This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 2, 2020 - March 8, 2020

Our civil servants deserve a pat on the back for continuing to serve the public during this period of political turmoil following the surprise resignation of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the country’s seventh prime minister last Monday.

When Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah accepted Mahathir’s resignation, the appointments of the Cabinet ministers were also revoked.

To say this is not the best time for a political crisis would be an understatement as the world reels from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 outbreak and depressed financial markets on worries of disruption to business activity.

In these uncertain times, kudos to the technocrats at the Ministry of Finance who continued to work on fine-tuning and finalising the RM20 billion stimulus package that was announced on Feb 27 as scheduled. Many had thought this would not happen, given the vacuum created by the prime minister’s resignation last Monday.

Meanwhile, the doctors, nurses and officials under the Ministry of Health, together with the Immigration Department, are keeping a close watch on the Covid-19 situation in the country.

While the self-absorbed politicians jostle for power, the good men and women who make up the civil service continue to serve the people and country. Although this is expected of public servants as they should be non-partisan, they should be praised for conscientiously performing their duties in this unprecedented political situation where there is no Cabinet in place except for an interim prime minister.

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