Analysis: Anwar’s surprising choice of new civil service head sends political message, but will it backfire?

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made a surprise appointment last week of a relatively dark-horse candidate for the position of Chief Secretary to the Government, a move that has stirred unease among the upper crust of the country’s civil service and delivered a clear signal that serious reforms in the public sector are underway.
Mr Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, a low-profile civil servant who has played a key behind-the-scenes role as the government’s leading negotiator in the country’s privatisation programme of state firms and national services, has been appointed to the highest position in the country’s powerful civil service. 
Mr Shamsul, who took office on Monday (August 12), leapfrogged over 20 other candidates with higher seniority over him and other front-runners, who were recommended for the position to Mr Anwar by the outgoing chief secretary, Mr Mohd Zuki Ali, senior administration officials and sources in the premier’s inner political circle told CNA on condition of anonymity because of the sensitiveness of the matter.
Mr Shamsul previously served as the Director-General of the government Public-Private Partnership Unit, a central agency under the Prime Minister’s Office to facilitate strategic partnership between the public and private sectors.
Mr Shamsul, who has also worked closely with the Finance Ministry, which Mr Anwar also heads, was personally handpicked by the premier for several reasons. Apart from his probity as a civil servant, Mr Shamsul was picked because the premier wanted to ensure continuity in the leadership of the civil service, those in Mr Anwar’s inner circle noted.
Aged 55, Mr Shamsul will have five years to helm the public sector before he retires at the age of 60.
WINGMAN 
The surprise promotion of Mr Shamsul, who is a native of the central Pahang state, to the highest rank in government has, so far, received scant local media attention and public discussion other than the generic press reports. 
But among senior civil servants and politicians, Mr Anwar’s latest gambit is stirring a quiet but serious debate, with fears of a potential backlash from top level civil servants long accustomed to promotions based on seniority and political ties.
“This is the first candidate who has no links to previous administrations and it is Anwar’s way of sending a powerful signal that he is ready to break tradition and pick an outsider,” noted a senior government official in the premier’s communication team with knowledge of the situation. 
For example, outgoing chief secretary Mohd Zuki was appointed in December 2019 by the previous administration under two-time premier Mahathir Mohamad and was extended for another two-year contract by former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in August 2022.
“Shamsul is a wildcard appointment that caught everyone by surprise and the PM’s decision to select him as his No.1 wingman shows that he is serious about cleaning up the civil service,” said a director of a toll-road operator, who has had dealings with the new chief secretary and described him as a professional with a penchant for financial modelling of long-term concession contracts for road networks and independent power generation entities.
Mr Shamsul’s promotion is set to presage other changes in the civil service, particularly in the powerful Home Ministry, which oversees the police, customs and immigration.
Government officials familiar with the plan said that Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is widely considered as Mr Anwar’s most trusted political lieutenant, wants to eliminate duplication at the country’s 144 exit and entry points, comprising airports, ports and border crossings.
“At the causeway (with Singapore) alone, there are over 20 different agencies from immigration to customs to quarantine,” said a senior Home Ministry official. 
In a separate development, the Home Ministry announced this week that it had taken control from the Human Resources Ministry of the supervisory power over a private company, known as Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which operates a proprietary IT system that manages the intake of foreign workers into Malaysia.
Bestinet had received a three-year extension to manage the foreign workforce intake in late June but under strict conditions, including the condition of the surrender of its payment systems to the Home Ministry before the three-year extension contract is finalised. 
Government officials noted that negotiations with Bestinet on complying with the new conditions under the contract extension are ongoing. 
POLITICAL HEFT
The Malaysian civil service, which is more than 85 per cent dominated by the country’s majority ethnic Malay Muslim population, is widely considered as one of the country’s most powerful and influential institutions. 
The public sector holds great sway over the economy through heavy regulatory powers and its influence over state-owned entities and government-linked institutions in sectors ranging from banking, power generation, construction, telecommunications and transportation.
But it is the political heft of the civil service that has long drawn scrutiny.
This stems from the public sector’s close identification to the long-established United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that led successive coalition governments since independence in 1957. Over the decades of UMNO-led rule, a tight symbiotic relationship was formed and promotions to top positions in the public sector was largely determined by loyalty to the ruling party.
However, the subservient position to its ruling political elite was reversed after the UMNO-led National Front (Barisan Nasional) coalition, which at the time was led by now-jailed former premier Najib Razak, was ejected from power in the May 2018 general election. 
The political instability that followed strengthened the hand of the civil service in national affairs.
Close advisors to Mr Anwar acknowledge that when the premier took power after the country’s November 2022 general election, he privately declared that bringing greater discipline and professionalism was his top priority in the public sector workforce where corruption had become rampant.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) noted recently that 70 per cent of the complaints received by the agency as of July this year were related to public procurement. 
This was a slight increase over the 2023 and 2022 figures of 69 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
Close aides to Mr Anwar said that the premier held a meeting on July 21 at his residence in the administrative capital of Putrajaya with senior officials from the country’s enforcement agencies, including the police, MACC, the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, where he registered his disquiet with the lack of progress in the government’s crackdown on corruption that yet to deliver any high-profile convictions.
These include the high-profile investigations the MACC has initiated investigations on a number of people, including former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.  
Days after his meeting with the chiefs of the enforcement agencies, the premier stunned the civil service with the appointment of Mr Shamsul, who was not in the list of candidates recommended by the outgoing chief secretary Mohd Zuki.
These candidates included Mr Isham Ishak, who is the Secretary-General of the Defence Ministry; the Director-General of the Public Service Wan Dahlan Abdul Aziz and Mr Lokman Hakim Ali, who is the Secretary-General of the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, according to government officials familiar with the situation.
Mr Ibrahim Suffian, co-founder of the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, said that Mr Anwar’s civil service reforms come on the back of his stronger political footing and against the backdrop of strengthening economic fundamentals reflected in growing consumer spending and rising private investment. 
“But a backlash (from segments of the civil service) is always possible and he must be careful not to jolt the system too much,” he said.