KUALA LUMPUR: The Joint Councils of Presidents and Honorary Secretaries of the Malaysian Universities Staff Union (Gakum) has urged the government to review its decision to scrap pensions for new civil service hires.
Gakum president Zulkifli Mohammed said the government should not abolish pensions for civil servants who serve the nation for 30 to 40 years.
At a press conference today, he said the aim of the pension scheme was to guarantee a more comfortable life for civil servants after retirement, adding that contributing to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) would not benefit them due to the low salaries in the public sector.
"We hear the worries of the civil servants. Civil servants are the pulse and pillars of the government.
"Gakum does not agree with the decision to remove pensions because this is the only thing that civil servants have. Removing it means they would have nothing left.
"We strongly urge the government to review the matter," he said after a workers' unions workshop in Banda Hilir, Melaka, today.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the government would introduce a new pension system for the civil service.
Under this proposal, new hires in the civil service would contribute to the EPF and the Social Security Organisation.
On Jan 26, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the pension scheme review would apply to politicians too.
He said the matter was not finalised yet and further studies need to be conducted.
The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services, other groups and politicians have called for the government to review the pension scheme for politicians first before implementing the proposal on government staff.