The fielding of  top civil servants as Barisan Nasional candidates in the polls will raise the question of the independence, neutrality and non-partisanship of the civil service

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang 

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• Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali, who is tipped to contest the Kedah state seat of Tunjang and take over as Kedah Mentri Besar;
• National Sports Council director-general Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad, national sports council director-general, who may be fielded in a parliamentary seat in Malacca; and
• Immigration director-general Datuk Aseh Che Mat, who is from Negri Sembilan.

I have nothing personally against anyone of these three top civil servants, but as a matter of principle, it would be most undesirable for top civil servants to step out from their high government posts to take on the mantle of Barisan Nasional candidates - just as it would be most inappropriate for an Industrial Court President to resign to become the Industrial Relations Officer of an Employers’ Federation or for a High Court judge to resign and join a legal firm which had frequently  appeared before him.

I would urge Halim, Mazlan and Aseh, if they are being offered Barisan Nasional candidatures, to give serious consideration to the higher interests to ensure that the credibility, impartiality and neutrality of the civil service should not be compromised in any way.

One way to protect the neutrality and credibility of the civil service is to introduce a new civil service rule requiring a civil servant to leave the government service for at least three years before he could stand as a candidate of the government  coalition which he had served.

(14/11/99)