POLITICAL HEFT
The Malaysian civil service, which is more than 85 per cent dominated by the country’s majority ethnic Malay Muslim population, is widely considered as one of the country’s most powerful and influential institutions.
The public sector holds great sway over the economy through heavy regulatory powers and its influence over state-owned entities and government-linked institutions in sectors ranging from banking, power generation, construction, telecommunications and transportation.
But it is the political heft of the civil service that has long drawn scrutiny.
This stems from the public sector’s close identification to the long-established United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that led successive coalition governments since independence in 1957. Over the decades of UMNO-led rule, a tight symbiotic relationship was formed and promotions to top positions in the public sector was largely determined by loyalty to the ruling party.
However, the subservient position to its ruling political elite was reversed after the UMNO-led National Front (Barisan Nasional) coalition, which at the time was led by now-jailed former premier Najib Razak, was ejected from power in the May 2018 general election.
The political instability that followed strengthened the hand of the civil service in national affairs.
Close advisors to Mr Anwar acknowledge that when the premier took power after the country’s November 2022 general election, he privately declared that bringing greater discipline and professionalism was his top priority in the public sector workforce where corruption had become rampant.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) noted recently that 70 per cent of the complaints received by the agency as of July this year were related to public procurement.
This was a slight increase over the 2023 and 2022 figures of 69 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
Close aides to Mr Anwar said that the premier held a meeting on July 21 at his residence in the administrative capital of Putrajaya with senior officials from the country’s enforcement agencies, including the police, MACC, the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, where he registered his disquiet with the lack of progress in the government’s crackdown on corruption that yet to deliver any high-profile convictions.
These include the high-profile investigations the MACC has initiated investigations on a number of people, including former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.
Days after his meeting with the chiefs of the enforcement agencies, the premier stunned the civil service with the appointment of Mr Shamsul, who was not on the list of candidates recommended by the outgoing chief secretary Mohd Zuki.
These candidates included Mr Isham Ishak, who is the Secretary-General of the Defence Ministry; the Director-General of the Public Service Wan Dahlan Abdul Aziz and Mr Lokman Hakim Ali, who is the Secretary-General of the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, according to government officials familiar with the situation.
Mr Ibrahim Suffian, co-founder of the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, said that Mr Anwar’s civil service reforms come on the back of his stronger political footing and against the backdrop of strengthening economic fundamentals reflected in growing consumer spending and rising private investment.
“But a backlash (from segments of the civil service) is always possible and he must be careful not to jolt the system too much,” he said.
