By Yasmin Ramlan
KUALA SELANGOR, Feb 25 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has heaped praise on Selangor’s public servants for their exemplary performance, following a criticism regarding the country’s civil service competence.
Responding to questions from the audience during a dialogue session today, Anwar singled out Selangor and Penang as among states that have excelled in project implementation.
He said they serve as fine examples of how civil servants have performed admirably, effectively dispelling notions of poor performance.
“We’ve observed that the implementation at the grassroots level (peringkat bawah) is significantly better.
“Take Selangor as an example, they achieved 99 per cent (project implementation) in 2023. The same was with Penang,” he said at the closing ceremony of the Central Zone Madani Rakyat programme at Kuala Selangor Sports Complex, here today.
Anwar was responding to a question from the audience at the dialogue session, who lamented about several issues affecting the people in Malaysia, particularly concerning the increasing cost of living.
He then went on to complain about the purported poor work performance of public servants, claiming that they are less productive on their job.
On February 25, the Selangor State Development Office said the state recorded 99.65 per cent, or RM6.78 billion, in total spending out of the RM6.81 billion allocated under the Third Rolling Plan (RP3) of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) for project implementations last year.
As for this year, it said a total of 564 balanced and sustainable development projects will be implemented in the state under RP4 of the 12MP, with a total allocation of RM3.41 billion.
At the dialogue session, the audience were given the opportunity to pose questions to Anwar, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari and Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
