Putrajaya, September 3 –The Malaysian government has established the Secretariat for the Rationalization of Federal Statutory Bodies as a measure to deal with the issues of duplication of functions as well as saving national funds.

This move is part of efforts to reform the public service and the management of statutory bodies and Government-Linked Companies (GLCs), with immediate effect.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in his speech during the monthly gathering of the Ministry of Finance, underlined that the establishment of this secretariat was a response to the problem of duplication of functions and financial waste that occurred due to the number of statutory bodies that were too many and were not managed.

"There are too many of these statutory bodies, and even often overlapping functions, causing waste and financial redundancy. I have decided for the finance ministry to represent the government as a whole to form a bilateral committee, which will update and rationalize the statutory body," said Prime Minister.

He explained that rationalization aims to reduce the number of statutory bodies as well as overcome management problems and significant waste of spending.

"This rationalization means that we need to reduce the number of existing statutory bodies and deal with excesses in spending," he added.

This step was taken as an effort to improve management efficiency and ensure a more prudent use of national funds.

The establishment of the Rationalization Review Secretariat is expected to bring positive changes in the management system of statutory bodies in this country.