Civil servants must stay above the politics

Published on: Sunday, March 08, 2020

By: Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim

Text Size:

THE sudden political change and the surprise announcement of a new prime minister have created anxiety and concern over the future direction of the country. The big question is whether the new government will stay committed to implementing the reforms that are essential for our democracy to function in a progressive manner and for investors to have confidence in the economy.

More than before, the people are now looking to our civil service as a beacon of hope for good government. They expect it to take its own initiative to protect its professional integrity and independence based on the established principle that while politicians come and go, the civil service remains permanent.

Although all civil servants must be loyal to the government of the day, they must also exercise their professional duty to uphold the rule of law and institutional governance without fear or favour.

The legal service must ensure that despite the change of government, the law must continue to operate by proceeding with court trials of those politicians charged with financial offences committed when they were in power.

Abandoning the trials for political expediency will cause lasting damage to the country’s reputation all over the world. Investors will lose confidence in our legal system and will prefer to use British or Singapore law in drafting business agreements.

The top civil servants are the secretary-generals of ministries. They are designated by law as the financial controllers of the ministries’ budgetary allocations. Their duty is to advise their ministers in policymaking and lead the implementation of ministry decisions. In view of what happened in the past with many cases of wastage and leakage of public funds, the civil servants have to exercise their administrative power to undertake thorough analysis of ministerial instructions before they are implemented.

Undoubtedly, this task has become more difficult over the years with the creation of so many off-budget agencies such as statutory authorities and government-linked companies (GLCs) that operate outside the civil service system even though their funding comes from federal or state government allocations.

Many of them have politically connected appointees at the board and executive levels. The ministry secretary-generals should undertake close surveillance of these off-budget agencies because they are the main cause of patronage, cronyism and corruption in the public sector.

And previously, when the GLCs fell into financial difficulty, the government would conveniently take the political decision to bail them out using Treasury funds and justify this wasteful funding in the name of the New Economic Policy. Civil servants now must be brave enough to take their own initiative to discipline and reform the governance system in GLCs so they will not be politically exploited. The civil service must also strengthen the culture of interagency coordination to guard itself from political influence. It should follow the example of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the area of development planning. As the highest central planning agency of the government, it consults regularly with other agencies, especially the Federal Treasury in the Finance Ministry, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Statistics Department through the Interagency Planning Group.

This is to ensure they coordinate closely on forecasting economic trends and prospects in the country so that the statements that each makes about the economy are consistent, professional and not swayed by political sentiments.

At one time, about 30 years ago, there was a suggestion in Cabinet that trade and economic numbers should be politically cleared before they are released to the public. Our civil servants in the central economic agencies objected strongly to the proposal, saying it would destroy Malaysia’s economic and financial credibility locally and internationally. Similarly, they also objected to suggestions that Bank Negara decisions on monetary policy should get the minister’s clearance first.

Civil servants today must similarly be vigilant against attempts by their political masters to control the economic and administrative work which should rightly be left to the professionals.

The civil service must embark on emphasising meritocracy and professionalism among its rank and file so that whatever the political complexion of the Cabinet and its ministers, we the public will be protected from ministerial decisions that are not suitable for our society and economy. Civil servants must dedicate themselves to serve King and country first, as they are expected by taxpayers to run the planning and administrative machinery for the good of all citizens.