KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 – The best governance is having a civil service free of politics and elected politicians as the implementor for policies they formulated, said UMNO Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

He said government operation is in the business of civil services and it is up to them to manage it without any political interference.

“However, the policy must be formulated by the Cabinet and meets the aspirations of a democratically elected government. An independent civil service is very important. Without freedom, the professionalism will be compromised.

“However, the total separation of the civil service from political interference requires professionalism on both sides to be at the highest level,” he said in a statement.

According to the Rantau State Assemblyman, ministers must realise the limit to their powers while civil servants must know their main task, which is to translate government policies and aspirations professionally and sincerely.

“The civil service cannot run away from public scrutiny. It is a system funded by public funds… so the standard of accountability must be high. In that manner, there must be an independent mechanism to do check and balance.

“Open confrontation between civil servants and ministers can be avoided if the professionalism of both parties is at the highest level,” he added.

He also commented that Malaysia still has a very significant ‘governance gap’ between the civil service when compared to the private sector.

“The private sector in Malaysia has come a long way in improving their corporate and business governance through an active and ‘rigorous’ regulatory system.

“The space to improve the government governance system is still very wide. Therefore, efforts in that direction must be intensified immediately for the sake of an independent and world-class civil service, God willing,” he said.