KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today told politicians, who are entitled to more than one pension, to uphold their moral responsibility by choosing only one pension scheme.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the new pension scheme was only a proposal and that no decision had been made on it.
"To those who are entitled to three to four pensions for holding ministerial, menteri besar and other positions in government, they should uphold their moral responsibility by taking into consideration the country's economy.
"Perhaps they could choose one pension and reject the others. I will leave this up to them."
Anwar said this when he was asked to comment on the statement by the Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak), which said elected representatives should continue to receive remuneration after completing their term of service.
Anwar said the proposal to review the pension scheme would be debated and tabled in Parliament since it required an amendment to a provision in the constitution.
"The problem is that many people did not read it properly (the proposal to review the pension scheme).
"The constitution does not allow us cancel anything that has been agreed on.
"What we are proposing is to introduce a new regulation, which is applicable only to new enrolment (in the civil service), including political appointments.
"That is the proposal that we plan to table in Parliament, which will require amendments to a few laws.
"We cannot simply terminate the existing procedure because we are tied to the agreement in the law, which is guaranteed in the constitution."
Mubarak president Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Rahman yesterday said that unlike civil servants, representatives were elected by the people and they did not work for the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi had on Wednesday announced that new civil servant hires from Feb 1 would no longer qualify for pension.
They would instead contribute to retirement schemes, like the Employee Provident Fund and Social Security Organisation (Perkeso).
Anwar yesterday said the review of pension schemes also applied to political appointments.
He, however, said the matter would be finalised only after the study on the review was brought to the cabinet for a decision.