THERE were 17,000 political appointees in the civil service under the Najib administration, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir said Pakatan Harapan would put an end to such appointments made by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

“What we found out was, 17,000 people were political appointees. We have to sort that out. There are other expenditures we also need to sort out,” Dr Mahathir said today in a press conference at Putrajaya.

He said the government needed to reduce “a lot of wastage” in the government.

“There is a lot of contract officers. There are those who are given contracts because of political reasons. These political appointments will be ended,” Dr Mahathir said.

There will be some exceptions, however.

“Political appointees we will terminate but there are cases such as drivers, they are not political appointees, they are low-income and it would burden them if they were terminated suddenly.”

Such cases, he said, would be reviewed.

There would also be changes in the appointment of high-ranking officials, such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Elections Commission heads, which would be subject to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s approval. – May 16, 2018.