There Are Too Many Civil Servants In Malaysia But Najib Can't Sack Them

The large public workforce proves to be cumbersome as about 1.6 million people, who are civil servants that make up 11% of the Malaysian labour force, are eating up Malaysia's draining resources at a time when the government revenues are falling, according to a report by Bloomberg yesterday, 11 August.

Additionally, this could also pose a heavy burden to the government in the future, as pension and healthcare obligations could be crippling.

Malaysia's civil service relative to population is reportedly bloated, at more than double the average in the Asia-Pacific region by some measures, according to Jayant Menon, an economist at the Asian Development Bank.

The report states that the Malaysian economy is expected to grow at its slowest pace in seven years, suggesting that the idea of trimming the civil service sector is a good option although it noted that Malaysian officials had previously defended the size of the civil service.

"The civil service forms an important support base for the government and can usually be counted upon to show up and vote for the ruling party during elections," Asia analyst at BMI Research in Singapore Chia Shuhui was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

"The government is not going to cut benefits to their support base, and therefore it is unlikely to make significant changes in terms of its expenditure on the civil service."

According to the Bloomberg report, Najib is dependent on the ethnic Malays to help him secure most of the votes that he need to win the next election. This was in line with what his party, UMNO, has done for decades to retain Malay voters, where it propagated policies that provide favourable access to education, jobs and housing for Malays and indigenous people, known collectively as Bumiputeras.

Following the usual practice, all government employees received a RM500 special allowance in conjunction of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. On top of that, 743,000 government pensioners also received RM250 each to help them during the Ramadan and Raya month. The special aid cost the government RM1 billion in total.

The government has given all civil servants a pay raise and increased the minimum wage for civil servants to RM1,200 last month. This exercise cost the government another RM1.1 billion.

There have been calls for Najib to step down as the Prime Minister of Malaysia following allegations of corruptions related to 1MDB.

Earlier this year, local political analyst Wong Chin Huat suggested that UMNO may be better off without its scandal-ridden president, Najib.

Now, Najib will have a serious headache on how to streamline the civil service and improve the efficiency of the public sector without jeopardising his political career which is at stake, explained the report.