The Malaysian Insight

THE Sabah administration, thought understaffed, will not go on a hiring drive, said Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal.

He said state ministries and agencies are short of 4,000 men.

“The staffing capacity is about 25,000, but only 21,000 positions are filled.

“We are trying to save on emoluments by having a lean public sector. Sabah’s emolument spending is among the highest in the country, up to RM1 billion,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the state assembly today.

Shafie was replying to Klias assemblyman Isnin Aliasnih, who asked about the measures taken by the state government to cut staff.

The chief minister said some agencies are bloated, and staff from there will be transferred to those suffering manpower shortages.

“The absorption of part-time workers as permanent staff has also been limited to high-skilled areas, and this depends on whether there are vacancies.”

He said these are among the steps taken in the strategic planning for the public sector’s growth, where emolument spending should not exceed 5% per annum.

Under current initiatives, he said, the government saw a drop of 6.48% in hiring at all grades between 2015 and this year. – April 18, 2019.