800,000 civil servants moonlighting

The Star

Many civil servants, who earn RM2,500 or less a month, have to do extra jobs to make ends meet, claims Cuepacs.

The union estimated that about 800,000 of its 2.1 million members have taken up additional jobs.

For instance, about 10% of the taxi drivers in the Klang Valley are civil servants, said Cuepacs president Omar Osman.

This is why Cuepacs is pressing the Government for a salary revision of between 10% and 40%, and is hoping for a favourable announcement on Workers Day on May 1.

Omar said the last revision was 15 years ago.

“We have indicated this to the Public Service Department and to the Prime Minister.

“We hope the outcome is positive,” he told reporters at the Kelantan Cuepacs annual general meeting here yesterday.

Asked about improving the delivery system, Omar said if the civil servants were earning enough, then productivity would be high and the delivery system could improve.

“The stumbling block is that workers are not paid accordingly.

“Even government-linked companies staff earn two to three times higher than us. Reward us and productivity will improve as workers feel appreciated,” Omar said.

He also said that corruption in the public sector was best tackled from the top, adding that corruption tended to be higher for those earning RM5,000 and above.

“Those at the bottom just receive orders. Corruption starts at the top so the authorities must look there first before clamping down on the lower-liners,” Omar said.

The AGM elected Risda officer Shamsudin Mohd Noor as the new Kelantan Cuepacs chairman, replacing Harun Zakaria.