Prime Minister’s Department in Malaysia is now a super ministry with nine ministers, three deputy ministers and 51 divisions.
Our study does not include the budget allocation to Public Service Department, the Attorney General’s Chambers and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which broadly sit within the broader Prime Ministerial purview.
Coincidently, The Edge Financial Weekly’s Chua Sue-Ann conducted a similar study (October 3, 2016 issue). Her study included the figures for the above listed entities thus showing an even larger Prime Minister’s Department than this study.
Najib made the Presidential Prime Ministership largest ever in Malaysia’s history. The Prime Ministerial edifice is now a threat competing for scarce resources with public education, public health and welfare.
The size of total budget has doubled between 2000 (RM 111 billon) and 2016 (RM 267 billion). But the size of Prime Minister’s Department has increased by four folds in these years from RM 5.2 billion in 2000 to RM20 billion in 2016.
The sharpest increase happened under the watch of Najib. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s final year in office (2008) provided RM 7 billion for Prime Minister’s Department. It spiked to RM10 billion in 2009 and RM 20 billion in 2016. In other words, the figures doubled under Najib’s watch.
Budget 2017 Curbing Prime Ministerial “slush funds” a national priority