IT is certainly no laughing matter that while chairmen of government-linked companies (GLCs) who are often former senior civil servants tend to possess two or more sources of income – their own pension in addition to the directorship fee with numerous perks – there are many low-income earners in the GLCs whose welfare is neglected.
Upset that their pleas over low pension rate by GLCs that have been privatised over two decades ago have continuously fallen on deaf ears, a solidarity gathering of GLC retirees will now take centre stage in Putrajaya on Aug 18 (Thursday).
“Even after numerous memorandums have been sent to the Government, there has not been one response by the authorities nor the Finance Ministry (MoF),” lamented Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC).president Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal on behalf of the event’s action committee.
“For the record, UNI-MLC has submitted no less than 10 memorandums over the past 20 years with the hope that the well-being of the pensioners is looked into at every tabling of the national budget. Unfortunately, no solution has been forthcoming.”
According to Shafie, many GLC retirees who have been receiving pensions with a 2% annual increment are still living below the national poverty line.
“Their low pension has given rise to social and economic ills. There are GLC retirees who have not completed 25 years of service currently receiving pensions as low as RM180/month,” he revealed in a media statement.
“Considering that there has not been any affirmative action from the Government, we’ve decided to go ahead with the solidarity gathering to voice our grouses loud and clear to the current leadership.
“We hope such action will open the eyes of the Government towards the hardship of the GLC pensioners, thus prompting the current administration under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to find a definite solution to the matter.”
In a memorandum submitted to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as far back as Oct 4, 2016, UNI-MLC had highlighted that GLC retirees are currently receiving about RM150 to RM350 per month, a far cry from RM820 (back then; currently: RM1,000) which is the minimum pension rate in the public sector.
“This issue involves more than 200,000 workers who are loyal and proud Malaysians and have the tradition of supporting government policies on all economic and social development in the country,” added Shafie back then. – Aug 11, 2022
Main photo credit: Consortium 21 Media Group
