CUEPACS demands names of pay review board members

March 25, 2012

Osman said CUEPACS has been kept in the dark since the SBPA was scrapped. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Buoyed by the success of stopping the Civil Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA), CUEPACS is now demanding the government identify the members of a public service pay review commission within a week.

“We want to know who will be the chairman of the commission and who else from the government will sit in the commission, because until now, we do not get any information,” CUEPAC president Datuk Omar Osman was quoted saying in a Bernama Online report.

“That is why, we hope the government will announce the names of the members in the commission not later than March 31,” he added.

On March 8, Datuk Seri Najib Razak scrapped the SBPA following criticisms that it only benefitted top government servants while leaving the majority of the civil service with paltry salary hikes.

The prime minister said the existing Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM) would now be maintained with improvements.

He said the government would also form a special commission comprising members from many “important parties” that will be tasked to review in a “comprehensive and holistic” manner all aspects on how to improve the country’s civil service.

But the lack of details since has triggered concern among the 1.4 million civil servants — a key vote bank for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, ahead of a general election that must be called by May 2013.

“CUEPACS hopes that the establishment of this commission can be done quickly and there will be a meeting on a much-improved SSM tomorrow and the committee will make a report to the government on it,” Omar said today.

The lack of consultation among stakeholders had been one of main bugbears of the now-scrapped SBPA.