KUALA LUMPUR – Budget 2023 failed to address core issues for civil servants such as reviewing salaries or measures to solve their cost of living pressures, the civil servants’ union Cuepacs said.
Its president Datuk Adnan Mat also highlighted home ownership for civil servants, saying this was left out of the revised supply bill.
“The government should reintroduce an affordable housing programme for civil servants as before… such as extending the housing programme for armed forces members to all civil servants,” Adnan said in a statement after the tabling of Budget 2023 in Parliament today by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister.
Malaysia has around 1.7 million civil servants, according to statistics released by the chief secretary to the government in 2019. Out of the country’s population of over 32 million, it is one of the biggest civil services in the world.
Adnan said civil servants were not asking for free housing, but market prices by developers are “ridiculous” based on what government workers currently earn.
As such, he said the government should review the remuneration system and implement a salary model that will see increments to civil servants’ income so that they can keep up with the rising cost of living.
“Public servants are currently hoping for a new remuneration system, considering that the system currently in use has not been reviewed since November 2002 and is no longer suitable for the current economic environment,” Adnan said.
Anwar when tabling the budget had announced RM700 in Aidilfitri Special Financial Assistance for officers of Grade 56 and below, and authorisation of early redemption up to 50%, or 90 days of replacement leave.
Adnan, however, said these initiatives were not new and had been implemented by previous governments. – The Vibes, February 24, 2023
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