KUALA LUMPUR: The new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, which is only into its seventh month this December, has breathed new life into the country’s reforms to make the administration more efficient, effective and transparent.
With the mandate and trust of the people, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was once again appointed to serve as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, this time to lead the PH coalition after having won the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9.
Among the major commitments of Dr Mahathir, hailed as the Father of Modern Malaysia, are combating corruption, forming a more balanced and efficient Cabinet and government agencies and optimising national expenditure.
The Cabinet line-up of only 28 ministers and 24 deputy ministers also witnessed a larger representation of women, with then PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail appointed as the first female deputy prime minister and four other women appointed as ministers and four as deputy ministers.
Twenty-five-year-old Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the MP for Muar, became the youngest individual to be appointed to the Cabinet, as the Youth and Sports Minister, while Dr Mahathir was the nation’s oldest Cabinet member at 93.
Two days after the prime minister and deputy prime minister were sworn in, the establishment of the Council of Eminent Persons was announced to assist the government in formulating policies and programmes.
The council was represented by five leading experts comprising former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin; former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz; former president and chief executive officer of Petronas Tan Sri Hassan Merican; corporate figure Tan Sri Robert Kuok and a leading economist Prof Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram.
Less than a month in office, Dr Mahathir announced the dissolution of the Land Public Transport Commission, the Special Affairs Department, the National Professors Council and the Federal Village Development and Security Committees as well as the termination of the contracts of political appointees in government agencies in an effort to reduce administrative costs.
In respecting and appreciating the people’s call for a clean government, Dr Mahathir put a bar to the Prime Minister becoming the Finance Minister to avoid abuse of power and any financial scandal.
The government also announced the implementation of political reforms by limiting the period of service of the prime minister, menteris besar and chief ministers to only two terms.
A major revamp was also made in the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) when nine agencies, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Election Commission and National Audit Department, were made independent entities reporting directly to Parliament.
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, the Public Service Commission, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Education Service Commission, too, ceased to be under the purview of the JPM.
In keeping to its commitment to combat corruption, the government also decided to improve the mechanism pertaining to the acceptance of gifts, entertainment and payment by those in the administration and imposing the condition that festive and other gifts to civil servants be limited to flowers, food and fruits.
The phrase ‘Rule of Law’ has been synonymous with the New Malaysia and Dr Mahathir, since winning GE14, has often emphasised that administration in accordance with the law would be enforced to combat all forms of abuse of power among leaders.
This firm commitment was further reiterated when PH reached the 100-day mark on Aug 17 and Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying that the government was confident that with the strengthening of anti-corruption and integrity institutions under the PH government, corruption, abuse of power and theft of public money and property would not recur.– Bernama
