The Malaysian Insight

PUTRAJAYA must investigate the promotions of 30 senior civil servants earlier this year, allegedly as a “reward” for supporting the then Barisan Nasional administration for work done ahead of the 14th general election, said a group of administrative and diplomatic (PTD) officers.

The “unusual” promotion exercise was brought to the attention of the Pakatan Harapan administration through a letter addressed to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently.

The letter, sighted by The Malaysian Insight, contained the names of 19 out of the 30 civil servants, and was signed off “by a group representing PTD officers”.

The authencity of the letter was verified by three sources.

In the letter, the group urged Putrajaya to set up a committee to investigate allegations of abuse of power and “deviation from the process”, which it claimed had undermined the integrity of the civil service, particularly the Civil Service Commission.

The letter also stated that the number of PTD officers of Jusa grade (super grade) promoted to the special rank between January and May was much higher compared with the corresponding period last year.

The special rank comprises positions specially created for officers whose salaries exceed the bar set for the said posts.

“Never in the history of the Civil Service Promotion Board have so many PTD officers been promoted in such a way,” said the letter.

The group said it had come across cases where Jusa B officers were promoted to Jusa A, while those in Jusa A were promoted to Turus 3.

Turus is the highest salary scale in the payment scheme after Jusa. Those in this grade are chief secretaries and directors-general. 

The Malaysian Insight learnt that the letter was discussed at the 4th Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption meeting in Putrajaya on Friday, which resulted in Dr Mahathir announcing that future promotion exercises will be more transparent.

The prime minister also said a new mechanism will be introduced in the Civil Service Act to ensure promotions are transparent, to reduce discontent among civil servants.

The Malaysian Insight also learnt that Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre director-general Abu Kassim Mohamed will be appointed to the promotions board.

The board is chaired by the chief secretary to the government. Also on the board are the Public Service Department director-general and Treasury secretary-general.

“Now, there is a fourth member to ensure checks and balances,” a source told The Malaysian Insight, referring to Abu Kassim.

The source added that the previous promotion process was not transparent, nor did it follow procedure.

“All recommendations for promotions after this must have a clear and transparent evaluation of their work performance, not based on ‘who knows who’.”. – September 23, 2018.