林德宜：马斯克与政府效率部拆解官僚体制

领导美国政府效率部（DOGE）的全球首富马斯克，在2025年2月13日迪拜世界政府高峰会议上演讲时表示：“我们这里真正有的是官僚主义统治，而不是人民统治——民主”。

自政府效率部成立以来，马斯克和他的团队以前所未有的速度“铲除”美国政府的联邦机构，这也是特朗普总统竞选承诺的一部分，即彻底改革美国政府。

为捍卫其举动，马斯克积极描述了其正进行的任务及预期的影响。

“我们确实需要铲除整个机构，而不是留下一部分。只留下一部分。这很容易。这有点像留下杂草。”
“如果你不去除杂草的根，杂草很容易重新生长。但如果你去除了杂草的根，这虽不能阻止杂草永远不长，但会使杂草很难生长。”
“所以我们必须真正铲除整个机构，很多机构。”

DOGE运作模式

DOGE的运作模式是“去除杂草的根”并缩减公务员队伍，这是非同寻常的。这或许更适合被形容为一场安静的革命或政变。

DOGE避开了以往在削减公务员努力中，所面对的漫长协商和审议过程——这些过程往往导致在立法层面出现僵局，进而效果有限或很小——DOGE已派其团队成员审查政府系统中的人事和支付信息。然后，这些数据将被用来作为理由，以瓦解部分官僚机构、减少浪费支出并消除过度监管法规。

迄今为止的成果：

● DOGE声称自开始运作以来已为纳税人节省了376.9亿美元（1.67兆令吉）。
● 7万5000名美国联邦机构人员接受了自愿离职计画。这缩减了美国联邦机构人员总数的约3%。
● 联邦机构解雇了9500名人员，另有人数不明的试用期人员在服务期限第一年内被解雇。

根据马斯克的说法，如果DOGE政策成功落实，这可以协助美国把现有的6.4兆美元（28.3兆令吉）联邦预算削减至2兆美元（8.9兆令吉）。这将有助新政府解决国家财政困境的关键部分。

目前尚不清楚DOGE是否能够取得更多进展，因为公务员、其他利益相关群体和政治对手正动员美国群众反对这些措施。

反对DOGE和马斯克

批评者反对缩减公务员措施的理由，主要集中在几点，不过大多数美国选民是支持缩减公务员的。

反对的理由包括：

●削减政府在提供基本服务、支持社会正义计划、环境保护等方面责任会带来负面后果
●反对马斯克领导DOGE及其商业帝国交易中的利益冲突
●担心缩减官僚机构后，导致政治权力更集中和中央集权

除了受影响的机构及其资深人员之外，由民主党政客、工会领导人、自由派媒体和非政府组织组成的反对派联盟也在法庭、媒体和公共舆论上就DOGE的法定权力与特朗普进行较量。虽然这将能够推迟某些项目的缩编，但预计美国最高法院将对总统在缩编、重组或撤销机构方面可以行使的权力范围，做出最终裁决。

马斯克和DOGE如何挑战既定欧洲秩序

美国以外地区也密切关注这场在美国进行中，在某些方面是前所未有且可能改变世界格局的变革，以及其对政治、法律和宪法影响的发展。

特别是在欧洲，马斯克领导的DOGE，加上他透过社交媒体平台X（前身为Twitter）的影响力，引发了对外国干涉、监管挑战和所谓“民主规范”遭侵蚀的担忧。

欧洲政党和领导人密切关注马斯克及DOGE对美国政治和外交政策影响，这包括欧洲右派政党如德国的另类选择党（AfD）和现任领导人即德国总理肖尔茨、法国总统马克龙、英国首相斯塔默和匈牙利总理欧尔班。

目前，马斯克的影响力被视为可对欧洲带来广泛政治转变的催化剂和征兆，有利于民粹主义和反建制情绪的兴起。如果DOGE成功，其可能会对正在努力应对社会经济挑战和移民辩论的欧盟国家产生滚雪球效应，尤其欧盟官僚机构的臃肿和腐败一直在阻碍经济成长，给公民带来比美国所经历的更严重负担。

在世界其他地方，那些官僚机构规模过大、拖累发展、其成本超过其对经济和社会价值的国家，也同样可借鉴DOGE个案。

这也包括了一直以来无法精简官僚机构的马来西亚。我国显然迫切需要政治意愿以及大马的“马斯克和DOGE”来解决政府庞大财政负担，提升效率、生产力和解决其他问题，其中迫在眉睫的，就是解决因庞大公务员队伍而来的养老金支付危机。

林德宜《马斯克与政府效率部拆解官僚体制》原文：Musk and DOGE Tear Down The Bureaucratic State

“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people - democracy”.

Elon Musk speaking at World Governments Summit, Dubai, 13 February 2025

Since the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk and his team have moved with unprecedented speed to eliminate federal agencies of the current administration as part of President Trump's electoral promise to overhaul the US government.

He has also gone on the offensive to describe the mission he is undertaking and its expected impact.

“ We do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind. Just leave part of them behind. It's easy. It's kind of like leaving a weed.”

"If you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back. But if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn't stop weeds from ever going back, but it makes it harder.”

"So we have to really delete entire agencies, many of them.”

DOGE Modus Operandi

The modus operandi of DOGE to “remove the roots of the weed” and downsize the civil service has been nothing short of extraordinary. It may perhaps be better described as a quiet revolution or a coup.

Eschewing the usual long drawn out consultative and deliberative process that has accompanied previous efforts aimed at cutting back on the civil service - these often have resulted in legislative deadlocks and little or minimal impact - DOGE has sent its team members to scrutinize personnel and payment information in the governmental systems. The data is then used to dismantle parts of the bureaucracy as well as cut back on wasteful expenditure and eliminate excessive regulations.

The results to date:

● DOGE claims to have saved taxpayers $US37.69 billion since beginning its work
● 75,000 federal workers have accepted buyouts as part of a voluntary separation initiative. This reduction accounts for nearly 3% of the federal civilian workforce.
● 9,500 workers have been terminated across various agencies with an unknown number of probationary appointments that are in their first year of service

According to Musk, if DOGE succeeds, it can trim up to US$2 trillion (RM8.9 trillion) from the current US federal budget of US$6.4 trillion. This will enable the new administration to address a key part of the nation’s fiscal woes.

Whether DOGE will be able to make more progress is for now unclear as the opposition from the civil service, other beneficiary groups and political opponents take their case to the American public.

The Opposition to DOGE and Musk

Critics have focused on a variety of reasons to rationalize opposition to the downsizing of the civil service which the majority of the US electorate are in favour of.

They include

● the negative consequences of cutbacks to the government's responsibilities in provision of essential services, support for social justice programs, environmental protection and other concerns
● opposition to the conflict of interest in Musk's leadership of DOGE and his business empire dealings
● concern that a down sized bureaucracy will result in the greater concentration and centralization of political power

Besides affected agencies and their senior staff, an opposition coalition consisting of Democrat politicians, union leaders and liberal media and NGO organisations has appeared to take on Trump and DOGE in the law courts and the media and public space on the constitutional and statutory authority of the agency. Whilst this will be able to delay downsizing some programs, the Supreme Court is expected to have the final say on the extent of power that the President can wield in downsizing, restructuring or eliminating agencies.

How Musk and DOGE Are Challenging the Established European Order

How this ongoing and, in some ways, unprecedented and possibly game changing tussle with its political, legal and constitutional ramifications will develop is also being closely watched outside the US.

This is particularly the case in Europe where Musk's engagement in DOGE, combined with his influence through social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has sparked concerns about foreign interference, regulatory challenges, and the erosion of what has been touted as “democratic norms”.

European political parties and leaders paying close attention to Musk and the impact of DOGE on US politics and foreign policy include right wing parties such as Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) and current leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Musk’s influence for now is seen as both a catalyst and a symptom of broader political shifts in Europe, favouring the rise of populism and anti-establishment sentiment. Should DOGE succeed, it could have a snowball effect in the countries of the European Union (EU) grappling with socio-economic challenges and immigration debates, and where the stultifying bloat and corruption of the EU bureaucracy has been choking growth and burdening the citizenry in worse ways than what the US has experienced.

Can Malaysia Learn From DOGE

Elsewhere in the world, countries with oversized bureaucracies that are a drag on development and whose costs are outweighing their value to the economy and society will similarly be looking for lessons to learn from DOGE.

This should include Malaysia where the downsizing of the bureaucracy has long been postponed. The nation is clearly in urgent need of political will and a Malaysian Elon Musk and DOGE to address the fiscal burden, efficiency, productivity and other issues, and more immediately, the looming pension payment crisis arising from our oversized civil service.