Civil servants were today reminded by the prime minister to concentrate of their job and leave political issues to politicians.

abdullah ahmad badawi 2008 cabinet line up 180308 08 "Let politicians handle political issues. The role of the civil servants is to implement directives from time to time," he said a the Finance Ministry's monthly gathering in Putrajaya this morning.

He added that civil servants should discharge their duties as public officials by implementing government directives from time to time.

He also specifically told the finance ministry to facilitate the smooth implementation of government projects or policies.

Abdullah, also the finance minister, said he did not want to see the ministry to be the cause of delays in the implementation of projects or policies.

People should enjoy

"We don't want the requests by implementing agencies to be stuck at the treasury," he was reported as saying in Bernama .

The premier also said that there was still room for improvement in the implementation of government plans and policies, adding that the people should enjoy more benefits from the successful implementation of the policies and programmes.

He said that all applications reaching the ministry should be given priority and urgent attention, including decisions on tenders submitted by ministries and agencies so that they could be implemented in a prompt manner, he said.

He added that this was crucial as there were only two years left to implement the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010).

"Let's strengthen our resolve to implement whatever that has been planned," he said.

Also present was Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop.