PRIME MINISTER Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, having been embarrassed by the obscene increase in the allowances of Felda Global Ventures (FGV) board of directors (BODs), decided to do a U-turn on chicken ceiling price and announced that the Government will not allow any increase of the water and electricity tariffs in Peninsular Malaysia.
However, these measures are still grossly inadequate.
The U-turn also cannot justify the obscene increase in the annual allowances of FGV’s chairman to RM480,000 from RM300,000 and the increase to RM150,000 from RM120,000 for their six directors.
And I reiterate my call to the Cabinet to issue a directive to freeze all increases of salaries and allowances of government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) and to sack those who violate the Cabinet’s directive.
The Cabinet’s directive should be presented to the Parliament on July 18 for a parliamentary sanction too.
FGV chairman Datuk Dzulkifli Abd Wahab and the BOD must also declare that they would not accept the increase in the allowances passed in their annual general assembly (AGM) two days ago.
It is clearly ludicrous for the prime minister to announce three days ago that families who receive Keluarga Malaysia Aid (BKM) will get an extra RM100 while BKM recipients who are single will receive an additional RM50 in view of the rising cost of living while the GLC and GLIC leaders approve huge increase to their salaries and allowances.
The Cabinet and Parliament must send out a strong and unmistakable message that this is the time for belt-tightening and not for extravagance and waste but will the Cabinet and Parliament send out such a message?
Nevertheless, I will be asking Ismail Sabri to disclose the salaries and allowances of the major GLCs and GLICs in the 14-day parliamentary meeting, scheduled from July 18 to August 4. – June 25, 2022
Lim Kit Siang is the MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
