ALL government officials attending meetings that require air travel must fly economy class only, regardless of their grade in the civil service, the Treasury said in new rules on cost-cutting.

They are also urged to buy their own flight tickets and book their own accommodation instead of using the government’s service vendors. 

These and a host of other rules are in the Garis Panduan Penjimatan Perbelanjaan Awam, dated July 14, which took effect immediately. 

The rules were issued by the Finance Ministry’s Treasury Secretary-General Asri Hamidon to the secretaries-general of all ministries, as part of Putrajaya’s bid to save money amid rising expenditure on fuel and food subsidies and cash aid, to the tune of RM77.7 billion this year.

Highlights of the cost-cutting measures in the circular include: 

Travel, meetings and events:

– All officers must fly economy class, regardless of their grade in the civil service.

– Travel and organisation of domestic government events must be optimised at the cheapest cost, with events, travel and number of officers attending kept to a minimum. Cheaper transport must also be used.

– Officers are allowed to purchase their own flight tickets at a lower rate than the government’s air travel warrant (Waran Perjalanan Udara Awam).

– For official meetings abroad, the Malaysian ambassador or diplomatic representatives overseas are to represent the country, without the participation of officials travelling from Malaysia.

– Overseas travel for official duty is allowed only for selected meetings deemed necessary by the cabinet, or which return a significant benefit to Malaysia and have already been allocated for.

– Officials are urged to book accommodation online and find the most competitive rates.

– Limits are placed on the size of a minister or deputy minister’s entourage for overseas trips.

– Preference is given to online participation in an overseas training or conference.

– Official events should be held at government-owned premises as much as possible, such as training institutes. Launch “gimmicks” and ceremonies should be simplified and created “in house” without outsourcing them to contractors, while only locally made items or food should be given as event souvenirs and door gifts.

Operating expenses and staffing 

– New posts in the civil service administration can no longer be created, unless a trade-off or redeployment is executed.

– Vacant posts that have not been filled for more than two years will be abolished.

– No more new contract officers will be hired except where replacements are needed or where contracts are renewed.

– Transfers to other states are to be suspended unless critical.

– Stricter monitoring of overtime work. Heads of departments and agencies are to ensure that overtime is only allowed for necessary and urgent work, with written orders issued.

– Operating expenditure (opex) is to be cut to achieve savings of at least 5% of the remaining opex allocation for this year. The Finance Ministry will issue a warrant on the reduced allocation amount for all government entities to follow. 

– Funds for any new programme or activity must be taken from the existing budget. Exceptions will only be made for certain cases the cabinet deems critical and necessary. Even then, additional expenditure for these exceptions must be “traded off” by eliminating other programmes that are not deemed to pose high enough an impact. 

– Requests for additional allocations for non-critical expenses will not be considered. 

– Freeze on procurement of new assets, including cars, furniture and other non-urgent office equipment.

– Advertising expenditure to promote government and ministry programmes and initiatives in newspapers, print and electronic media, as well as billboards, are to be reduced; existing advertising contracts are to be reviewed once they end.

– To further lower opex, all government offices are to ensure they reduce their usage of telecommunications, electricity and water.

– Government officers are urged to optimise the use of office equipment such as stationery, paper, ink cartridges to avoid wastage. Sharing fax machines and photocopy machines are encouraged.

Projects and procurements

– Development projects where tenders and procurements have not started are to be reviewed to see if they are economically necessary. Non-critical projects should be postponed.

– Materials should be sourced locally. Imports are allowed only if such materials are unavailable locally and are critically necessary.

– Statutory bodies and subsidiary companies should prioritise domestic investments to prevent ringgit outflow. – July 15, 2022.