Putrajaya' decision to freeze the hiring of new civil servants since April 22 should not come at the expense of healthcare and education services, said Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong.

Instead, Liew said Putrajaya should start trimming the unusually large number of staff in the Prime Minister's Department and trim its discretionary spending allocation of RM7 billion.

"I was informed by the ministry that its discretionary funds was not affected (in the budget cuts)," he told Malaysiakini .

Liew said this discretionary funds refers to large amount of money allocated under generic terms such as "facilitation fund" with no actual breakdown of how the money is spent.

"In a way, the government can claim it has been subjected to parliamentary scrutiny but these are generic terms. You don't really know how the money is being used.

"Basically the prime minister can sign them off as he wishes," said the MP, who has consistently made public his analysis of the PMD's spending every time the government budget is tabled.

Essential services hit

The PSD has confirmed the veracity of a letter leaked by whistleblower site Sarawak Report which stated that new intake of civil servants after April 22 have been frozen

According to a front page report by Sin Chew Daily today, at least 15 government agencies - including the police, education ministry and army - are affected.

The freeze comes amidst Health Ministry budget cuts which saw the cancellation of the Padang Besar hospital project and budget cuts for the University Malaysia Medical Centre (UMMC).

"A lot of the cuts always comes in the social sector such as welfare and hospitals which I think should be the last sectors to be cut.

"The discretionary funds in the PMD is not necessary and cuts should start there," he said.

While concurring that some areas such as the police force requires redeployment, he said a blanket freeze on areas such as education would hurt the country as there is a need for constant new blood among teachers.

Oil price slump

Number 1.4 million, civil servants is considered an important vote bank for the ruling party and is often criticised by the opposition for being too big for the country.

However, Liew said Putrajaya appears to be in a "difficult situation" for it to be imposing a freeze on hiring new civil servants.

"I think they are really facing a budget crunch and are in a difficult budget situation as a result of the oil slump.

"I don't think they have found any way to deal with. I think there is at least a shortfall of 10 to 15 percent of what they budgeted," he said.

Liew added that the newly implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) also does not appear to provide sufficient new revenue to cover the shortfall.

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