Former chief justice is impressed with Sabah government transformation
By Oliver Majaham
Picture by Victor Lo
Zaki Azmi, Malaysia’s former chief justice, wondered how the Sabah government managed to operate efficiently with less staff. The answer, according to a state official, is simple. The government did not recruit new staff to replace those who retired. They have been made redundant by computer and information technology. The civil service has lost 2,101 staff to retirement. There are 28,300 of them compared to 30,401 in 2010.
These were clerical staff like typists and others who held low-ranking jobs that have been taken over by computers, according to the official who asked not to be named.
But their departure has not saved the government in salaries and employment costs. Instead the savings were used to pay higher salaries to existing staff.
Civil service salaries at about 624m ringgit ($200m) this year form about 16% of the 4-billion-ringgit budget.
Zaki, who heads a five-man special commission to study the transformation of the civil service in the country, said other states and the federal government could emulate Sabah.
He is impressed with Sabah’s budget surpluses saying that the state always has more money than it can spend while other states have budget deficits. – Insight Sabah
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