Pakatan offers to top civil service pay and perks announced by PM

Quote this:

“The PAS central committee met and has taken the stand that any announcement made by
 the prime minister will be continued when Pakatan Rakyat runs Putrajaya.”
  - PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa.

Now that the Prime Minister have announced the annual increment to be paid in July 1, and including PDRM and ATM salary scale being raised to be on par with that of the civil service, it is now Pakatan Rakyat's turn to up the wooing game. It was also mentioned that PR will match and improve on any promise by the PM.

While competition is good for consumers (and in this case, the people), pledges and promises must be achievable and fulfilled, otherwise they are nothing more than coffee-shop talks.

I have appended herewith part of what was reported in the Malaysian Insider:-

Datuk Husam Musa. Photo by themalaysianinsider

Pakatan offers to top civil service pay, perks promised by Prime Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — In an unprecedented move, PAS has moved to pre-empt a last minute campaign by Datuk Seri Najib Razak to woo civil servants by saying that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would match and improve on any promise by the prime minister to raise salaries and allowances.

Najib is expected to announce several initiatives including a pay rise of up to 10 per cent, improved costs of living allowances and housing allowances for the 1.5 million-strong civil service today.

“The PAS central committee met and has taken the stand that any announcement made by the prime minister will be continued when Pakatan Rakyat runs Putrajaya,” PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa (picture) said in a statement carried by the party’s Harakah Daily Online.

He gave three initiatives to be carried out by PR, with the first one to improve on the goodies for the civil service, including promotion for all civil servants, including teachers, Customs officers, police, military and others.

“We will also follow what is done in Kelantan where all housing and vehicle loans for civil servants will not be charged any more with the current four per cent interest rate from the moment PR takes over Putrajaya,” Husam said, adding that there will be a review of existing loans to ensure the government can absorb the financial implications.

The third initiative was to review and increase the tax allowances for civil servants and Malaysians who salaries are low, he added.

Husam noted the low tax allowances for those with wives and children have prevented civil servants and the public to have enough income in the face of high living costs.

Both coalitions are out to court the civil servants, who form a key demographic among the 13.3 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots in this year’s general election.



Source: The Malaysian Insider

Civil servants to get one annual increment on July 1, 2013

In summary, civil servants get to enjoy:

Annual increment      : Will be paid early, 1st July 2013
People affected         : All 1.4mil civil servants
Increment quantum  : RM80 to RM320 (equivalent to 1 year annual increment)
Total expenditure     : RM1.5 billion
Officers whose salaries have reached ceiling  : To enjoy similar benefits, through special mechanism
Officers affected by this mechanism               : 182,434

Also, salary scale of police (PDRM) and armed forces (ATM) personnel has been raised to be on par with that of the civil service.

PM Datuk Najib Razak addressing the civil servants at the gathering in Putrajaya.

As reported by The Star:

PUTRAJAYA: All civil servants will receive a salary movement benefit of one annual increment, to be paid out on July 1 this year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who made the announcement, said this would mean every civil servant would receive between RM80 and RM320.

"This measure will involve an expenditure of RM1.5bil," he said at the "Transforming the Civil Service, Realising Vision 2020" gathering here.

The prime minister also said that effective Jan 1 this year, three additional annual increments would be provided after the maximum salary on the salary schedules.

This will benefit some 180,000 civil servants. According to Bernama, the initiatives were part of the New Remuneration System, which would now be known as the Transformative Remuneration System (SST).

Najib said that in the event there was no salary adjustment or review to ensure that civil servants remained productive and performed well, the government agreed to give a special salary movement of three per cent to those on the maximum salary, provided they met the conditions of the stipulated annual salary movement and performance.

The prime minister also had good news for the almost 50,000 contract officers whose service would end on Dec 31 this year. He said their service would be extended by another year pending an overall study. -- TheStar Online

Singapore adults expect 35% pay raise after bachelor's degree

Year-end is coming fast like a bullet train. The 4-digit number is changing yet another time and very soon working adults would be expecting raise in their salary comes January. What's your expectation - 5%, 10%? I can bet all my money on you that you are expecting the highest possible.

How about a 35% pay rise? Sounds good?

In Singapore, money seem to be the biggest motivator for many to upgrade their education level. But then I suppose it is also the case in many other countries.

A quarter of Singapore adults believe they deserve 50% pay raise after first degree

Adult learners expect 35% pay raise after first degree

Singapore adult learners expect an average pay raise of 35% after attaining their first Bachelor degree, while almost one in four (23%) believed their first degree entitles them to an average increase of 50% or more in wages.

According to findings from the 2012 JobsCentral Learning Rankings & Survey, a similar portion of those surveyed (24.6%) expect to get a 50% increase and above in wages when they attain post-graduate qualifications such as Masters, PhD or MBA.

“Most employers acknowledge their employees’ new qualifications but will not automatically increase pay,” says Lim Der Shing, CEO, JobsCentral Group.

“Usually a pay increment will only be given if the employee is outperforming, underpaid or taking on new duties. So it is important to discuss wage expectations with your employer before you embark on a costly education programme,” he added.

The survey also found that the top course of study was business studies/ management, followed by finance/ investment in second place and accounting in third. Hospitality/ tourism/ F&B came in fourth position, while sales/marketing came in a close fifth.

Alright, nobody seems to like engineering courses in Singapore.


Source: Yahoo News

Cuepacs wants upgrade for 50,000 civil servants

Cuepacs was recently reported to have submitted a proposal stating it wants the grades of about 50,000 civil servants in the technical, agriculture and forestry groups to be upgraded.

Image credit: inilah.com

Cuepacs secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said civil servants in Grade G17, G22 and G26 have been proposed to be upgraded to G27, G32 and G36 because they are equipped with academic qualifications. Lok said it would be in line with the government's efforts to produce skilled labour so as to fulfill the government's aspiration to become a high income nation by 2020.

"As such, workers with the necessary skills, experience and qualification must be recognised," she told Bernama here today adding that the proposal had already been submitted to the Chief Secretary of the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, in March. Lok added that to ensure the upgrading proposal was implemented, Cuepacs hoped a special commission would be set up to carry out a holistic study of the civil service.

Cuepacs has also proposed to the government to review the salary scale of civil servants with a view for better remuneration, she said. [sourced from Bernama, 30 May 2012]


TheGreenMechanics two cents:

While I am not against any upgrading of grade to the deserving workforce, quick succession of salary revisions is a bit too much. Revisions after revisions in a span of only several years give impression that we are not doing it holistically, but rather based on 'after-thought', reactive, and short-sighted.

What will this mean to the general consuming public? Not good. There will be drastic increase in goods and service prices - several increases in a short span of time. Not only that. To the neutral observer, such shortsightedness by those responsible will demoralise the counterparts in the private sector.

Salary adjustment (not including annual increment) must commensurate with national productivity, just like a capability of an enterprise to remunerate the workers is based on its capability to generate fund (and profit). Why should it be any different?


One change too many?

Not too long ago, civil servants had every reason to celebrate with the salary revision of between 7.5% and 35% with additional 20% on top of that for PDRM and ATM. Latest in the news was that civil servants will get another adjustment of (March 2012 announcement) between 7% and 13% under the Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM). Example of salary restructuring in the police force (Appendix B). There were other minor adjustments between these two major ones.

No doubt, there will be more to it between now and the next general election.