Malaysia’s humongous debt of RM1 trillion is not a secret anymore! In fact, ever since its revelation, the government has taken many initiatives as an effort to gradually reduce our nation’s debt.
For instance, all cabinet ministers’ salaries were cut by 10 per cent and many high-budget projects were also scraped off in order to reduce government expenditure. However, it looks like these cuts are still not enough to solve this problem, which is why Tun Mahathir has now decided to make more cuts in the government’s spending by reducing the allowances of civil servants. Yup, by another 10% too!
Source: The Malay Mail
Today (6 June 2018), Tun M announced that the entertainment allowance for senior civil servants will be reduced by 10 per cent, according to The Malay Mail.
For example, expenses they make during a business trip to entertain clients.
Effective July this year (2018), this entertainment allowance cut will be applicable to all senior servants on grade Jusa A and above.
Source: World of Buzz
If you didn’t know, Jusa (Jawatan Utama Sektor Awam) are senior government officers that hold the main positions in public sectors. They usually hold positions like;
- Chief Secretary
- University Professor Special Grade A (aka Professor Emeritus)
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor University Jusa A
- Vice Chancellor University Jusa A
- Deputy Chief of the Judicial Registrar
- Leftenant General of the Army
- Director of Department (Police Commissioner) of Malaysia
Thus, Tun M was quoted as saying,
“This is part of the government’s austerity drive.”
In other words, this is an effort to reduce government expenditure!
Source: Yahoo News
Besides that, our beloved seventh prime minister also shared that Malaysia is sending a team to India to learn the innovation programme there. This plan is in hopes that the knowledge gained there can be used to improve efficiency in Malaysia’s public sector. Seems like a promising effort!
Plus, he also stated that the usual price control scheme during Hari Raya would be exerted on 22 types of goods starting 8 to 22 June 2018. Keep your eyes peeled because it starts in two days!
At the media conference that was held today (6 June 2018), Tun M noted that the sitting of the Parliament would be for 20 days beginning 16 July 2018.
Source: The Star
Therefore, he assured that the “abolition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Anti-Fake News Act, as well as amendments to other acts”, will be submitted at the upcoming Parliament session. Well, we definitely can’t wait!
Finally, he announced that there will be an allocation of RM500,000 for the Members of Parliament (MP) and RM200,000 for the service centres of the MPs, which will be channelled before Raya begins.
So far, it’s safe to say that our government is doing a great job in trying to pull the country back on its feet while making sure the rakyat’s interest is taken care of. Besides that, it’s wonderful to finally see and experience a government that is very transparent with our financial woes and flow.
Hopefully PH keeps up with this momentum!
Also read: All Cabinet Members Will Get 10% Salary Cut to Reduce Govt Expenses, Tun M Says
