SHAH ALAM: Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, his deputy minister, secretary-general and senior staff no longer fly First Class for overseas trips as part of ministry’s frugal spending practices.
Saifuddin said although their positions qualified them for First Class seats, Business Class is the way to go now as the ministry needs to spend wisely.
“We practice frugal spending. For example, the minister does not fly First Class despite being given the allowance for it. That is the standard thing we do now in Wisma Putra where we go one step lower. We cannot possibly ask the junior staff to downgrade with what they have already been given.
“In overseas trips, we use the standard room for hotels. Even though the allocation says we can qualify for better rooms, but rooms are just for us to sleep in anyway. That saves us a lot (money).
“So we have been practising frugal spending and we will try and make do with whatever budget that we have,” said Saifuddin today.
He added that he was happy that ambassadors, high commissioners and officers based overseas and in Wisma Putra have been careful with their allocation.
Saifuddin said this during a press conference after he launched the Global Peace Mission Humanitarian Fund for Yemen at Kompleks Karangkraf.
Saifuddin said he was satisfied with the close to RM800 million set aside for the ministry as announced by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in the Budget 2019 presentation.
In Budget 2018, the ministry, under the previous Barisan Nasional administration, received an allocation of RM739 million.
It was reported that in Budget 2019, RM748 million was set aside for the ministry.
Saifuddin said the ministry was not granted the amount it had applied for 2019 and foresees the need to ask for an additional allocation next year.
“There is still a shortage but normally in the middle of next year, supplementary budget for specific uses can be requested, which is quite normal.
“Like we did in 2018, we received some additional budget of RM40 million because we requested for specific requirements and Lim fulfilled that request,” he said.
Saifuddin said for operations abroad, priority will be given to restore aged staff quarters, repair vehicles and the upgrading of its information technology system.