Dr M’s announcement sends shivers down the spines of civil service top brass

(The Star) – It is with a mix of anxiety and hope that 1.6 million civil servants are awaiting the big announcement today.

Some must have been squirming in their seats last night when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made it clear that heads must fall when he spoke about forming a new Cabinet.

“Certain heads must fall. We find that some people are aiding and abetting the Prime Minister the world describes as kleptocrat,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference.

The new Prime Minister today went one step further naming those who would go.

“Our intention is to go for people who have shown a tendency to be corrupt or who have committed known corrupt acts,” said Dr Mahathir.

There is even a fake list on who is being targeted – from GLC heads, secretary-generals and heads agencies.

For some time now, there has been discontent and whispers along the corridors of certain ministries on the abuse of power and corruption, not only that involving politicians but at the top level management of the ministries.

Dr Mahathir nailed it when he spoke about economic governance and the need for transparency.

For a start there must be transparency in giving out projects.

“There are still projects being given out which many are not aware of,” said a civil servant officer.

“What was the basis on which they are given out? There was no open bid or tender.

“If you really want to eliminate cronyism and corruption, you need to be transparent in your economic governance first,” said a civil servant.

Being transparent means if you give out a project, have an open bid, so that it will not be questioned.

There were cases when a project was awarded to a company and it caught competitors by surprise when there was no tender opened.

It didn’t help also that several government agencies were being used by politicians during the elections purportedly for caretaker ministers to launch some projects.

Events were created for these politicians using government funds during the campaign period.

Dr Mahathir has said he will announce ministers heading Finance, Home Affairs, Defence, Education, Rural Development, Economy, Public Works, Transport, Multimedia Science and Technology, and Foreign Affairs.

Speculation is rife over what form of an economic ministry will it be and if everything will be put under the Economic Planning Unit.

It would be interesting to see where trade and industry matters be parked under.

In some countries like Australia, foreign and trade are put under one ministry.

Dr Mahathir also did not mention sectors like agriculture and health.

Surely these are core ministries to be established too since some of their issues cannot be put under any other ministry.

It is also good if Dr Mahathir could merge some of the ministries under the previous administration.

The problem in the past was that there were too many ministries tackling similar matters, causing coordination problem.

Dr Mahathir needs to appoint competent people to fill up the minister’s posts. A cabinet member must be able to explain well to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues on the policies and direction this Government is taking the country.

As they say the first 100 days is the honeymoon period. Transition takes time.

This time is a new ground for all of us – a new government that has yet to be tested.