PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said all Cabinet ministers would be taking a 10 per cent pay cut from their basic salary with immediate effect.
He made the announcement after chairing the Pakatan Harapan government’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Dr Mahathir said trimming the salaries of ministers has been “a habit” of his.
"This is the habit of mine. When I was first appointed as the prime minister in 1981, I had cut the salaries of ministers and senior civil servants.
"As you know, the senior civil servant servants are better paid than the ministers,” he said.
"It is up to them if they feel they want to contribute towards lessening the cost in running this country, they can do so. We will not force them to do," he said.
The prime minister said the government has no intention of raising the salary of its Cabinet ministers.
Dr Mahathir said the government would also be reviewing the scheduled July 1 annual pay rise for civil servants. The government, he said, is not bound by the promises made by the previous administration.
"We are looking into that because this promise was made by what is now the opposition. They did not win the (general election).
"We are not bound by their promises. Nevertheless, we will look at it in (a) very positive way where if they deserve to be given some extra allowance, we will do so," he said.
Dr Mahathir also reiterated that the government would let go of some 17,000 contract workers who were political appointees under the previous administration.
"But those (in the same category) who are essential and lowly-paid contract workers will be re-engaged to different areas," he said.
He also assured that civil servants in the low-income salary scale would not become victims of the government's downsizing exercise.
Reports by Azura Abas, Manirajan Ramasamy, Mohd Husni Mohd Noor, Ooi Tee Ching and Hazwan Faisal Mohamad