ABOUT 50% of the 1.62 mil civil servants in the country are still unable to own their own homes due to the sector’s minimum wage being “irrelevant” in current times.
According to Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Datuk Adnan Mat, the existing minimum wage of RM1,500 made it difficult for the Government to achieve the target household monthly income of RM10,000.
This is also why it is an uphill battle for Putrajaya to achieve its goal of making Malaysia a high-income country by 2025, as per the 12th Malaysia Plan.
As such, Adnan said the setting of the new minimum wage of RM1,800 is important to ensure that civil servants are able to own their own homes as well as provide for their family’s transportation, education, health and food and drink expenses.
“Our salary projections make civil servants ineligible to buy houses, especially in big cities, and for those who are eligible, the houses they bought have been wearing out for decades,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Cuepacs’ Triennial Delegates conference in Melaka yesterday (Sept 25).
“Some of them who live in big cities can only afford to rent a room,” he added.
“Our current minimum salary for first (job) appointments is mixed with fixed remunerations and COLA allowance (Cost of Living Allowance), which means that it is now close to RM1,900… (but it still) far below the poverty line income (of RM2,208).”
The conference was officiated by Melaka state secretary Datuk Zaidi Johari and also attended by Cuepacs Melaka chairman Norman Taib.
Adnan, meanwhile, said that although there is a Malaysian Public Servant Housing Programme (PPAM), the number of housing units eligible to be purchased by civil servants based on the existing minimum wage is still insufficient because most of the housing units are beyond their means.
Besides that, the issue of houses being “abandoned” for a long period of time, especially in Kelantan and Sarawak, has caused civil servants to incur more monthly expenses to finance housing loans and pay rent.
He also noted that Cuepacs has received several complaints of loans being approved and paid in full by the Public Sector Housing Financing Board (LPPSA) to the developer but the houses still not being ready and cannot be occupied.
“Worse still, only the house pillars are there but the salary of the public servant is deducted every month,” he lamented.
“Therefore, we request a moratorium from LPPSA for two years so that civil servants are not burdened with (monthly payment) of housing loan financing and house rent.” – Sept 26, 2022
Pic credit: Kyoto Review
