Mahathir tells civil servants to back govt

Mahathir tells civil servants to back govt

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged civil servants on Friday to shed pro-opposition sympathies and instead work with his government, claiming that Malaysia's prosperity could otherwise collapse within a few years.

"There are those who feel this government is not Islamic and reeks of corruption and cronyism," Mahathir said in a speech to senior government officials in charge of the civil service. "Such perceptions have yet to hinder our development efforts, but it is not a good sign."

The speech marked Mahathir's latest bid to shore up his power base since general elections in 1999, when ethnic Malay Muslims partly deserted his party and voted for the opposition, particularly an Islamic party, to show dissatisfaction with his rule.

The 800,000-strong civil service is the preserve of Malay Muslims, the dominant ethnic group and backbone of Mahathir's long-ruling United Malays National Organization, which has traditionally stressed development over religion.

Mahathir said that Malaysia, which he has built into one of Southeast Asia's richest countries during his 19-year rule, will lose if the civil service stops serving the government - which, since independence in 1957, has been run by his party.

"If it is allowed to fester, the first evidence of our country cracking and collapse will show rapidly," Mahathir said. "We can fall in two to three years".

Much disillusionment with Mahathir, both from Malays and the large Chinese and Indian minorities, stems from him sacking Anwar Ibrahim as his deputy in 1998. Anwar was beaten in custody and convicted of sodomy and corruption in trials that many saw as politically orchestrated.

Many civil servants have since openly supported the Pan- Malaysian Islamic Party, which made big gains in the 1999 polls, and the National Justice Party headed by Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife.

In December, scores of civil servants skipped work and cheered at an opposition rally outside a complex where government departments are housed in Kuala Lumpur.

In his speech, Mahathir took a customary swipe at the West, saying Malaysia would have to give up pro-Malay affirmative action and "become slaves" if foreigners gain control of the economy, still suffering from the 1997-98 Asian crisis, in the name of globalization.

"We have to have political stability, free of racial tension and have a professional civil service to fight this threat," Mahathir said.

Ethnic Malays enjoy special privileges, aimed at increasing their economic clout, under policies instituted after race riots in 1969. They have been increasingly questioned in recent months by ethnic Chinese, who say economic advancement should be based on individual merit.

In another development, Mahathir kept the country guessing on Friday over a planned reshuffle of his cabinet.

The markets had speculated that Mahathir, Asia's longest serving elected leader, would announce changes to his cabinet after a meeting of the policy-making arm of his United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

But at the end of the three-hour party meeting Mahathir said: "It had nothing to do with the cabinet reshuffle."

Earlier this week, Mahathir said he would reshuffle his cabinet soon.

"When I reshuffle I will announce," Mahathir told a news conference.

Mahathir is scheduled to leave for a two-day official visit to Japan on Monday.

Uncertainty over when Mahathir will announce the reshuffle has unsettled financial markets and hurt volume on the stock exchange on Friday.

The planned reshuffle, which follows the resignation last week of Islamic affairs minister Abdul Hamid Othman, would be the first since a November 1999 general election.