KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 – A Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government will not downsize the civil service, Putrajaya hopeful Noraishah Mydin Abdul-Aziz has pledged in her election manifesto.
It is unclear if Noraishah Mydin will have the ability to ensure this sweeping policy as a single MP, given that PH’s overall “Tawaran Harapan” manifesto for the 15th general election does not include such a promise, only to reduce the workload of civil servants.
“If Pakatan Harapan is in power, not a single civil servant will be laid off from service,” stated Noraishah Mydin’s “Tawaran Putrajaya” manifesto.
Noraishah Mydin – who is seeking to wrest the Putrajaya parliamentary seat from four-term incumbent Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor from Barisan Nasional (BN) – also pledged to draft a plan on civil servants’ salary increments and fixed allowances.
She also promised further transparency in the promotions of civil servants and in the awards of Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang.
Noraishah Mydin pledged to review the scheme on civil servants’ grade promotions, especially for those who completed further studies, to encourage career advancement.
The scientist with spina bifida, who uses a wheelchair, pledged to ensure the “meaningful involvement” of people with disabilities (OKU) in the public sector by amending the 1 per cent OKU policy.
Under Noraishah Mydin’s second pledge related to improving infrastructure, the PH candidate said she would create a new online complaints system to increase monitoring and enforcement over complaints to the Public Works Department (JKR).
This new online complaints system will record communications and responses of complaints related to repairs, upgrades, and services that can be monitored by complainants, as Noraishah Mydin noted that 25 per cent of complaints of damage to JKR in Putrajaya were not addressed, based on the Auditor-General’s 2019 report.
The PH candidate also pledged to form a committee to reform the People with Disabilities Act 2008, besides undertaking audits on accessibility and an action plan for monitoring and enforcement of the law.
She noted that current facilities in Putrajaya are not OKU inclusive.
The child section under Noraishah Mydin’s manifesto listed increasing child creches in government buildings, noting that parents are forced to send their children to nurseries far away from their workplace and quarters.
Free nutritious breakfasts will also be provided at these nurseries in government buildings, as the PH candidate noted that a whopping 71 per cent of children in Putrajaya are stunted, citing Unicef’s report.
Noraishah Mydin pledged a special OKU allocation to identify and begin early intervention for OKU children.
Under cost of living pledges, the Putrajaya hopeful promised to coordinate food prices by working with the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) to reduce the prices of basic food items.
Noraishah Mydin also pledged a more efficient mechanism to avoid the comparison of the prices of goods in Putrajaya with other places, noting complaints that hawker food in the administrative centre is expensive.
Besides the problem of child stunting in Putrajaya, the administrative district also has other malnutrition problems.
Almost half of adult residents in Putrajaya, or 45.8 per cent, are obese, with the administrative capital having the highest adult obesity rate in Malaysia. Putrajaya’s adult overweight and obesity rate of 63.3 per cent exceeds the 50.1 per cent national prevalence.
