Pay rise for Malaysian civil servants…not election goodies?
This year, Malaysia will celebrate 50th year of independence. And the Malaysian civil servants are definitely smiling from ear-to-ear celebrating not only the country’s independence from British colonialization, but also some form of economic independence… depending on who you talk to and where they live and work.
It has been a well known fact that Malaysians, especially low to middle income groups, have been living in a pressurised economy… thanks to rising cost of living contributed by many factors that many Malaysians believe if the country is managed just a little better as a country…. the people would not be facing economic difficulty they now face… but that is another story.
The 7.5% – 35% pay rise for civil servants and pensioners that comes with 100% increment of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and additional 20% for police and army personnel…. are certainly long overdue… with high fuel prices, tolls increase, utitlity bills increase… all these basic necessity increases are causing big holes in the pockets of people from all walks of life…. civil servants or otherwise.
While the bold move made by the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi deserves a big praise by the Malaysian people, it cannot be helped that certain quarters are sceptical about the real motives by the BN government.
There is a famous Malay idiom that says….‘Kalau tidak ada angin bertiup, pokok tidak akan bergoyang’ (literally means: the trees will not shake/move if there is no wind blowing).
Malaysiakini reported:
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at the same function told reporters the hikes were not calculated to raise spirits ahead of an expected early general election.
Mohammad Agus Yusoff, head of political science at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said the salary hike was long overdue but added changes would not be enough of a sweetener ahead of an election.
“The cost of living has gone up. It’s a logical thing for the government to do … but they cannot rely on these sorts of goodies that they give.
Star Online also reported :
The pay increase for government servants is a general election ploy, said PAS spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
The Kelantan Mentri Besar said the announcement was made too close to when the next elections might be called.
“Why didn’t they do it earlier, when the consumer goods prices first shot up? The public has been complaining about high prices. So it’s not surprising,” he told reporters after opening the new party headquarters building at Jalan Raja Laut here yesterday.
My 2-cents…. I say I will only believe this is not an election goodies if the Prime Minister does not hold general election anytime this year. Period. Lets just wait and see who blinks first.
What about you? What do you think? Share with us your 2-cents in the comment section.
Read Thumbs-up for payrise in Screenshots
Read Up to 35% pay hike for civil servants in Malaysiakini
Read Nik Aziz: Pay rise timed for elections in Star Online
Read Over 1 million government employees to benefit, Cola doubled in Star Online
[tags]pay rise, Malaysian government, election[/tags]
3 Comments
What poor mathematicians we have ! Now the 25 % pay hike ones has bigger salaries than the 15 % ones. Al least you know roughly who will support BN and who will support the opposition in the coming elections.
CJCM: I thought the lower income groups has bigger % of increment and the higher income groups has lower % of increment. Need to check this out as soon as the details are out.
how many percent does a pensioner get?
CJCM: Should be same % as currently serving government employee…of course depend on last rank prior to pension.
yahooo…
hmm.. would hubby increase “my” allowance as well????