PUTRAJAYA: The Government cannot afford to pay pensioners based on the actual number of years served as it would cost the Treasury hundreds of millions of ringgit more, said Public Service Department Post-Service Division director Datuk Yeow Chin Kiong.
He said this would burden the country’s taxpayers and affect tax revenue.
Currently, the maximum years of service calculated is 30, an increase from the previous 25 years.
The Government, Yeow said, had been improving pension packages as a whole.
“We are talking of lifelong well-being and not just pension money,” he told The Star.
“The maximum 30 years of service was revised from a 25-year limit previously, and that represents a 20% increase,” he said.
This year alone, total pensions paid – including pension money, gratuity and cash in lieu of unused vacation leave – was estimated at more than RM9bil, Yeow said.
He was referring to an appeal by a group of pensioners to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to implement the revised pension formula approved 14 years ago based on their total length of service.
Currently, there are 547,000 pensioners in Malaysia, including 223,119 who have total length of service between 31 and 41 years.
“If we implement the full length of years served, we need an additional RM315mil for these 223,119 pensioners this year alone,” said Yeow.
This would have a cumulative effect as there was an average increase of 15,000 pensioners annually since 1990, he added.
“On top of the pension money and gratuity to be paid in a lump sum upon retirement, the Government is also covering pensioners’ medical expenses for life,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment