end of the year has seen speeches and promises of action providing a mixed and unclear picture of the reform policies and measures likely to be pursued by the unity government during its stint as the ruling government.
We have also seen two measures to indicate that the new government is not planning to drag its feet on the numerous reform issues that the PH and East Malaysia parties have repeatedly drawn attention to when in the political wilderness.
The divestment by the government of non-performing GLCs and those that provide little value added but have instead crowded out private sector players can be a follow-up action after the removal of political appointees. Rightsizing the massive civil service and cutting back on operating expenditures have been advocated by the World Bank and every reputable financial service consultancy organisation that has done business in Malaysia.
These concerns can be addressed and corrected with less collateral political damage than cutting back on staff numbers.