Senate: Over 71,000 civil servants opted for early retirement over last 10 years

The government approved the applications of 71,700 civil servants who opted for early retirement over the last 10 years, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri S.K. Devamany.

He said they opted to retire early because of health problems, venturing into business, other job offers, being unable to cope with the workload and wanting to give more time to their families.

He was replying to a question from Senator Datuk Seri Boon Som Inong in the Dewan Negara on the number of civil servants who chose to leave the service early during that period, their reasons for doing so and the implications their retirement had on the quality and smooth operation of the public service.

Devamany said their retirement did not have any implication on the quality and smooth operation of the public service.

"This is because the positions vacated by them were filled by others who were promoted or newly appointed," he said.

The minister also said that there were a total of 1,464,702 positions in the public service, and that only 1,264,842 had been filled as of October this year. - BERNAMA