With the end of SBPA, Cuepacs tells civil servants to knuckle-down

Malaysia Insider

UPDATED @ 03:00:48 PM 08-03-2012

By Clara Chooi

March 08, 2012

PUTRAJAYA, March 8 — Cuepacs today told civil servants to concentrate on their duties and stop complaining now that the government has agreed to scrap the controversial new Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).

The umbrella body for public service unions said it was “very satisfied” with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement today, adding that the improvements to current salary system went “beyond its expectations”.

“Following this, we hope that all 1.4 million civil servants nationwide will now focus on their respective duties... no more provocation, don’t complain so much... dissatisfied and this and that.

“If we are always dissatisfied, when will we ever be satisfied? We need a rebranding of our behaviour because we (Cuepacs) can always request from the government ways to improve,” Cuepacs president Datuk Omar Osman (picture) said here.

Omar was speaking to reporters after attending a gathering of over 15,000 civil servants at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here where Najib announced the government’s decision to scrap the SBPA.

The prime minister said the government had agreed to maintain the existing Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM) but with added improvements, which include a 13 per cent salary adjustment for all those in the management and professional groups, as well as those from Grades 1 to 54.

For the Chief Secretary to the Government and top-tier civil servants in the “Premier Service 1” category, said Najib, salaries would only be adjusted by seven per cent.

The changes, said Omar, was more balanced than those mooted in the SBPA, which saw the Chief Secretary’s wages hiked to RM60,000 a month while some of those in the lower pay grades were given increments as low as RM1.70.

The revelation following the obvious disparity between the salaries of top civil servants and those in the lower grades under SBPA had earlier ignited anger and disapproval in the 1.4 million-strong civil service — a key vote bank for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition — ahead of a general election that must be called by May 2013.

“This is a relief... the adjustments are fair and done for the benefit of all those in the civil service,” said Omar.

He said those eligible for the increases in the “improved” SSM will receive the outstanding difference in their salaries for the months of January and February soon.

Omar added that Cuepacs will hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss today’s developments before embarking on a nationwide roadshow to explain the matter to civil servants.

He noted that under today’s new changes to the system, the government had incorporated three of Cuepac’s seven requests raised earlier to the special panel formed by Putrajaya to review the SBPA.

Najib had ordered a review after government unions raised an outcry over the quantum of salary increases in the controversial scheme.

The panel, led by former Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam and comprising representatives from the PSD, Finance Ministry and Cuepacs, received a total of 1,087 responses during a one-month public engagement process from January 14 to February 15.

Omar said Cuepacs’ remaining requests and suggestions raised by 23 organisations during the public engagement process would be further discussed in the special commission that Najib said today will soon be formed to look into all aspects of the civil service.