KUALA LUMPUR, 29 Oct: The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Run Razak, has been urged to reduce the income of contract workers under the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) which is far higher from the income of civil servants.
The Member of Parliament for Serdang, Dr Ong Kian Ming said the reduction in the income of contract workers can reduce JPM’s expanses which will leap to the highest level next year.
He said the reduction can be seen as avoiding wastage in the high payment for the department.
“If Najib is serious in asking the people to change their lifestyles by shouldering the high cost of living because subsidies have been reduced, in addition to the goods and services (GST) being introduced, he too should reduce JPM’s expanses,” he said in a press conference here at the Parliament lobby today.
Kian Ming gave the example where the wage and allowance of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Innovation Agency Malaysia amounts to RM830,500 per year, which is about RM69,000 per month.
In addition to that, the CEO of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) is paid a wage and allowance of RM622,000 a year, while the CEO of TalentCorp is paid RM420,000 a year.
He said that the income of the three CEOs are far higher compared to the National Secretary-General who receives RM23,577 per month.
“These examples involve a portion of agencies under the JPM, in fact there are more CEOs that receive incomes that far exceed that of Senior Managers of the same rank with Grade 54, but are paid far higher,” he said.
In relation to that, Kian Ming said Najib should also stop the establishment of new agencies such as Green Foundation (Yayasan Hijau) because existing agencies such as Malaysia GreenTech has the same function as the foundation which is to be developed.
The JPM budget leaped by 13 percent, making the amount RM16.45 billion and the amount is the highest allocation, breaking the previous record of RM15.62 billion (2011), which was announced in the National Budget 2014 on 25 October.
