KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — The Congress of Union Of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) today urged the government to reinstate the housing quota for civil servants.
Cuepacs president Datuk Azih Muda said with prices of houses skyrocketing civil servants won’t be able to afford a house even when they reach the age of 50.
“If the minimum price for a house is RM300,000 how can civil servants afford it when they have to compete with the private sector who earn more than them,” said Azih during a media session at Seri Pacific Hotel today.
“Even in the past when they had the lottery picks for houses for civil servants, only 10 per cent of them were able to afford a house.
“The rest of them who have growing families won’t be able to afford a home as surveys show around 60 to 80 per cent of most household incomes are already used for basic necessities.
“You can’t do much with the remaining money as it’s too little.”
Azih said the lowest pay for a government servant is between RM1600 to RM1800.
Bank Negara had set the minimum wage for an unmarried individual at RM2,600 per month, RM4,500 for married couples.
Azih said the government did not include Cuepacs when making decisions in regards to new housing policies.
He said he plans to send an official letter to Minister of Housing and Local Government, Zuraida Kamaruddin, to have further discussions on the matter.
He said in the past Cuepacs were included in such discussion.
“It could have been an oversight from the current administration to include us in the discussions,” he said.
On a separate matter Azih pointed out that there is a lack of cooperation between civil servants and the new government elected political appointees.
Azih said many of these political appointees are making life difficult for these civil servants as they are adamant on doing things their way despite not having much experience in the field.
“We feel once policies are made it’s up to the government agencies to execute them before it impacts the people.
“The civil servants are aware of how to do their work but the job is delayed when these political appointees try to take charge.
“This is why I support what Tun Daim Zainuddin said recently that if we continue this way the civil servants may eventually stand up and leave,” he said.
Tun Daim the former finance minister and special advisor to the prime minister had recently said that Pakatan Harapan ministers must learn to trust and depend on the civil service regardless of their continued suspicions about the latter.
Tun Daim had said that civil servants had told him that the current crop of ministers were side-lining them and using third-parties to replicate their functions.
