KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 – The government will be providing a special appreciation aid of RM300 to civil servants of grade 56 and below, announced Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, further revealed that a RM200 aid will be granted to government pensioners, including retired civil servants, pension issuance recipients, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) pensioners, optional retirees who have not received a pension, retired veterans, and non-pensioned veterans.
“This special aid will benefit 1.3 million civil servants, including contract appointees, and over one million pensioners. With this initial assistance, we hope civil servants will continue to work diligently in supporting our aspiration to implement reforms,” he stated during his speech at the launch of the “Ekonomi Madani: Memperkasa Rakyat” event held at the Securities Commission Malaysia on Thursday. Anwar mentioned that the payment of the special aid is expected to be made within two weeks from now.
He also noted that the announcement of this special aid is a temporary measure while a comprehensive review of salaries and allowances is being detailed. Among the attendees were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Minister of Communications and Digital, Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, and Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali. During the same event, the Prime Minister affirmed the government’s commitment to aligning civil servants’ salaries with the financial capacity of the government.
“Ekonomi Madani provides the best services while helping the government’s fiscal space to realize the new public service salary scheme,” he added. On 13th July, the Prime Minister had stated that the salary scheme for civil servants would be gradually increased based on the country’s economic capability, and the proposal would be presented in a meeting with Mohd Zuki and the Director-General of Public Service, Datuk Dr. Zulkapli Mohamad, before the state elections on 12th August.
Meanwhile, Anwar also highlighted the success and significant impact of the e-tunai program on society, leading the government to agree to offer RM100 e-tunai credit to all adult Malaysians with an annual income of RM100,000 or below. He estimated that over 10 million eligible recipients, comprising the B40 and M40 groups, will receive this aid, involving an allocation of around RM1 billion.
