Pay rise, but trim civil service as well

Tony has released a press statement regarding the civil service pay rise. In a nutshell, the pay rise is welcomed considering the meagre below-subsistence salaries of the lowest ranking civil servants. The maximum 35% increase is for staff at this level. However, the matter of concern is the current huge size of the civil service.

Courtesy of Malaysiakini

If you look at the table above, in the span of 10 years from 1990 to 2000, the civil service grew 15.6%. But in the 6 years from 2000 to 2006, we're already seeing a hefty 23.5% increase in headcount. In this age of information technology and calls for higher productivity, it makes us wonder how the civil service is so different from the rest that they continue to buck the trend. I remember not too long ago when the government announced the e-government initiative containing 7 flagship applications, one of the unstated objectives due to the sensitivity of the matter is the eventual trimming in size of the civil service. This was on the basis that the e-government initiative was to transform the way the civil service provide services and ways of operation. 10 years down the road, we're neither near to the original e-government vision nor are we getting a leaner, more efficient and productive civil service. In fact, the civil service is growing at a faster rate and questions have been raised about their overall efficiency.

With an additional expenditure of RM8.0bil a year due to the raise, perhaps it's time for the government to seriously look into managing the civil service size as well as how it could be made leaner and more efficient. If it keeps growing at the current rate without the corresponding increase in productivity, that additional expenditure is set to increase, with no beneficial returns. A leaner more productive civil service will allow for the same expenditure to be used to provide a much better remuneration package for doctors, teachers and academics. Such money spent will be well worth it if it means retaining our overworked-underpaid medical doctors, attracting better quality teachers, and providing more incentive for the best minds to contribute to the public universities. At least the beneficial returns would be more obvious by paying these particular groups better rather than paying more just for the same albeit much bloated civil service.