Restructuring ministries, agencies not done to cut down on number of civil servants, Dewan Rakyat told

Photo: Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: Restructuring government ministries and agencies is not done to reduce the number of civil servants, says Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (pic).

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Functions) told the Dewan Rakyat that the restructuring process, including the abolishment and merging of several ministries as well as agencies, did not result in an immediate termination of those in the civil service including those with contract appointments.

He cited several examples, including within the restructuring under the Prime Minister's Department itself, the abolishment of the Federal Territories Ministry and the merging of the Water and Environment Ministry and Energy and Natural Resources Ministry under one ministry, which he stressed did not result in an immediate termination of any public servants.

"Instead, it was implemented through the process of re-deployment of existing public servants within the respective agencies to another one," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy (BN-Kalabakan) during Ministers' Question Time on Thursday (June 8).

Andi had asked the government to explain whether the process of abolishing a government agency or ministry within the administration led to the termination of those within the civil service including those with contract appointments which will result in high rates of unemployment.

Armizan said that as a result of the restructuring and the abolishment of certain government agencies, it had lessened the government's financial burden as seen in the Budget 2023.

"For instance, the government burden in terms of rate to pay emoluments had continued to decrease for the overall budget, with a rate of 23.4% this year, compared to 27.8% in 2022 and 27.5% in 2021.

"So, we can see that the purpose of the restructuring process is not to reduce the number of existing public servants.

"There are no immediate terminations including those who are under contract. However, what we are doing is just realigning and managing any additional increase caused by the existence of various new agencies and ministries," he said.