Proposal to improve civil service salary scheme in stages on the cards, says PM

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday said that there would be a proposal on the table to improve the civil service salary scheme in stages based on the country’s economic capabilities.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said this would be discussed at a meeting with Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali and Public Service Department director-general Zulkapli Mohamad before the state elections take place on Aug 12. 

"The salaries and allowances of civil servants are still low. I have to acknowledge that after 10 years, there has not been a committee chaired by the prime minister to review the scheme.

"(We will look into) our financial capabilities on how we can improve and increase (the civil servants’ salary scheme)," he said at a programme in Putrajaya.

On July 7, Anwar spoke of a decision to review the salary scheme, saying the last review had been made in 2013. 

The prime minister assured that the government would be fair and reasonable to civil servants when reviewing the salary scheme. 

Anwar also said the perception that Malaysia has a bloated civil service needs to be corrected, adding that those figures should not be pooled together with enforcement personnel.
 
"In Malaysia, the civil service (numbers in total) includes the police, the army and others… in some countries, they are not. We have to correct this from now," he said.