Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today gave assurance that the revised Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA), which will be announced soon, will be the best ever introduced in the country.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the revised SSPA will also see the highest financial implication ever involved, however he noted its the government’s job to find more funds to accommodate this.
On claims that the government only focused on the welfare of civil servants, Anwar said his administration also pays attention to the problems faced by other groups, such as farmers and fishermen. Nevertheless, added civil servants cannot be compared with others as they are directly under the government’s purview.
“So, I told my friends in the Cabinet that we have no choice. We have to give you our best, We must recognise your contributions and provide a fairer remuneration system,” he said.
Anwar said he also wanted top management in the public service to ensure that all groups of civil servants benefited from the system.
“In a meeting with the chief secretary to the government, Public Service director-general and Treasury secretary-general, I said I don’t want one department, one group that feels they are left behind. We want to make a comprehensive review of this remuneration system and I have asked for it to be done together with civil service reform,” he said.
Therefore, Anwar wanted civil servants to provide better work performance while being monitored by their respective heads of departments. He also stressed that recognition or promotion should not be given to lazy and underperforming civil servants.
“If we want to raise the dignity of our country, be more efficient, value people in terms of their performance, we should not give recognition simply based on their age or length of their service,” he said.
In addition, the prime minister also wanted all facilities provided for civil servants deployed from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak or vice versa to be reviewed.
