Khalid Samad: Anti-Pakatan Harapan civil servants will be transferred
(MMO) – Civil servants unwilling to cooperate with their ministers will be transferred, Amanah communications director Khalid Abdul Samad said today.
The Federal Territories minister said it has been over a year since Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the government and civil servants have been given opportunities to adjust.
“We cannot just take over the government and start sacking people, but instead we followed the existing system and gave these people an opportunity.
“But finally, after more than a year now, those whom we found, who are not willing to offer their cooperation, we will transfer them,” he said in his winding-up speech at the party’s 4th National Convention held at the Ideal Convention Centre here.
Khalid was responding to several delegates’ arguments during the debate session yesterday, when many criticised Amanah leaders for ignoring party members’ feedback on the government members’ performance.
Yesterday, several delegates voiced their discontent towards Amanah ministers and deputy ministers for not “doing enough” as the government of the day.
Khalid added that it was not easy to reform ministries as there were pockets in them that remain aligned to Barisan Nasional.
“Just look at what happened to Rafizi (PKR’s vice-president Rafizi Ramli). The AG (Attorney-General) had given out orders to not appeal the decision, but still an appeal was filed.
“As for the Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind (Gobind Singh Deo), he waited for nine months for his request to be granted, for an officer to be changed.
“We must understand that, in each government department, its internal workforce is BN’s stronghold.
“These ministers are fighting from the inside, but we are punching them from the outside. This should not be the way,” he said.
Critics have suggested that Rafizi’s decision appeal is yet another instance where the “Deep State” is at play.
It was reported that an admission by the AG Tan Sri Tommy Thomas that the decision to appeal Rafizi’s acquittal for offences under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) was done out of his knowledge.
Before GE14, Rafizi and former bank clerk Johari Mohamad were sentenced to 30-months imprisonment by the Shah Alam Sessions Court under Bafia, an act that was repealed after his initial charging in 2012.
Thomas has since rescinded the appeal and said such decisions made without the AG’s final approval was worrying and that action must be taken against the culprits.
Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh also reportedly said that this suggests there are forces within the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) working to discredit him.
Last week, Beluran MP Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee has asked if there was a supposed “Deep State” and truth about claims of the civil service defiance to the government.
De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong has since responded that speculations of transfers of secretaries-general to address the deep state problem was not supported by facts.
He reportedly said that the available data did not show the existence of the so-called “Deep State” or any concerted resistance against PH from within the civil service.
