Malaysian Nor Mohamad loved her job at a big Western technology company. But she resigned after two years, uninterested in arguing along with her parents, who thought she could be higher off in public service.
“It’s boring but stable,” said a master’s graduate in her thirties, who asked to not be named, citing government policy. “While I’m not too in love with this job, I’m grateful that the present economic climate is not having a negative impact on my profession.”
The Malaysian Civil Service employs 1.6 million people, representing roughly 11 percent of the workforce. Jobs provide stability and security, including for ethnic Malays who make up nearly all of the population. Now bloated bureaucracy poses a challenge to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The civil service is a crucial support base for the federal government and might normally be counted on to attend and vote for the ruling party during elections
Najib, whose ruling National Front coalition has been in power for nearly 60 years because of Malay votes, has vowed to steadily reduce the budget deficit the country has been running on for the reason that Asian financial crisis. The $296 billion commodities economy is predicted to grow at its slowest pace in seven years in 2016, with lower oil prices eating into revenues.
However, reducing the general public sector workforce to enhance government funds is difficult. Although Najib has weathered a 12 months of political turmoil over financing scandals, he needs the support of Malays to win the following elections scheduled for 2018. His party, United Malays National Organization (Umno), has for a long time promoted policies that provide favorable access to education, jobs and housing for Malays and indigenous peoples, collectively called Bumiputeras.
“Malaysia’s civil service is closely linked to the federal government’s ethnic policy,” said Jayant Menon, an economist on the Asian Development Bank. “It is a type of ensuring not only employment, but relatively attractive employment.”
As of the tip of 2014, roughly 79% of the civil service were Malays, of which over 11% were indigenous Bumiputera groups, the official Bernama news agency reported in March 2015, citing a government minister. About 5.2% of presidency officials were Chinese and 4.1% were Indian.
According to Menon, Malaysia’s civil service is large relative to its population, greater than twice the typical within the Asia-Pacific region by some measures. The cost of maintaining it’s a drain on resources at a time when government revenues are declining.
Salaries, pensions and suggestions make up around one third of the budget annually and are the biggest item of expenditure. The government doesn’t often publish data on the dimensions of the general public service.
Najib endured a 12 months of bribery allegations involving a whole bunch of tens of millions of dollars in his personal bank accounts before the last election in 2013, and the claims put some pressure on his leadership. He denies the accusations and was cleared of wrongdoing by the country’s attorney general earlier this 12 months.
Najib’s office didn’t reply to an email in search of comment on the civil service. The office of the chief secretary to the federal government also didn’t reply to an emailed request for comment.
Malaysian officials have previously defended the dimensions of the civil service, which incorporates teachers, doctors, soldiers and police. Idris Jala, then a minister within the Prime Minister’s Office, said in 2014 that it had not been bloated, even though it may very well be streamlined to save lots of the federal government money.
Najib’s government spent 1.1 billion ringgit ($275 million) last month to lift civil servants’ salaries – the largest increase since 2013 – and raised their minimum starting salary to 1,200 ringgit a month. As in previous years, public sector employees received a special allowance of 500 ringgit just before July’s Eid al-Fitr holiday, the celebration marking the tip of the Muslim month of fasting.
“The civil service is an important support base for the government and can usually be counted on to show up and vote for the ruling party during elections,” said Chia Shuhui, Asia analyst at BMI Research in Singapore. “The Government has no intention of reducing benefits across its support base and is therefore unlikely to make significant changes to civil service spending.”
Chia said the federal government was taking steps to streamline the civil service and improve public sector efficiency as a part of its long-term efforts.
Given that little will be done within the civil service resulting from political and ethnic sensitivities, the federal government should give attention to reducing business exposure through a government-linked corporate divestment program to extend revenues, said ADB’s Menon.
While Umno tried to retain Malay voters, the opposition also tried to prop up the bureaucracy. The opposition-controlled Selangor state government announced a 1.5-month bonus for its officials on the occasion of Eid.
In neighboring Thailand, the ruling junta gave two million officials and soldiers a 4% pay raise in December 2014, at a value of twenty-two.9 billion baht ($659 million). Many government officials participated in anti-government protests that led to a military coup in May 2014, and since then the junta has emphasized the necessity to provide bureaucrats more power over elected officials.
“Civil servants are indeed an indispensable support base for the National Front in general and Umno in particular,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior research fellow on the National Front School of International Studies. S. Rajaratnam in Singapore. “Hence the need to constantly improve their well-being.”
