China Press, October 7, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR – China Press learned that the salary of 222 Malaysian federal lawmakers will be adjusted next year after the previous salary review was carried out 11 years ago in 2004.
It is learned that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib who is also the chairman of Barisan Nasional (BN) made the announcement to adjust the salaries of members of parliament (MP) at the briefing before the meeting with BN MPs and Senators. BN will also maintain funding to its lawmakers next year.
In the past, the Prime Minister usually announces the adjustment of MP’s salary or allowance when he unveils the budget for next year. It is reported that the Prime Minister has not mentioned the details of the 2015 budget he will be presenting on Friday, October 10. He only mentioned the budget is aimed to reduce the people’s living cost burden.
Encourage debate but be kind
On the other hand, the Prime Minister also encouraged the MPs to actively participate in debates, but he also reminded them to not be too “vicious” in commenting on the government.
The last MP salary adjustment was done in 2003. According to the 1980 Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act, the latest salary comes into effect starting from January 1, 2004. The current basic salary of an MP is RM6,500, along with other allowances, an MP’s monthly wage is around RM13,000 and RM9,200 for a member of senate.
Some state government including Kedah, Sarawak and Selangor had raised the allowances of state assemblymen, some pay hikes were quite significant and stirred up some controversies. The MPs have been complaining about their low wages and requesting the government to review it.
Serve the people better
When the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib announced the 2012 Budget in 2011, he once suggested increasing MP’s allowances. However, the suggestion involving about RM30 million funding that could have benefited all lawmakers regardless of political party background was retracted by the government following objections from the Opposition.
In 2011, when commenting on retracting the suggestion to review the MP’s allowance, Datuk Seri Nazri who was the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said the adjustment was not included in Prime Minister’s budget but he convinced the Prime Minister to review the benefits of the lawmakers so that they could serve the people better.
On November 19 last year, the newly appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Sri Shahidan mentioned that the government planned to review MPs allowances in early 2014 during the Dewan Rakyat debate session on 2014 Budget.
Original Source: 明年生效 撥款續發 國會議員加薪