Revise formula of pension calculation, urge pensioners

2009/11/09

BUTTERWORTH: A group of more than 60 pensioners from Penang has urged the government to implement the revised formula for calculating pensions based on years of service.

They claim they had been waiting for the last 14 years for the government to implement the formula.

Based on a letter from the Public Services Department (PSD) to Cuepacs (Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service), the formula was to have been implemented on Jan 1, 1996, they said.

S. Arumugan, 66, from Bukit Mertajam, who had served the government for 31 years, said he hoped the prime minister would help to resolve the problem.

"A group of us sent a memorandum to the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2005 and 2008 respectively.

"We received replies which stated that the letters had been referred to the PSD director-general.

"But we have not received any response from him.

"We are not asking for anything extra but for something which had been approved by the government."

The pensioners gathered at the Taman Inderawasih Rukun Tetangga office in Prai here yesterday to highlight their plight.

Arumugan said a similar memorandum would be handed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak soon and a copy of it would be forwarded to Cuepacs and the Malaysian Government Retirees Association.

Currently, civil servants with more than 25 years of service receive full pension, which is 50 per cent of their last drawn salary.

They are expected to receive a higher pension if it is calculated based on years of service.