Who actually signs off: mapping delegated authority in the centre
A reconstruction of the approval chain from ministry secretary-general to the chief secretary's office.
Delegated authority is the least examined instrument in Malaysian government. It is also, in practice, where decisions are made.
Every ministry operates a schedule setting out which officer may approve what, to what value, under what conditions. The schedules are internal documents. They are not tabled, not gazetted, and not routinely disclosed.
Putrajaya Insight obtained or reconstructed the current schedules for six ministries. The reconstruction shows a consistent narrowing at the top of each chain.
In four of the six, thresholds that previously sat with divisional heads now sit with the secretary-general. In three, decisions previously final at secretary-general level now require concurrence from a central agency.
The result is a chain that is longer at the top and shorter at the bottom. Junior officers approve less; the most senior officers approve more, and increasingly with an external check.
Officials describe the effect on tempo in similar terms across ministries: fewer errors reaching audit, and a materially slower path from proposal to disbursement.
