KUALA LUMPUR: There was no immediate termination of employment in the civil service including contract workers after several agencies were dissolved during the administration of the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Duties) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the restructuring process after the change of government including the dissolution of several ministries and agencies only involved redeployment of staff to new places.

"For example, the dissolution of the Ministry of Federal Territories, the Public Housing Unit and the merger of KeTSA (Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources) and KASA (Ministry of Environment and Water), did not involve the termination of employment of civil servants and contract workers.

"However, we redeployed the existing civil servants to new positions," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy (BN-Kalabakan) on whether the dissolution of several ministries and agencies under the administration of the Unity Government involved the termination of services of civil service staff and contract workers.

Meanwhile, Armizan said the restructuring and reorganisation of ministries, departments and agencies from the aspect of new existence, dissolution and re-establishment, was implemented holistically taking into account various factors.

He said that among the considerations that were taken into account were the scope of functions, duties and roles of each agency; duplication of functions and effectiveness of the delivery system.

"Any decisions and actions are guided by the Public Service Optimisation Policy (DPPA) to maximise the use of public service human resources in addition to improving the efficiency of service delivery and controlling the rate of increase in the government's financial implications

"At the same time, the agenda to deal with the issue of unemployment is implemented in a comprehensive and focused manner through various initiatives mobilised across ministries including involving the private sector and other stakeholders," he said.

He said that this strategy and approach was implemented to ensure that efforts to deal with the issue of unemployment and create job opportunities are sustainable for the long term and not only depend on job opportunities in the public sector alone.

He said this in reply to the original question from Andi Muhammad Suryady on whether the government would consider re-establishing the previously closed agencies to reduce the unemployment problem especially among graduates.

Meantime, answering to another supplementary from Rushdan Rusmi (PN-Padang Besar) regarding cost savings after the restructuring of the administration, Armizan said the government's liability rate for paying emoluments this year decreased to 23.4 percent compared to 27.8 percent in 2022 and 27.5 percent (2021).

-- BERNAMA