also questioned why the existing civil servants were not utilised but new faces were instead brought in to work in the chief minister's office.
"Is Lim trying to imply that the current pool of civil servants are not good enough for him or he simply wants those on the same wavelength as him? Lim must explain this... the people have a right to know," he said here yesterday.
The chief minister had, in his written reply to Farid during the just-concluded state legislative assembly sitting, provided the list of names of all those working in his office, their qualifications, past work experiences, salary scale and their roles and responsibilities.
Farid said a marked increase could be seen in the posts of press secretaries and in the information division.
"I also want to know if Lim is using the staff for his own political promotional exercise, especially through the state's mouthpiece Buletin Mutiara. Is such a move ethical?"
Farid also questioned the differences in stance among DAP leaders, with one even calling for a reduction in the number of public sector employees to cut government expenditure.
DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua had said the civil service would be reduced if the loose grouping of DAP, Pas and Parti Keadilan Rakyat came to power in the next general election. His proposal had been shot down by various quarters, including Muhammad Farid.
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