Senators who retired before 2015 deserve pension raise - appellate court

 

The Court of Appeal has ruled that senators who served before 2015 deserve a revision of their pensions due to a law amendment that came into effect that year.

A three-person bench chaired by Lee Swee Seng unanimously allowed the appeal by 26 former senators for a recomputation of their pensions with a two percent increase per annum, based on the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 2015.

In the judgment by fellow bench member Azizul Azmi Adnan, the appellate court ruled that the 2015 amendment has retrospective effect due to the powers of Parliament to legislate retrospectively.

“And thus, when there was an increase in the salaries of current members of the senate from RM4,112.79 to RM11,000, there was a concordant increase in the pension entitlement of the appellants as of Jan 1, 2015.

“From March 4, 2015 (the date the order came into force), further increases in the pension of the appellants would be at a rate of two percent per annum, in accordance with the amended paragraph 20 of the First Schedule (of the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980).

“The appeal is thus allowed accordingly. We set aside the order of the court below and direct that each party bear their own costs in this appeal,” Azizul said on behalf of Lee and fellow bench member Che Ruzima Ghazali.

In August 2019, the 26 former senators - among them Idris Buang - filed an originating summons seeking a declaration that they were entitled to a recomputation of the revised pension that was enforced on Jan 1, 2015.

Idris Buang

They named the chief administrator of Parliament, the Public Service Department and the government as defendants.

However, the High Court dismissed their legal action in 2020.

The 26 retired senators were represented by counsel Krishna Dallumah.

Senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin appeared for the government and the two other respondents. - Mkini