Chief secretary to the government Zuki Ali said he had instructed the public services department (JPA) to carry out the town hall session to allow the secretaries-general to provide clarification on the measures that had been taken in response to issues raised in the A-G’s Report.

“We’ve had town hall sessions before, so I have instructed JPA to do the same thing. We will revive the town hall sessions to clarify the issues raised in the Auditor General’s Report.

“We will inform the actions we take through this town hall session. I have instructed the JPA to hold the session and call the secretaries-general to respond,” he said in an interview to mark the first anniversary of the formation of the unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Town hall sessions with the media following the tabling of the A-G’s Report were held in 2015, 2016, and 2017, with the chief secretary, secretaries-general, department heads, and other civil servants in attendance.

Meanwhile, on Anwar’s call for department heads to minute all discussions regarding the A-G’s Report, Zuki said it proved that the prime minister viewed the findings seriously and did not want the civil service to make the same mistakes again.

Zuki stated that he would examine all the minuted reports by the A-G at the ministry and department levels before bringing them to the prime minister’s attention.

On Nov 6, Anwar, in his speech at the monthly assembly with staff of the Prime Minister’s Department, called for all department heads, directors-general and secretaries-general to minute all discussions regarding the A-G’s Report before handing it over to Zuki.

The prime minister said the A-G’s Report needed to be re-examined to improve administrative governance, in addition to being able to identify and help reduce leakages in the country’s administration.