GE15: Special holiday, early wages will give relief to civil servants - Cuepacs

SHAH ALAM - The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) is urging the government to expedite the announcement of a special public holiday ahead of the Nov 19 polls.

Its president Datuk Adnan Mat said the day off and early wages will give relief to civil servants, especially those who are travelling back to their hometowns to fulfill their voting responsibilities for the 15th General Election (GE15).

“This is considering that the polling day is a Saturday and at the same time, the journey for civil servants to return to their respective voting areas can exceed four hours of travel.” “Therefore, it is very reasonable for the government to consider a special public holiday in conjunction with GE15 for civil servants on 18 November,” he said to Sinar Harian on Friday.

On Tuesday caretaker Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government is currently considering the suggestion of a special public holiday and payment of early wages as a government initiative to enable civil servants to return and fulfil their voting responsibilities during GE15.

The former Bera Member of Parliament said the government has taken into account various initiatives to ease the voting process for voters which will be announced soon. Adnan added that Cuepacs had also looked into all the manifestos from all the political parties and are pleased to see suggestions and ideas that would benefit civil servants.

" We would also like to suggest for all these political coalitions and parties to directly look at Cuepacs’ suggestions that have been brought forth before to make improvements to the civil servant service scheme, specifically on minimum wage so that they receive comfortable wages." he said. He stressed that whoever helms the government in the future, must also have the commitment to ensure that the people in this country can afford a comfortable life by controlling the price of goods.

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