KOTA SAMARAHAN: The Government's financial burden can be reduced if politicians serving as representatives of the people and cabinet members only receive one pension for multiple positions held during their tenure.
Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Datuk Dr Adnan Mat said currently, some former ministers who also serve as Members of Parliament and state assemblymen are receiving pensions for each position.
Therefore, he said, in an effort to reduce the government's financial burden in paying pensions, they should only be given one pension.
"They should only receive one pension, which is the highest rate among all the pensions they receive, for example, as a minister, deputy minister, or state executive councilor; there is no need to receive pensions as Members of Parliament or assemblyman anymore.This is because some of them serve (as representatives of the people) for a short period of only five years, but receive a certain amount of pension for all the positions they hold, so to ensure something better or more reasonable, a new scheme should be created, which is to provide only one pension," he said after the Cuepacs Meeting with Staff of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) at Arena Gemilang, DeTAR Putra, UNIMAS, here, earlier.
Also present was Unimas Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr. Ahmad Hata Rasit.Adnan said that when the single pension scheme is implemented, it will no longer be an issue and Cuepacs is now focusing on creating a better pension scheme for public service members in the future.
"Currently, there is much talk about the abolition of public service pensions but for Cuepacs, the right word is improving pension schemes that are suitable for the needs of future generations of public service members."For our generation, when we enter public service, our positions are permanent and pensionable, meaning from the first day, we are already enrolled in the government's pension fund in the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP) until we end our service.
"When improvements are made, ensure that future public service members receive a better scheme than the current permanent and pensionable scheme," he said.He further said that in the issue of improving the pension scheme, three agencies responsible for safeguarding employee welfare, namely KWAP, Employees Provident Fund (EPF), and Social Security Organization (SOCSO), will present their proposed pension schemes to replace the existing scheme.
"The Public Service Department has informed that two proposals will be presented on March 18 by KWAP and EPF to the government, while on March 22, Perkeso will present theirs."Cuepacs will also assess whether their proposals are better than the existing scheme today (yesterday)," he said.
