KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his latest book revealed that one challenge he faced after becoming prime minister a second time was dealing with a civil service that had lost its professionalism and senior civil servants enriched under previous administrations.

Dr Mahathir wrote that one of the immediate obstacles was to find ways of dealing with the large number of senior civil servants who had actively favoured Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th general election. 

“The entire government machinery had been subverted — some senior officers had been caught on video wearing Barisan Nasional T-shirts at political rallies.

“Would these people now be willing to serve the country as professional and non-partisan administrators? We didn’t know,” he wrote. 

Dr Mahathir said while he had many things to attend to after being appointed prime minister, undoing the rot that had set into certain parts of the civil service had been the priority. 

He said former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whom he defeated in the 14th general election, had appointed himself as finance minister and that the ministry was left in very bad shape. 

“There simply was no money. Najib borrowed huge sums and committed the government to supporting loans raised by 1MDB — altogether, the government owed more than RM1 trillion — which is a number that has 12 zeroes. 

“If you can fathom it, that is more zeroes than what my calculator has. 

“The chief secretary to the government, who was the head of the civil service, was aware of this but did not raise any objection, and on investigation, it appeared that the chief secretary had been earning more than he should have,” he wrote in Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia.

The chief secretary then was Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, who was appointed in 2012 and continued to serve some three months after the fall of Barisan Nasional in 2018.

He also wrote about how former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah made himself chairman of many government companies, with each paying him a very substantial amount. 

“In total, he was being paid as much as RM200,000 a month — that’s RM2.4 million a year and was far above normal government pay. All these people needed to be shunted out, but then who would replace them? 

“I needed people who were honest, and I had to find proof that they were honest and that they had the needed ability,” he said. 

On a broader level, Dr Mahathir said he also had to focus on reorganising the civil service in general. 

“For many years, I had been hearing complaints about the civil service — that it had lost its professionalism and that it behaved more like ‘a branch of Umno’ than a neutral group of committed professional public servants. 

“Critics pointed out that it had become a ‘job bank’ for unemployed Malay youths and Malay graduates in courses with low employment prospects such as Islamic Studies. 

“These young people had little chance of finding work in the private sector, and for political reasons they were absorbed into the civil service,” he wrote 

“As a result, he said the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government inherited a bloated civil service of 1.6 million people — that’s about five per cent of the total population but also includes teachers and the military.

“The civil service was saddled with low levels of productivity, and up to 40 per cent of the annual Budget went to public-sector emoluments including salaries, pensions, various allowances and financial benefits. We had to do something about this, but it wasn’t going to be easy. 

“Many of the key people in the civil service had become the main enablers of Najib’s administration. 

“They allowed him to preside over the country without any checks and balances,” he added. 

Dr Mahathir’s book will contain his version of the events that led to the abrupt shake-up and collapse of the PH government he led in the aftermath of GE14. 

Dr Mahathir’s book is released today.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/12/12/in-new-book-dr-mahathir-recounts-bid-to-revamp-bloated-civil-service-deal-w/2027772