GEORGE TOWN: It is not easy to reform the civil service, given its role as an instrument of the political elite, says a former DAP leader said yesterday.
In a post on Facebook, former Penang deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said reforms had been talked about in the past but weren't carried out.
He said any attempt to reform the bureaucracy might be questioned in the name of safeguarding Malay interest.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had given the impression that reforms could not be postponed anymore, and that the civil service had became a white elephant in terms of employment, financial costs to the government, and its level of efficiency.
"The question is, 'where to start with the reforms'?
"I think the government has made the decision that new recruits to the civil service will not be placed in the pension scheme.
"Chances are that they might be made to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund, which mainly caters to private-sector employees.
"Cost reduction is also thought in terms of eliminating multiple pensions for people.
"It has been found that some retired civil servants and politicians are receiving multiple pensions.
"For the prime minister, this is a costly system that has to be eliminated by ensuring that individuals receive only one pension.
"However, the prime minister's moral appeal might not be effective without legal and constitutional changes to the pension system.
"In reforming the civil service, the prime minister seems to be going after low hanging fruits.
"Rather than reducing the number employed, which might be politically suicidal, the government wants to base new recruitments on a non-pensionable system."
About 900,000 retirees are on the pension system.
The government spends billions annually in meeting the cost of the pension.
The civil service is the administrative arm of the political elite.
It is through the 1.7 million civil servants that government policies are carried out.
Unlike the government, Ramasamy said, the civil service was a permanent feature of the country.
He said that without the civil service, the government might not have the medium to introduce and implement policies for the people.
He said the civil service was often described as an instrument of the ruling class or political elite.
"In Malaysia, the civil service acts and functions at the behest of the ruling elite.
"Unlike other countries, the Malaysian civil service is very much part of the Malay ethnic agenda.
"The civil service, being predominantly Malay (over 90 per cent employment), is considered as the administrative arm of the Malay political elite to transform the socio-economic circumstances of Malay society.
"In this respect, the civil service makes no pretensions of it being a neutral instrument functioning on behalf broader social and ethnic groups.
"Thus, given this precise role of the civil service as an instrument of the Malay ruling elite, it is not an easy matter to reform the civil service."
The government had dismissed allegations that the proposal to abolish the pension scheme for new civil service hires would victimise Malays, who form the majority in government service.
Anwar said the proposal had been under study for a long time as there was a need for a new service scheme to avoid the risk of the country going bankrupt and future generations facing problems.
(Hyperlink: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/01/1006964/proposal-abolish-pens...)