YOURSAY | ‘Maybe besides minimum wage, it’s time to discuss the maximum wage.’
Anonymous 2478181499087834: Excellent piece, Malaysiakinicolumnist R Nadeswaran, thank you.
Let's put this in perspective. To finance the annual salary of the Aviation Commission (Mavcom) boss alone, one million passengers have to forcibly pay RM1 by law, or the equivalent of 10,000 middle-income earners voluntarily contributing RM100 on average to the Hope Fund to save our nation.
Can you imagine the anger and frustration of the passengers, or the folly of the patriotic sacrifice of the nation's saviours?
Isn't the choice patently clear? Both cannot exist in tandem. Granted, what was the achievement for that high salary – resolving a number of complaints and, of course, the alleged claim of preventing GE14 voters from travelling?
Now multiply that by the highly paid board of directors and senior staff in Mavcom. Is that proper justification for basically acting as a clearing house for complaints?
Now multiply that by the number of GLCs and other statutory bodies.
All these are basically regulatory bodies or monopolies where revenue falls into their laps. One should not compare their top brass' compensation with that of the private businesses, where every dollar has to be earned in a highly risky competitive environment.
However difficult and ingrained this matter is, the government has to act expeditiously. I always believed the best lesson from the Hope Fund, for all its pros and cons, is the pressure the people can now exert on the government to demonstrate efficiency, transparency, and accountability.
You cannot appeal to 10,000 well-wishers to voluntarily contribute money, or force one million passengers to pay, when all it takes is to remove one unproductive fat cat. I hope the government makes the right choice.
Anonymous_e5ea3a6f: Oh my goodness, what is this? I just reeled reading that the Sime Darby Plantation executive chairperson was paid more than RM5 million in 2012, and this again.
Why must retired civil servants who are given posts in commissions also be paid thousands just for attending each meeting? Not to mention a variety of other perks.
Please, Pakatan Harapan, be ultra-transparent now and let the rakyat know how much are all these GLCs, commissions and even high-ranked civil servants are receiving in terms of basic salaries and also allowances.
Also focus on agencies like the Customs Department, Inland Revenue Board, and Employees Provident Fund where the staff are given higher-scale salaries compared to other government agencies.
I am sure there is a risk of us getting a heart attack once we know all this data, but the future of our country depends on all this knowledge. Please let us have it.
Anonymous_1421806811: I'm equally shocked. Thanks for the revelations. If taxpayers are paying their salaries than we have a right to question them. Such excessive salaries are uncalled for.
Sunshine: It’s a shame that the top official of Sime Darby Plantations says a minimum wage of RM1,500 would increase production costs. Look at the exorbitantly high remuneration paid to our fat cats at GLCs et cetera.
There is a moral disconnect in our social fabric and psyche when these guys, who a generation past were riding bicycles to schools, are now virtually “plundering” without a care for the general well-being.
The Japanese tradition of commonality of interest among labour, employer and government is lost here to greed with our local “tuans” (masters) just one generation out of feudal values to modernism.
Japanese entrepreneurs, mind you, are unlike our fat cats in GLCs who do not generate business income, but collectively keep their incomes low and still carry out corporate social responsibility.
LeadWithoutTitle: Malaysians as a whole support the idea of a new and corruption-free Malaysia. Therefore, the main question now is, "Do we need to do a holistic reform in all sectors such as politics, administration, judiciary, corporate governance, economics, education, social, environment, etc.?"
The answer is yes, if we are really serious about improving the social and economic well-being of the people. It is very timely to have a transparent, trustworthy, and accountable government to lead the country.
If the prime minister and his cabinet ministers could reveal their salaries to the public, I don't see the reason why we couldn't disclose all the GLCs top guns’ salaries too to the people of this country.
Frank: For every single one of those with money and power in the big and powerful companies in this country, there are tens if not hundreds who can take their place and do better than them including in the manners the salaried workers are being treated.
Dear Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and friends, please look into this especially when it concerns the GLCs as one of the top priorities.
Anonymous_8cebc818: Why there is only a minimum wage issue? Why is nobody talking about a maximum wage?
Ten years ago my company hired a finance professional from the Philippines. My company offered very good pay to her.
However, immediately upon her appointment, we received a notice from her Filipino company saying that we can’t offer her more than what is limited to her job category. How nice if we can have such a mechanism.
Pakcik Am: The British companies of Guthrie and Sime Darby were the largest landowners and best-managed companies in Malaya before they were bought over by our GLCs. With Malaysians at the helm, they should be much much better off. What has happened?
Dr Suresh Kumar: The poor wage earners have been suffering for years while fat cats enjoy the high life at the expense of the poor, ignoring the fact that without these workers they are all nobody. Thanks, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), keep fighting.
Rku020: Totally agree with Penang MTUC secretary K Veeriah. Sime Darby as a GLC should put on their website the salaries of their officers (the top 10 layers).
The CEO’s pay should not be more than that of a minister. The rest should be reviewed.
There should be money left over to raise the minimum wage to RM1500 if management is brought in line.
Anonymous_182cd5aa: This is capitalism at its worst, expecting workers to live on RM1,000 or even RM1,500 a month.
And the worst part is, Sime Darby has a corporate statement on modern slavery on its website:
“This statement is published in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the United Kingdom (Section 54). It outlines our progress since 2016 and the steps taken by Sime Darby Berhad during the financial year ended 30 June 2017 to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in our business or our supply chains.”
Anonymous_d395a08d: Academic studies in other countries have shown that a moderate level of minimum wages brings net benefit, but beyond that the cost will outweigh the benefits.
The optimum minimum wage level also differs from location to location – in the US, different states adopt different minimum wages.
It's unclear what the Malaysian situation is like. This topic cannot be avoided, but an independent study should be carried out before any decision is made. -Mkini
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