General

STUDY ON CIVIL SERVANTS’ NEW SALARY, RETIREMENT SCHEME TO TAKE EIGHT MONTHS – PM

The proposed new salary and retirement scheme for civil servants will need up to eight months of study before it can be brought to the Cabinet, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

Anwar said a comprehensive study will be done, which also covers the salaries of teachers, in the Unity Government’s efforts to raise the salaries of civil servants.

“I will present (the findings of the study) to the Cabinet for approval, subject to increase in the country’s revenues,” he said when speaking at an appreciation event for teachers in Negeri Sembilan here today.

Also present were Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun and Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

According to Anwar, the country’s revenue projections were also better than initially forecast as more people are coming forward to pay taxes.

Anwar said while the study is being completed, the government has announced a special appreciation aid to civil servants and retirees, which will be paid in two weeks.

“I could have announced it as RM1,000 but I do not want to increase our debts as the national debt is now too high… and that too after we cut a lot of allocations considered wasteful,” he said.

The prime minister earlier today announced that the government will be giving a special appreciation aid of RM300 to civil servants of Grade 56 and below and a similar aid of RM200 to retirees, which will benefit 1.3 million civil servants, including contract appointments, and over a million retirees.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency