Premier declines to comment on govt’s proposed pension payment for civil service

Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg yesterday refrained from offering direct commentary on the federal government’s proposed pension scheme, citing its connection to government policy.

However, he said that a state government initiative known as ‘Joint Benefits Contribution (JBC) was already in place for all new civil service officers in Sarawak.

“I don’t dare to comment because that involves government policy.

“Actually, one already exists in our state government. We call it JBC for all our new officers, which contributes to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF),” he said after attending the Malaysia Market Outlook Session 2024 organised by Affin Group at Menara Affin, Tun Razak Exchange here, yesterday.

According to him, JBC operates similarly to the EPF, a national savings scheme in Malaysia.

He also emphasised that the fundamental difference was in the discipline, as sometimes individuals would choose to withdraw their entire EPF savings.

“There is no difference between EPF and pension. Only one, sometimes, EPF, if we’re not disciplined, we’d take out all the EPF. If you have discipline, if this EPF has rules like one month, a certain amount is equivalent to pension,” he said.

He also drew a parallel with Norway’s pension system, where disciplined adherence to rules would ensure that pension fund beneficiaries would receive their whole savings.

On Jan 24, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced a new civil service hiring policy, which would include the introduction of a new pension scheme.

He said under this policy, new civil service recruits would contribute to retirement schemes like EPF and Social Security Organisation (Socso), aligning with the broader initiative to phase out traditional pensions.

On Jan 26, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the review of pension schemes would apply to all future political appointments.