Hadi's claim govt abolishing pension inaccurate, misleading - Nik Nazmi

PKR vice-president Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has called out PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang over his “misleading” statement on pensions for civil servants.

The natural resources and environmental sustainability minister said Hadi's claim that the federal government would reduce or stop the pension is flawed because the proposal to review the remuneration of civil servants does not affect existing employees.

“The fact is, the government proposes to review the remuneration of all existing civil servants and explore options for hiring new civil servants with a new retirement scheme, such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), replacing the existing pension scheme.

“As a person with religious knowledge, Hadi should not make ignorant statements that do not accurately represent the federal government's proposal,” Nik Nazmi said in a statement today.

On Jan 24, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi affirmed that the status of existing civil servant pensions would continue as “permanent and pensionable”, with only new employees being involved in the new policy, and the details will be announced later by the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general.

Syariah-compliant EPF option

Nik Nazmi claimed that Hadi also tried to portray that EPF contributions are not Islamic, whereas EPF is also a retirement fund with the option of syariah-compliant savings.

PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad

“The syariah-compliant savings are managed and invested according to syariah principles. To ensure syariah compliance, a syariah governance framework is established to govern the compliance aspects for contributors’ savings,” he said.

Nik Nazmi, who is also Kelantan and Terengganu PKR chief, said the proposal to replace the pension system with EPF contributions had also been announced by Kelantan government agency, Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) in 2022.

“So why is it that when YIK announced this proposal, there was no objection from PAS if it is claimed that EPF is not Islamic or does not follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad?” he asked.

Nik Nazmi also said that PAS should have the moral responsibility to ensure the welfare of teachers in Pasti kindergartens owned by the party established over 30 years ago, taking into account claims that its teachers do not have a retirement plan, including EPF, besides being paid below the minimum wage of RM1,500.

- Bernama