Kedah civil servants receive special assistance of RM400

ALOR SETAR - The Kedah government announced a special grant of RM400 to 5,600 civil servants in the state to help ease their living costs.

Menteri Besar Kedah Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the assistance is in line with the announcement made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regarding the special assistance of RM300 to civil servants on July 27.

He said the state government decided not to follow the steps of the federal government at that time because the payment was made too close to the state elections and it was feared that it would be linked to election bribery.

"The state government decided to grant special assistance to civil servants because the Prime Minister had previously announced this grant

"But we didn't do it at that time because we were worried it would be considered as an election bribe, so the decision was made to distribute it after the state election ended," he said at a press conference after chairing the first Exco meeting after the formation of the state government, at Wisma Darul Aman today.

Muhammad Sanusi informed that the aid involves an allocation of RM2.08 million which will be paid on September 14

On July 27, Anwar announced a special aid amounting of RM300 to civil servants grade 56 and below including contract basis, while RM200 will be given to government retirees.

The aid benefited 1.3 million civil servants and more than a million retirees pending the detailed adjustment of civil servant salaries and allowances.