I refer to the prime minister’s call for civil service to make do with what they have and try and increase productivity rather then keep asking for more staff.

I am delighted by this order from our PM as it is a well-known fact that our civil service has been burgeoning without a marked increase in productivity. It all seems so easy for our civil service to just create new units or departments or a brand new agency without thinking of the long-term cost implication on taxpayers’ funds.

The funds limitation of the private sector is well-known where we all have to make do or reorganize or increase efficiency as the correct way to move forward.

Alas, the civil service get allocations from consolidated funds so funds limitation is not a worry to them. Added on to their salary are the benefits such as medical coverage, gratuity and pension. In the long run, it is definitely a strain on the government’s coffers and one which we can no longer afford.

There is no point one section of government extolling austerity and trying on new approachs like NKEA and ETP while another just spends it all without a care.

This is not limited to to he civil service only as I see the same approach by many GLCs, GLICs , government companies and agencies which just keep on hiring for the smallest task and newly- created government companies having full-blown team with heads of this and that without any business or activity at all.

Government-guaranteed loans and bonds and administrative expenses allocated by the head office or parent company or agency has allowed a culture of spending freely in these organisations.

We all need to tighten our belt and urgently. Don’t be too quick to just hire and form new outfits.

For example, the home ministry is proposing setting up an anti-terrorism centre in Langkawi and had proposed the immediate past-IGP to head it.

There is already a centre called the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-terrorism (SEARCCT) which was officially launched on July1, 2003 under the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

I think it is best to combine both of this and the new headquarters in Langkawi so that expertise can be harnessed and efficiency can be increased. We don’t wish to end up like US where many different law enforcement and development agencies get in each other’s way and just make the work of fighting crime more difficult.

Please don’t waste taxpayers money by constantly creating new companies and agencies and please don’t spend your revenue extravagantly on unreal benefits and pay scales when all the revenue should be channeled to the government for development purposes - not to be exhausted on burgeoning administrative costs.