LETTER | The government has announced that, effective next year, critical allowances enjoyed by selected professionals in the civil service will be discontinued for the new recruits. Existing civil servants will not be affected by the new measure.

As expected, this measure has led to protests from those who will be negatively affected.

The new measure is applicable only to the new recruits. They have the option to decide whether to remain in the civil service after their compulsory service with the government. They shouldn’t be protesting for allowances being taken away when they are not even in the civil service yet.

Reforming and restructuring the civil service is never easy. Thus far, we have been talking about over-bloated and overpaid public sector, but without showing many results. It is about time the government does more than just relooking at critical allowances in the civil service.

To be fair, the government should not touch those who are currently enjoying the benefits. Going forward, new measures must be introduced to curb the escalating cost of the public sector.

The operating cost of the public sector will be the Achilles heel of this country if nothing significant is done, quickly and determinedly. The public coffers is not a bottomless pit for politicians and public servants to exploit and take advantage.

It is time for the government to review and “re-grade” the numerous senior positions in the civil service. Positions that were previously premier Grade C, B or A have been upgraded nonchalantly to higher grades without much consideration of the pension and financial implications. Not only have these posts been upgraded, their salary scales, too, have been extravagantly adjusted upward.

The government should downgrade the posts once the current incumbents have retired. We do not need a premier “Grade A” or a “Staff II” to hold a deputy secretary-general post in a ministry.

Trust me, they do not do much. Going forward, it is time to downgrade all these posts which have been freely and unconcernedly approved during the dying days of the previous administration.

The same goes with salaries and perks enjoyed by our politicians and political appointees.

I think Malaysian politicians get too much, given the amount of work they do and the level of performance they get to show. It is never easy to expect politicians to cut their own perks and salaries.

However, if Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants to do it, he should do it now. Depending on future prime ministers will be even more difficult.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.