HONG KONG — Malaysia’s cash-strapped government is dealing with a fresh year-end political headache after tens of thousands of people signed an online petition urging officials to reverse their decision to cut allowances for newly hired doctors and other professionals from “critical” civil service sectors.

The Public Service Department last week said the new policy would come into effect for new hires starting Jan 1, following a review that found that the 33 affected professions — including nurses, architects and legal officers — “no longer fulfil the criteria for the incentives”.

The cuts are part of efforts by the 18-month-old administration of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to trim a bloated civil service wage bill that makes ups nearly one-third of government expenditure.

The year-end announcement was the subject of intense criticism online, even amid festivities during the holiday season.

Commenters on Facebook and Twitter pointed out that new doctors, in particular, were already getting the short end of the stick as they enter the workforce to serve in grossly underfunded hospitals on short term contracts, with no certainty of obtaining permanent positions.

The allowance – which is a flat monthly 750 ringgit (S$245) for doctors — amounts to around 15 per cent of the salaries of new hires in the profession.

In an online petition launched on Wednesday — Christmas Day — the Malaysian Medical Association urged the public to support its efforts to have the allowances reinstated.

“While we support prudence and ensuring a leaner civil service, this should never come at the expense of the critical areas for the development of the country, namely health and education,” the medical body said in its statement on the Change.org website.

It said the people who would be hardest hit by the latest change were “newly employed junior staff” who are already faced with “bleak career prospects and little chance for permanent positions”.

The petition had garnered over 74,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

While the decision to eliminate the allowance was made by a high-level panel chaired by Dr Mahathir, online posts by two of his ministers including Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad suggested it did not have the full support of the cabinet.

On Twitter, Mr Dzukelfy emphasised that the new policy would not affect civil servants who already receive the allowances, and urged the Public Service Department to make clear why it decided to implemented the new policy.

Mr Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the Youth and Sports Minister, offered a more withering criticism.

In a video post, he said the government “should not wrong our doctors and nurses in critical services” as they were “already heavily overworked and underpaid”. The 27-year-old minister said that in response to the new policy he planned to cut his annual leave and return “every sen (cent)” of a holiday allowance accorded to ministers. He said he had already cut his own salary by 10 per cent and “I’ll ensure that others will be reduced as well until this problem is resolved”.

Mr Najib Razak, the former prime minister defeated by Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition last year, mocked the two ministers for criticising the decision publicly instead of raising it directly with the prime minister.

The 66-year-old offered Mr Syed Saddiq a “four-step solution” to fix the problem, urging him to use the cabinet “WhatsApp group” to raise the concerns to his holidaying colleagues.

“Even if you shorten your holidays, you cannot do anything because your cabinet colleagues are on holiday. No need for drama or TikTok,” the ex-leader wrote on Facebook.

Mr Anwar Ibrahim, the senior Pakatan Harapan politician who is expected to succeed Dr Mahathir, also weighed in late on Thursday.

In a statement, Mr Anwar — who is an MP but has no position in the government – said he hoped the allowance cuts would be discussed during the next meeting of Dr Mahathir’s cabinet.

In a seemingly subtle jab at the two ministers’ public criticism of government policy, Mr Anwar said his “recommendation” was for ministers to air their views on the matter in cabinet.

The government has yet to respond to the petition, but the Public Services Department earlier this week defended its decision. It said the allowance scheme — first implemented in 1992 — was conceived as a way to attract talent to the 33 sectors involved, and was never meant to be a permanent component of pay. The latest review was the first since 2007.

Reforming the 1.6 million-strong civil service is among the priorities of Dr Mahathir’s administration, and officials have sought to aggressively pare down significant national debt left behind by Mr Najib’s administration.

About 37 per cent of the government’s operating expenditure — or 82.05 billion ringgit — will go towards emoluments, including wages and allowances, for the civil service this financial year, it is estimated. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST