DPM announces RM500, free laptops, insurance for POS Malaysia workers

Muhyiddin said POS Malaysia employees’ KPI showed that they deserved the one-off payment. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin announced today a RM500 “gratuity payment” for workers of government-linked POS Malaysia, along with added insurance coverage for their families and free laptops for their children.

“Looking at POS Malaysia’s achievement, and the Key Performance Index (KPI) of its staff, they have worked hard and deserve the special gratuity,” the deputy prime minister was quoted as saying by The Star today.

Speaking at POS Malaysia’s National Mail Centre today, Muhyiddin also told the firm’s employees that their insurance coverage will now be extended to members of their families.

“With an allocation of RM670,000 from POS Malaysia, the (insurance) plan will protect all 16,191 POS Malaysia staff, as well as their family members, in the event of an emergency,” he said.

The free laptops, to be provided by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), will be given to workers’ children who scored well in the UPSR to SPM national examinations.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) administration has worked hard to shore up support among civil servants and workers in government-linked firms — once considered a vote bank — ahead of Election 2013.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced improved perks for 40,000 federal agency workers that included a new pension fund, the provision of fixed allowances and gratuity for retirees, and the streamlining of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions.

On March 11, Najib also announced a range of pay increases of between RM80 and RM320 for the country’s million-strong civil service, as well as pumping in an extra RM1.5 billion to boost the wages of those who did not get an increment last year.

The opposition Pakatan Rakyat has also made advances towards the group, promising to match or better the benefits that BN have dangled before them.

Election 2013 is set to be Malaysia’s most tightly-fought electoral race and is due within weeks.

Najib has the prerogative to seek the dissolution of Parliament anytime ahead of its automatic expiry on April 28, after which a general election must be held within 60 days.