Remove the tumour
Malaysia’s civil servants-to-population ratio is the highest in Southeast Asia, recording 4.68%, compared to Thailand’s 2.06%, the Philippines’ 1.81%, Indonesia’s 1.79%, Laos’ 1.24% and Cambodia’s 1.18%.
By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by Soong Phui Jee
Sin Chew Daily
The efficiency of civil servants is the key to the success of various transformation plans. It also affects the country’s competitiveness and the BN government’s image. Therefore, it is absolutely correct to dismiss civil servants with poor performance.
The Public Service Department has finally recognised the reality that they must remove the “tumour” to ensure a smooth administration while preventing sham, fraud and other abuses. Since they are provided with lifelong benefits, it is unfair to the people if all civil servants are kept in the office, regardless of their performance.
The exit policy requires those with poor performance to be reviewed by a special panel and if they fail to improve within six month, they will be asked to voluntarily leave the job. Such a policy is in fact not enough to improve the overall performance of the team. Instead, it must develop a road map, including the implementation of a more stringent management, a reward and punishment system, a productivity index and a downsizing plan.
In addition to ordinary civil servants, those in executive level should also be monitored. Various overpriced item purchase, the waste of public funds and other frauds revealed by the annual Auditor-General’s Report show us an efficient management. The Public Service Department should make it a compulsory for department, agency and team heads to take management courses before assessing their abilities. If their annual performance ratings are less than 70%, they are required to be reviewed by a special panel and those who fail to improve within six months will be downgraded.
The public domain is also facing a serious disciplinary problem. Apart from absenteeism and unpunctuality, there are also criminal offenses, such as three Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers were arrested for allegedly robbing a money changer at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, as well as corruption, kidnapping, robbery and theft involving law enforcement officers. Therefore, disciplinary problems must be rectified to improve the team’s spiritual outlook.
It is staggering that the number of civil servants has actually climbed from 1.14 million in 2007 to 1.4 million this year. The Public Service Department’s effort in cutting 29,000 positions this year is simply negligible.
Malaysia’s civil servants-to-population ratio is the highest in Southeast Asia, recording 4.68%, compared to Thailand’s 2.06%, the Philippines’ 1.81%, Indonesia’s 1.79%, Laos’ 1.24% and Cambodia’s 1.18%. Therefore, a reasonable ratio target should be set and gradually achieved, to force the public service team improve efficiency and reduce the national burden.
To greatly enhance the efficiency of the public domain, filling top positions with outside talents is feasible, including bringing in the private sector’s performance-based work culture and time sense. Civil servants should not resist it.
The welfare of civil servants has been significantly improved over the past 10 years. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched the Malaysian Remuneration Scheme (SSM) to replace the New Remuneration Scheme (SSB) on 1 November 2002, increasing civil servants’ salaries by RM15 to RM110. In July 2007, another increment was made and now, civil servants will enjoy an increment of 7-13% and other benefits under the the New Civil Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).
The problem is, there is no correspondent increase in the requirement for their efficiency. Hopefully, they can really put words into actions this time or everything will be meaningless.
