KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya should reconsider plans to stop pensionable employment of incoming civil servants and find alternatives that also reduce national spending on pensions, Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth leader Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said.
The PN deputy youth chief acknowledged that Putrajaya was restructuring the remuneration scheme for civil servants so as to ensure the country’s financial stability.
“Nevertheless, we still urge the government to reconsider the decision to abolish the pension scheme and find alternative solutions that not only benefit the people, but also help reduce the country’s financial burden,” Wan Fayhsal, who is also Bersatu Youth chief, said in a statement.
“Ending the pension scheme for new government employees needs more careful assessment,” added the Machang MP.
Putrajaya is trying to lower federal spending on pensions, which are billed at RM31 billion this year.
The figure, shared recently by Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, will bloat to RM120 billion by 2040 if nothing changes.
Amir Hamzah has also said that 48% of the federal budget is spent on emoluments and pensions.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the new recruitment and remuneration policy, currently being fine-tuned, would see non-pensionable permanent employment for new civil servants.
“They will contribute to the Employees Provident Fund, and the government will provide contributions just like private sector employees,” Zahid said.
On January 15, the Public Service Department issued a circular that incoming civil servants would be hired on contract starting February 1, as part of larger measures to address the increasing pensions bill.
The move to take new civil servants on contract is also an interim one pending a new policy on the appointment and remuneration of civil servants, which will involve amendments to relevant laws.
Despite clarifications that these changes will only apply to new civil servants, and not affect current ones, news of the pending change has sparked outcry from civil servants for the pensions of politicians – elected representatives, ministers, deputy ministers and menteris besar – to be reviewed first.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim earlier today said politicians holding multiple posts and receiving more than one pension should exercise “moral responsibility” and choose only one pension scheme.
Yesterday, Anwar said that any decision made following the review of the public service remuneration scheme would also apply to politicians and political appointees in the country. – January 27, 2024