KANGAR: The abolishment of the pension scheme for civil servants should be extended to elected representatives to ensure that it is done fairly.
Perlis Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli said personally, he is against the move unless it is being done across the board and nobody is being excluded from the changes.
"In my personal opinion if it is being implemented on civil servants, the abolishment should also include politicians because they are elected representatives.
"This is due to the fact that if politicians are involved in politics at a young age and suddenly his political career comes to an abrupt end without having any pension, it will be difficult for him to survive in the event the person has no other job after the service ends.
"If you study deeper, politicians will be more focused on political matters and once his political career ends it is quite difficult to jump into other fields unless during his service, the person owns a business.
"Hence, there will definitely be constraints. Therefore, the move to abolish the pension scheme (for civil servants) should be reviewed," he told reporters after attending a dinner with Perlis media representatives here yesterday.
Shukri added that although the pension scheme has financial implications on the country, it should be viewed from the people's prosperity perspective.
"Of course, the pension scheme has an impact on the country financially but for the wellbeing of the people, the government should not just think about profit and loss as the government is not a business entity but to serve the people.
"The government should not be viewed as a profit-driven entity, it is duty bound to bring prosperity to the people although it is a heavy responsibility but it (the government) should think along the lines of bringing prosperity to the people," he said.
Shukri said the pension scheme for civil servants in Perlis is not affected by changes to the civil servants in the federal government.
"I hope that the move (to abolish the pension scheme) will not be implemented as we have to consider that most of our working population are civil servants. Thus, if we abolish the scheme it will have an impact on the people at large," he said.
Shukri hoped that the federal government would have a sound alternative to replace the pension scheme such as a handsome Employees Provide Fund (EPF) scheme to improve the civil servants' motivation," he said.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the cabinet had agreed that new permanent hires in the public service would not be pensionable.
He was reported saying that the new hires in the civil service will contribute to retirement schemes like the EPF and Social Security Organisation (Perkeso).
Zahid had said the new civil service hiring policy will reduce the government's financial liability for pension payments will reach RM120 billion in 2040
In response, Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh insisted that the abolishment of the pension scheme should first start with the elected representatives.
He was reported saying that it is unjust to only remove pensions for people working in the public sector while elected representatives still enjoy receiving pensions until the end of their lives.