PUTRAJAYA, May 14 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he will cap his administration to 25 ministries, merging some and discontinuing others currently parked under the Prime Minister’s Department.
He said Pakatan Harapan (PH) intended to cut the number of portfolios inherited from the defeated Barisan Nasional (BN), but without causing redundancies in the civil service.
“We want to reduce the number of ministries… we will keep it at 25.
“The civil servants, however, will not be terminated from service, but we will find a way for them to continue to work in other agencies,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said he plans to reduce the size of the government by privatising functions where possible and for the corporatised entity to retain the related workers, similar to the privatisation of Telekom Malaysia in the 1980s.
The PM said last April that the civil service could be trimmed and streamlined by privatising some agencies.
Earlier today, Dr Mahathir met with all the secretaries-general of government ministries to explain the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration’s policy plans and tasks ahead.
The PH chairman also received his first official visit as prime minister, welcoming Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who became the first foreign state leader to meet a Malaysian prime minister not from Barisan Nasional (BN) or its predecessor.
