KUALA SELANGOR, April 27 – The Selangor government will not raise the allowance for Religious and Fardu Ain Class (KAFA) teachers this year, Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said. He said if there was a need for it, it would be done next year. Mohamed Azmin said the issue was being scrutinised by all quarters involved, including the state treasury.
“The state government, in principle, has agreed to raise the allowance, but the agreement must be based on the number of teachers and allocation involved and whether it is fair for us to raise the allowance up to RM1,500 if they are teaching only for two to three hours.
“This matter must be studied carefully as the people’s money must be prudently spent,” he told reporters after handing over a contribution of RM100,000 to Maahad Tarbiyah Islamiah Al Ansar in Kampung Kuantan here, which was damaged by strong winds on April 17.
Mohamed Azmin said in response to the remarks by a KAFA teacher, Ekhsan Bukharee Badarul Hisham, who demanded the state government to promptly raise the allowance for KAFA teachers to RM1,500 from the current RM1,300 a month as promised in the opposition manifesto at the 13th general election (GE13). In another development, Mohamed Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, said the refusal of the Penang PAS Youth to help PKR in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election was not a problem.
He said this was because the whole central PAS leadership, including the deputy president and secretary-general, had pledged their support to PKR candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. The Penang PAS Youth resorted to the stand as they were said to be unhappy with the state PKR Youth movement who still refused to apologise for allegedly insulting PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang over the hudud issue.
