Bureaucratic discontent brewing in Putrajaya?
A revolt at the ballot box may happen if Anwar's government fails to take heed.
You’re reading a 🔏 paid version 🔏 of The Malaysianist, the newsletter on business and politics by journalist Emmanuel Samarathisa. Made in Malaysia. Every Saturday and Wednesday, 8AM MYT.
Today’s brief covers:
The dissatisfaction among segments of the civil service towards Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and certain members of his Cabinet
A six-month moratorium placed on government-linked investment companies
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That Malaysia needs to reform its civil servants’ pensions framework is neither novel nor fresh. Proposals on how to go about this have been plenty, too. While that debate rages on, I’d like to focus on something else — the leak that got us all riled up.
This week, social media was abuzz when a January 15 memo was floating around, stating new civil servants would be hired on contract from February 1 as the government aimed to control pensions expenditure. The memo was signed by Public Service Director General Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.
The circular stated that the decision to revise pensions was decided by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet on July 12, 2023.