Penguang suggests fixed RM1,500 salary for councillors
In my opinion, councillors should be paid a fixed monthly income rather than allowances as they are the front liners and to recognise their wider job scope tasked to them.
KUCHING: Councillors should be paid a fixed monthly salary of at least RM1,500 in view of the increasing expectation and wider job scope.
Currently, councillors are paid RM100 per meeting which is capped at RM700 per month.
Suggesting this was Assistant Minister for Local Government Datu Dr Pengguang Manggil.
“In my opinion, councillors should be paid a fixed monthly income rather than allowances as they are the frontliners and to recognise the wider job scope tasked to them.”
Due to the higher expectations, he hoped the entry point for councillors should be at least a Form 5 qualification.
“The higher the qualification the better as they will be able to discuss, debate and help formulate policies of the councils. After all, they are highly regarded at the grassroots level. So they have to be well-versed in matters crucial to the people at that level,” he said, adding that most councillors in the city councils were already graduates and professionals.
Pengguang, a former permanent secretary to the Ministry of
Datu Dr Pengguang Manggil, Assistant Minister for Local Government
Local Government before joining politics end of 2015, said he was instrumental in increasing councillors’ allowance from RM50 to the current rate of RM100 per meeting in 2013.
“With the higher expectation through their Key Performance Index ( KPI) reports, it would be justified to pay them more as that has been the request from the grassroots as well,” he said.
On a related issue, Pengguang said all 24 councils should appoint five councillors from non-governmental organisations ( NGOs) to provide ‘ check and balance’ for them to be more effective in discharging their services to the people. Currently, councillors are political appointees from the state BN component parties
He also revealed that there were now 425 vacancies for various posts including 82 professional and managerial posts in all councils except for Bintulu Development Authority ( BDA), Kuching North City Commission ( DBKU) and MBKS ( Kuching South City Council). These three councils come directly under the Chief Minister’s Department.
He said these posts had been approved by the Federal Public Service Commission (JPA) in 2015 and would be filled gradually in the next five years.