Govt to consider Aidilfitri aid for civil servants

PUTRAJAYA: The Finance Ministry will propose to the Prime Minister for financial assistance for civil servants in conjunction with the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said the proposal would be made to help the civil servants in the lower grade bracket prepare for Hari Raya celebrations.

“For this Hari Raya, some have asked (on the assistance), but I hope you all (civil servants) are considerate as the nation's economy is not that good,” he said when addressing staff at the ministry's monthly gathering for the first time yesterday.

Lim also said the asisstance would specifically be for the low grade category and the amount of assistance would be announced later by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We try to portray a leadership image through example, we don't cut the civil servants' salary, in fact the Cabinet Ministers' pay is cut by 10 per cent...this was agreed during Pakatan Harapan's first Cabinet meeting.

“The message we want to convey is that Malaysia's economy is faced with issues due to leakages and misappropriation of funds that happened previously,” he explained.

On the ministry's role, Lim stressed that the government was facing fiscal and national debt issues whereby the country's financial status was not in tune with what was disclosed to the people.

“However, (we must) uphold promises even though (we) encountered a fiscal position (issue),” he said, adding he would consolidate the country's financial report and system in the first week of his appointment as the Finance Minister.

The report is expected to provide a clear picture based on basic economic principles and no information would be kept secret.