KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming has called on the government to consider announcing any major policy changes to existing civil servant remuneration schemes in an organised manner lest they be used by detractors to attack the government.
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Ong said any major changes to civil servants’ pensions, salaries and contracts should be done with proper consultation and announced in an organised way, or risk seeing the narrative “spun” inaccurately.
“The proposal of revising the employment terms of new batches of civil servants is worthy of deliberation and consideration but has to be done in a systematic and well-planned manner, rather than in a rushed and haphazard manner,” he said in a statement here.
This he said requires a comprehensive communications plan to be developed with public support from the relevant stakeholders in the anticipated announcement.
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Ong cited one example where Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had caused significant confusion among many stakeholders with his remark resulting in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim having to step in to assure the public that nothing has been finalised yet.
“For such an important policy change, the government must ensure proper stakeholder engagement and buy-in before any official announcements are made,” he said.
Ong added that the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) and the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) are among the key stakeholders which must be engaged.
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The former federal lawmaker also suggested the issues that needed to be discussed in detail.
They included an ongoing salary revision scheme for existing civil servants including benefits and allowances; salary scheme for those under the newly proposed and long-term employment schemes including benefits and allowances; process and transparency of promotions at all levels to address the issue of unfairness and lack of transparency; talent development and upskilling among civil servants; other human resource challenges and the overall financial implication of these policy changes.
Last July, the government agreed to review the civil service salary scheme, taking into account the increase in the cost of living and the fact that there has been no salary review since 2012.
Zahid faced backlash after he announced last week a new civil service hiring policy, including the introduction of a new pension scheme.
He said that under this policy, new civil service recruits would contribute to retirement schemes like Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Social Security Organisation (Perkeso), aligning with the broader initiative to phase out traditional pensions.
