The Malaysian Insight

ONE of perks of serving the Barisan Nasional government well was that retirement meant never having to say goodbye to perks.

Several former ministers were given positions in the administration, ministerial status, an office, diplomatic passport and a salary of about RM20,000 a month.

Retired senior civil servants were appointed to the board of government-linked companies, with loyalty more than merit being the chief consideration.

Government officials told The Malaysian Insight, however, that these retired civil servants will be issued termination letters soon or their contracts will not be renewed.

Among them are former inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, former MIC president S. Samy Vellu and former adviser to the government Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

This move, the officials said, was part of a cost-cutting drive launched by the Pakatan Harapan administration to cut superfluous jobs across the board. 

Putrajaya believes that the job cuts will save some RM500,000 a month. This amount will not put a dent on the government’s debt but shows the determination to cut excess at every level.

It is understood that the new government also wants to put an end to the practice of rewarding VIPs to positions in GLCS, when they were not the best qualified to helm those jobs.

After retiring from the force last September, Khalid was appointed chairman of Prasarana, the government entity that owns public transport assets.  

Samy Vellu was appointed by Najib Razak as the special envoy to India and South Asia and former MCA president, Ong Ka Ting, 62, is chairman of the Malaysia China Business Council (MCBC).

Several other BN component party leaders have been appointed special advisers to minister. For example, MyPPP chief M. Kayveas was the special adviser to the transport minister.

Sources told The Malaysian Insight said the appointments under review are in addition to the 17,000 political appointments created by the BN government under Najib. 

“This new exercise involves those holding ministerial level and senior positions in government-linked companies,” said one source.

“They should start getting their termination letters. Some will have to go immediately while the rest will not have their contracts renewed this year.”

The source added that there are at least 30 names on this list. – June 6, 2018.