SINTOK, Jan 13 — The move to corporatise the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, scheduled to be implemented this month, has been postponed to allow it to conduct a more detailed study on the move.
Its Director-General, Datuk Seri T. Subromaniam said he would visit several countries — Australia, South Africa, Singapore and the United Kingdom — to see how the customs departments manage their organisations.
“The top management will go to several countries to see their models then we will prepare a Cabinet Paper.
“So there is no decision ... we will examine the possibility of corporatisation because we cannot rush to make any changes ... so it is up to the government (to evaluate) after we make the report,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters at the ceremony to present Executive Diplomas in Business Administration at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) here today.
On March 13, 2017, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that corporatisation represented the government’s reward to the department for its excellence performance and its staff would enjoy a better service scheme.
In September, Treasury Secretary-General, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, said the Customs Department would be corporatised January this year following the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
On the GST collection last year, Subromaniam said, the department achieved the RM42 billion target set, but the complete information on the amount would only be announced by the prime minister.
He said the Customs Department and UUM signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014 to enable 50 Customs officers to participate in the Executive Diplomas in Business Administration course.
Most of them have Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and they need to take the course for four semesters, he said.
“It will help them in their careers and we are thinking of establishing a position known as Assistant Auditor and Assistant Inquiry Officer who require accounting expertise,” he said. — Bernama
