Enough with fat salaries and overlapping agencies, DAP lawmaker tells Putrajaya

Enough with fat salaries and overlapping agencies, DAP lawmaker tells Putrajaya

BY LOOI SUE-CHERN
October 29, 2013

Najib announced the setting up of Magic, the acronym for Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre, during his Budget 2014 speech, last Friday. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, Oct 29, 2013.

Putrajaya has been urged to stop setting up new agencies, especially those whose functions overlap with existing government bodies and which hire high-salaried contract staff.

DAP's Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should walk the talk by cutting expenditure in the Prime Minister's Department and not create more new and expensive agencies.

He was referring to Najib's announcement of a Green Foundation and the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (Magic) during the Budget 2014 speech last Friday.

Najib also announced that allocation for the Prime Minister's Office in 2014 will be increased next year to RM16.5 billion, from RM14.6 billion this year. The 13% increase is seen against the budget's overall increase of only 5.6%, from RM250 billion in 2013 to RM264 billion in 2014.

Ong said the two new agencies were unnecessary, and pointed out the existence of the Malaysian Green Tech Corporation and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority.

He said agencies such as Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, the Malaysian Productivity Council and others were already doing the job of the newly-announced Magic.

Ong said Putrajaya pays higher salaries to the top brass in these agencies and their contract staff, compared to the civil servants in existing departments, including the Chief Secretary.

"All these CEOs are paid monthly salaries which are higher than the monthly salary of the highest paid civil servant - the Chief Secretary, who has a maximum monthly salary of RM23,577.

"If the Prime Minister is serious about asking ordinary Malaysians to change their lifestyles to adapt to rising prices as subsidies are withdrawn and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is introduced, he should also walk the talk by reducing the expenditure in his own department," he said.

He quoted a parliamentary reply on October 1 detailing salary, allowance and bonus of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia's chief executive officer, which amounts to RM830,500, an average of RM69,000 monthly.

The CEO of the Land Transport Commission, or SPAD, is paid a yearly salary of RM480,000 (RM40,000 a month), an annual allowance of RM162,000 and a bonus of RM60,000, totalling RM622,000, said Ong.

Meanwhile, the CEO of TalentCorp, said Ong, gets a monthly salary of RM30,000, in addition to a monthly car allowance of RM5,000, which works out to an annual income of RM420,000.

Ong (pic, left) also shared salary figures of top bosses in such government agencies as Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda), East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), Malaysian Industry Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) and the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

"For example, a Pemandu director, whose position is equivalent to a JUSA A/B civil servant's, has a maximum monthly salary of RM49,000, while an associate director (who is equivalent to a JUSA C civil servant) has a maximum salary of RM31,600 a month.

"A senior manager at the unit, whose rank is the same as a Grade 54 civil servant, has a maximum salary of RM21,000 a month," he stated.

Ong said hiring contract staff in the Prime Minister's Department was one reason why Putrajaya's expenditure went up significantly over the past four years under Najib's administration.

In Budget 2014, the Prime Minister's Department received one of the largest allocations, with its Economic Planning Unit capturing all capital expenditures for development planning. - October 29, 2013.


Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/