KUALA LUMPUR: Former Economy Minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli has called for an end to the culture of pomp and pageantry (budaya keramaian) surrounding ministers and politicians in the civil service, describing it as a waste of time and money.
Rafizi, also the Pandan Member of Parliament, said he was shocked on his first day in office as Economy Minister to see large numbers of civil servants waiting to greet him.
He argued that ministers and senior politicians were responsible for encouraging such practices.
“It is a long-standing culture. It should be phased out gradually because it is wasteful and only about grandeur,” he said at the “Major Economic Challenges: Can We Face Them” forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH).
The session also featured former DAP publicity chief Tony Pua and economists Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Prof Wong Chin Yoong.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
