KUALA LUMPUR Oct 3, 2014:

The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) has urged the government to control the ever increasing price of houses in the upcoming Budget 2015.
Its secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng told The Rakyat Post that with the rising cost of living today, the younger generation are finding it difficult to afford reasonable priced homes.“The younger generation are greatly affected by the current situation and the government must find a way to provide simple yet affordable homes for them.”

According to a study conducted by Cuepacs, it discovered that nearly 60% of civil servants earning less than RM3,000 are unable to afford their own home.The first of four on the Cuepacs’ wish list for the upcoming Budget 2015 on Oct 10, Lok also requested the government to provide a minimal two-month bonus for all government servants in light of the recent hike in fuel prices.
“There is a dire need for the government to coordinate the fixed ho using allowance involving civil servants in Grade 40 and below for the upcoming budget.”Explaining that it is an old issue which affected some 700,000 people in the country, Lok stressed that the coordination of the allowance from RM180 to RM450 needed to be evaluated and implemented soon.

“The allowance rate has not been reviewed in the past 11 years and it is the time to do so, given that in these day and time, people in this group may have to allocate up to even 70% of their salary to pay for their house rental.” Lastly, Lok said that the government must also review the service scheme allocation in light of the upcoming implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1, 2015. Have something to add to this story? Let us know with a comment below.