09-12-2021, 10:48 AM
![[Image: FMT-PENJAWAT-AWAM-220819-2.jpg]](https://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FMT-PENJAWAT-AWAM-220819-2.jpg)
PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional (BN) governments resorted to pension increases and “brainwashing” to turn the large civil service into a vote bank for the then ruling coalition, said two political analysts.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said BN had “blurred the line” between the ruling party and the government.
“So if civil servants did not support the ruling party, it was akin to not supporting their employers,” he told FMT.
Such “persuasive and intimidating” methods were among those employed by the notorious and now-defunct Biro Tata Negara (BTN), Oh said.
Former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer Azmi Hassan said the annual salary increases for civil servants, even when it was “nothing to shout about” compared to bonuses in private companies, also ensured they would continue to support the government.
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