Civil servants get pay as usual, says Chief Sec

The Star

PUTRAJAYA: Civil servants will not receive their salary twice monthly from next month, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan on Wednesday.

He said this was decided by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, thus the salary for civil servants would be paid once a month as usual.

Mohd Sidek said the announcement by the Government to pay the salary of its officers and staff in two instalments a month to facilitate management of expenses would not be implemented.

"The civil servants themselves, as pointed out by Cuepacs, feel that it is not necessary for them to be paid twice a month, so we won't implement it," he told reporters when asked about it after launching the Study Report on the National Integrity Perception Index 2007, here.

On the latest demand by Cuepacs for the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for civil servants to be raised and standardised from RM300 to RM500 per month for the whole country, Mohd Sidek said the Government would look into the matter.

He said the demand needed careful study as it involved substantial expenditure, especially when the country needed an additional allocation of RM30 billion under the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) as tabled by Abdullah in the midterm review of the 9MP last Thursday.

"The Government has to consider all aspects, whether we have the capacity and its implications. Nevertheless, we have to hold negotiations," he added. - Bernama