Removing civil servants pension scheme? Nonsense, says Cuepacs

SHAH ALAM - The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) opposes any plans to cut or eliminate civil servants' retirement benefits, saying it is unfair to compare them to politicians and that many civil servants receive meager pensions after serving for decades.

Cuepacs president Datuk Adnan Mat said any proposal to eliminate or cancel the retirement benefits enjoyed by civil servants in the future was an absurd proposal.

He said the pension scheme is a privilege for civil servants in Malaysia and should not be seen as a burden by the government because it is a recognition of the contributions made by civil servants throughout their service.

"Granting pensions to civil servants should also not be compared to the pensions given to Members of Parliament, representatives, or individuals appointed as ministers and deputy ministers.

"It is not fair for any politician to question the privileges of civil servants who enjoy the pension scheme when the majority of them have served for more than 30 years.

"We as civil servants are not like politicians who serve for a short period, receive high allowances, and at the same time qualify for large pensions," he said in a statement today.

Adnan added that some civil servants currently only receive around RM1,000 per month as a pension even though they have served for 30 years.

"Their salaries are not high while serving, and when they retire, many still question the meager pension they receive," he said.

Adnan added that Cuepacs and civil servants themselves have never been envious or questioned the pensions received by any Honourable Member.

He said in fact, some of them receive more than two pensions even though their length of service is very short compared to civil servants.

"The suggestion should be to provide only one pension (the highest one) to Honourable Members who qualify if they want to help save government funds," he said.

"Civil servants have sacrificed for the country, dedicating more than 30 years to a small pension scheme, and suddenly there is a proposal to eliminate it.

"Cuepacs's stance is clear, we will not compromise on any proposal to reduce the existing privileges held by civil servants, including those related to pensions," Adnan stressed

Earlier today, Former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin agreed with the proposal to cancel parliamentary pensions as well as suggested abolishing civil servants' pensions to help balance the nation's finances.

"I think pensions are a thing of the past. During my time in the Cabinet, I said there are three things we can do to safeguard the nation's finances.

"First, reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Second, rationalise subsidies. The second one, the government says it wants to do it, but we don't know the mechanism.

"We are still waiting and watching the GST. The third is to stop pensions. But this is for civil servants who are already in service; the pension scheme continues," said Khairy.