THE civil service is an urgent issue that needs addressing but is skirted around because it is a politically charged topic.

The reality is, our oversized civil service is bleeding the national coffers. At a compound annual growth rate of over 9%, in fewer than 10 years, most of our budget will be spent on maintaining the civil service.

Government revenue grows at roughly 3.5% a year. More than 30% of our budget is dedicated to salaries and the figure is projected to grow to 50% in 10 years. 

These figures do not consider the pensions that grow in tandem with higher life expectancy, nor the bonus and other payouts, medical benefits and so on, that add to the burden.

The problem is complex: while some areas in critical service appear to be overstaffed, others, especially on key medical specialities, are severely shorthanded.  

Departments that have been privatised can be further downsized as their roles move from implementers to supervisors.

There should not be a matching number of experts in every field monitoring multiple fields of work. For example, engineers in the Malaysian Highway Authority, Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Public Works Department, and Occupational Safety and Health Department monitor the same roadworks projects.

These roles can be centralised, and to more effectively curb corruption, be placed under the jurisdiction of the Auditor-General’s Office.  

Some overlaps need to be taken care of at once. Successive prime ministers have opened new agencies, usually under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office, to work around the bureaucracy that is difficult to navigate. These should be folded into one agency or their roles be more clearly defined and streamlined.

Overlapping agencies are expensive to maintain, especially if they operate outside the Public Service Department (PSD) and need their own support services.  Speaking of support services, many functions, such as ledger management, customer service, collections, and information management, can be centralised under the PSD.

Staff shortages and excesses can be managed if hiring plans are drafted holistically rather than autonomously at the departments.

The culture of spending needs to be curbed, as does the culture of territoriality.

The civil service should be seen as one cohesive unit, and office space, housing and land can be cross-utilised.  

Unused land and housing space, which have dropped in usage due to urban relocation and changing trends, can be leased to private companies, re-purposed as public housing, or even turned into real estate investment trusts, creating revenue streams for the government. 

Salaries also need to be reviewed as should employment contracts.

The pension scheme should be limited to lower grade staff, and medical benefits could be replaced with insurance schemes.

A large proportion of government hospital patients are the 1.7 million civil servants and their dependents.

Sharing this load with the private sector will lessen the staffing requirement to support the growing burden. It will also allow for better salaries. 

Discrepancies in supply and demand, and salaries, are a major stumbling block between public-private cross hiring.

The public sector could benefit from private best practices and having ex-civil servants in its ranks to navigate bureaucracy will help lower the cost of doing business  bureaucracy. 

A long-term plan is needed to address these complex, layered issues, and political will is needed to execute it.  – April 12, 2023.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.