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Plantation Ministry reviewing agencies to streamline functions - Johari

KUALA LUMPUR: The Plantation and Commodities Ministry is reviewing its agencies to ensure their relevance and to prevent duplication of work.

Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said this aligns with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's call to streamline functions in government-linked companies and agencies to prevent duplications.

"Each ministry has its own agencies. For example, the Plantation and Commodities Ministry has its own agencies. We are also reviewing these agencies to see how we can ensure there is no duplication of work. That's one aspect.

"Secondly, if these agencies are no longer relevant, we may organise engagement sessions to discuss with the involved staff where they could potentially be reassigned.

"This would involve finding placements in agencies that require additional manpower, if necessary," he said to reporters after an aid delivery ceremony at Madrasatul Khairat in Desa Pandan.

Johari, who is also the Titiwangsa member of parliament said currently there was no specific agency under review, but the ministry is examining their roles to see if they could be merged or streamlined.

"If there are two or three smaller agencies, we might consider merging them into one.

"We are in the process of assessing this, as it has significant implications—some of these agencies have pensioned employees, so we can't just close them outright.

"We need to consider where to place these staff members, as many factors must be taken into account," he said.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said the government is committed to addressing overlapping functions within statutory bodies and GLCs through the establishment of a rationalisation coordination office for statutory bodies.

Anwar said there is an overlap of agencies and some agencies are operating differently from their original objectives.

Hence, he said the government fully supports the National Audit Department's audit of 2,000 government-linked companies starting next year.

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