The revelation that 60 percent of civil servants are still unable to
purchase their own homes is testimony to BN’s failure to implement long
term measures to uplift the rakyat, said PKR.
“PKR views
seriously the recent tendency of the BN government to formulate short
term policies that look attractive and friendly to the people at first
sight, but that is really too good to be true, but are in fact temporary
and unable to offer comprehensive solutions.
“The
Cuepacs revelation ... is once again proof that the BN government has
failed to implement long term measures ... especially in the area of
quality housing,” said PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar (left).
She
was responding in a statement to the Congress of Unions of Employees in
the Public and Civil Services’ (Cuepacs) revelation yesterday that
about 60 percent of civil servants nationwide earning below RM3,000 a
month, especially in the Klang Valley, are still unable to purchase their own houses.
“With
a monthly income that has remained below RM3,000 after decades of
service, it is not surprising that low-ranking civil servants cannot
afford to own their own homes,” said the Lembah Pantai MP.
She
added that it was “worrying” that till now, there was still no news of
the salary review commission that Prime Minister Najib Razak promised on
March 8.
Nurul
Izzah blamed the government for being “biassed and one-sided”, citing
as example the civil service salary reviews in February.
“In the
SBPA’s recommendation, high ranking public officers will enjoy RM30, 000
to RM40,000 increments, while low ranking officers are expected to see
increments between RM10 to RM20,” she said.
Amongst the
recommendations PKR could recommend, she said, was to offer lower
interest rates for civil servants’ housing loans, and to manage the
property prices particularly in the urban areas so that they remain
affordable.
She lamented that the government was instead more
concerned with issuing “statement after statement” containing “empty
promises”, such as the failed MAS-AirAsia merger, the ETP that offers no
benefit to the majority of the people, or the “durian busuk” Felda
Global Ventures Holdings listing windfall.
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