Speaking to the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) officers and personnel during his maiden visit to the Defence Ministry, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stated that the government hopes to see more jobs with “lucrative salaries” available in the private sector.

As per a report in Bernama, this was to help reduce Malaysians’ dependence on jobs in the public sector, for instance in the manufacturing sector.

The PM states that there were currently 1.7 million Malaysians employed in the public service, and added that the number was too large and had to be reduced.

“When I stepped down as the (fourth) prime minister (in 2003), there were only one million civil servants. Now, there are 1.7 million, an additional 700,000. I think the number of civil servants is too large and has to be reduced,” he said.

That’s why he thinks the manufacturing sector needs to be developed in order to shift people from government jobs. 

He added: “That’s why we have to develop the manufacturing sector to enable more people to shift from government jobs to those in the private sector to enhance their capacity to achieve higher yields than ordinary civil servants.”

PM Mahathir also said the government could make use of information technology in order to reduce the number of civil servants in the public sector.

As per recent reports, Malaysians are keen to upskill to help them stay employable. As per a Randstad “Market Outlook 2019” report, Malaysian employees have expressed a keen interest in training and development to keep their skills up to date and help them stay employable. The study revealed that 96% of employees are willing to invest their own money and time to upgrade their skills and competencies through training programmes. Almost all of the Malaysian employees (99%) aged between 35 and 54 feel that they have to actively look for opportunities to stay competitive.