But the analysts are sceptical about whether civil servants will be swayed.

The new perks announced yesterday include five additional days of unrecorded leave, and RM700 in once-off cash aid for active public servants and RM350 for retirees, at a total cost of RM1.3 billion to the government.

Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) said that while the budget clearly had the next general election in mind, possibly early next year, he doubted it would be enough to sway the “independent-minded” civil servants of today.

“They’ll accept the goodies no doubt, but whether that will guarantee their support for the incumbent government is another matter,” he told FMT.

“The majority Malay civil service will be coy about their support though, true to Malay culture which emphasises courtesy to the powers that be.

“But seeing how people’s power could affect real change as happened in 2018, I expect the new generation of civil servants to value their political liberties better than the civil service of old in exercising their voting rights.”

Azmil Tayeb, also of USM, said it was “hard to say” whether the perks would be enough to secure civil servants’ votes, which given its size and racial makeup was a key vote bank.

He suggested that ethnic loyalties might be a bigger factor than the budget perks.

“A vast majority of civil servants are Malays, who might be partial to the Malay-Islamic dominant government now.”

Former academic Azmi Hassan told FMT that “it’s not only the ‘goodies’ that will sway civil servants, but the size of the budget also shows that the current government is capable of administering the country monetarily.

“It shows that the government, despite all the problems of the last year, is still able to put out a hefty budget. That sort of thing instils confidence.”