'Un-Madani' to abolish pension for civil service, says Hadi

 

PARLIAMENT | PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today criticised the government for considering non-pensionable civil service jobs, saying it does not fit the Madani slogan touted by the federal administration.

He also said abolishing pensions for civil servants goes against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, who introduced such a scheme when he was the head of the first Islamic state in Medina.

“An example that should be given attention is the proposal to abolish pension for civil service, which should not have been suggested in the first place and doesn’t fit the Madani (slogan).

“Because civil servants should be valued not only from the financial aspect but also their service and contributions.

“Prophet Muhammad had also set a reward system (for civil servants), which included a pension.

“The same also applies to when a civil servant dies, his wife would be given financial allocation,” said Hadi (PN-Marang) in his debate of the king’s royal address at the Dewan Rakyat.

He said the introduction of a pension system during the prophet’s time was derived from Allah’s promise of continuous reward for those who do good deeds, even after death.

This, he said, can be seen from God’s promise that those who contributed to the well-being of others, like having built a road or hospital, would continue to get merit from the good deed as long as it brings benefits.

“So, learning from this, the prophet established a pension for retirees who have died by extending the reward to their family members.

“This is a very interesting lesson to be learnt.”

New recruitment policy

In January, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed that Putrajaya was planning a new recruitment policy for the civil service, which will introduce non-pensionable permanent employment.

DPM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PM Anwar Ibrahim

The proposal to review the public service remuneration scheme was reportedly agreed to in principle by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

However, the prime minister had said the cabinet would only finalise the matter after looking into feedback from various parties and studies involving aspects of the Federal Constitution. - Mkini