Don't drag chief secretary into political matters, Bersatu tells Anwar

Bersatu today criticised Anwar Ibrahim for referring to top civil servant Mohd Zuki Ali as a witness to DAP's stand on Malay programmes at Cabinet meetings, accusing him of dragging the chief secretary into "an obvious political matter". 

Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif of Bersatu's legal and constitutional bureau said the prime minister's remark that Zuki could attest to the fact that DAP had never questioned such programmes was inappropriate and contrary to civil service neutrality. 

"A chief secretary to the government not only serves the government of the day but is also the boss to all 1.7 million civil servants in Malaysia. 

"The most important role a chief secretary has to play is that he is, and is seen to be, scrupulously impartial towards any political party or figure. Like Caesar’s wife, he must be beyond reproach. 

"The prime minister, of all persons, must not undermine this," she said. 

Reiterating that the chief secretary must remain apolitical at all times, she said it was "retrograde to good and efficient administration to compromise civil service impartiality".

"As a senior political leader with years of government experience, Anwar should have known better than to do so," she added. 

"Delivery of services to the people is contingent upon a properly functioning civil service which transcends partisan politics."

She also questioned the extent to which Zuki, who also served under the administrations of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, could disagree with the prime minister in the event of inaccuracies.

"As a person who is in a tenure position where the survival of his position is based on the recommendation of the prime minister, can he truly publicly disagree with the prime minister if the prime minister is wrong or inaccurate about the issue? 

"Anwar has certainly put the No.1 man in the civil service in a very awkward and tight spot," she said.