Proposals to increase personal income as a measure to cope with the impact of the rising cost of living has topped a netizens wish list for the upcoming Budget 2018.
According to the government’s Bajet 2018 official website, a total of 7,773 proposals were submitted in the two-week period between Sept 4 to Sept 18.
From the figure, 531 proposals were made under the "cost of living" category.
According to its most popular list, a total of 2,208 visitors had "liked" a proposal to increase allowances for civil servants.
“YAB Dato Seri, as we are all aware, the cost of living has increased.
“So in order to support the rising cost, as a civil servant, I propose an increase to our allowances,” said Ravidasan, a netizen who shared his proposal on the microsite linked to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s official web page.
In second place with 2,051 likes is a similar proposal for a four-percent salary increment for civil servants, and an RM100 increase to their housing allowance.
This was followed by 1,311 likes for a proposal that will see the government to pay a two-month bonus as yet another measure to reduce the impact of increasing prices.
In Budget 2016, the government had announced a special one-off RM500 incentive for 1.6 million civil servants.
Subsequently, Budget 2017 saw announcements of various incentives, including greater flexibilities to secure housing loans and loans to purchase a motorcycle.
While the government has been actively promoting the use of public transportation as a cost-cutting measure, a proposal to abolish the renewal fee for a driving licence was ranked in fourth place with 1,222 likes.
In fifth and six places were proposals for the government to reverse a decision to stop paying allowances to trainee teachers, as well as announcing a special one-off allowance of between RM350 and RM500.
“This (special allowance) is to appreciate the sacrifices of around 350,000 teachers who make up nearly one-third of the public sector,” said Joshua P.
In June, Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid said his ministry was still in talks with the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) on turning the cost of living allowance of trainee teachers into a loan for next year’s intake.
Also on the top 10 list are proposals for the government to consider setting up a dedicated children’s hospital, as well as to consider allowing civil servants to apply for paid study leave at postgraduate level.
Aside from issues of cost of living, netizens are also welcomed to give their proposals under 13 other categories, including education, transportation and infrastructure, employment, as well as the digital economy.
Under the employment category, there were a total of 1,242 proposals submitted, including multiple suggestions for a pay and allowance increase in various sectors.
The Supply Bill 2018 will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 27 and the government had said it would take into consideration public proposals submitted via the website.- Mkini
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