Azmin: We will not shrink civil service

SHAH ALAM: Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has rubbished claims by Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders that the Opposition would downsize the country's civil service if it gains federal power, labelling them as fake news.
The caretaker Selangor Mentri Besar said the accusations were merely desperate attempts by the federal government to influence civil servants ahead of the 14th General Election (GE14), but he was convinced it would not affect the votes.
"Allegations by certain quarters that there are attempts to shrink the civil service are lies and an irresponsible act to disseminate fake news among government servants and to make them be sceptical of us.
"But I am confident these desperate attempts will not be able to influence the matured civil servants. To me, these wild allegations are an insult to their intelligence.
"But I have no doubt that the government officials and civil servants are matured, intelligent and smart enough to judge for themselves," he said when speaking at the 2017 Selangor Government Excellence Service Award and 2018 Jasamu Dikenang Award, here, today.
BN leaders, including caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, have on several occasions picked on Pakatan Harapan (PH) by claiming that a huge number of the current 1.62 million civil servants would lose their jobs if there was a change in government.
Azmin, who is PKR deputy president, also hinted during his speech at a bonus of more than three months worth of Selangor civil servants if PH remains in power in the state.
"I have shown many times the state government's appreciation to all of you, including through financial incentives. Three months (bonus) is not that much, but it's fair.
"Maybe after this, it will be more than three months, based on the principle of fairness as well as basing on merit and performance," he said.
Azmin also took a dig at the BN government for its decision to hire foreign consultants for its policies, questioning why it did not consult the government servants instead.
"If I can do that in Selangor, why can't Putrajaya? Why the need to spend hundreds of millions of ringgit to get advice from foreigners who do not even understand the rakyat's aspirations," he said.