A former President of Cuepacs, Malaysia’s powerful public sector union, has called for Public Service salary scales and allowances to be reviewed every five years to help in the fight against corruption.
Omar Osman (pictured) said any review should be in line with the current cost of living as income disparity and the pressures that came from an increase in inflation could tempt Public Servants to turn to corruption.
“Why is it that there was no question of corruption involving Public Servants in the years past as there is now? The matter needs to be looked into,” Mr Omar said.
He said some lower-paid Government workers faced a hard time if they wanted to buy a house.
“Some of them have to do other jobs in the evenings just to make a living. They do not have time to rest and spend time with their families,” Mr Omar said.
“When the salary is not enough, and if there is an opportunity, corruption can occur,” the former President said.
He said that when he led Cuepacs from 2006 to 2013, the Government reviewed the salaries of Public Servants every five years.
Mr Omar also called on the Government to reduce corruption by carrying out more programs to strengthen integrity among its workforce.
As if to underline Mr Omar’s points, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) announced it had arrested a Public Servant working for a Federal Government Agency training centre in Sabah State.
The worker is accused of abusing his power by awarding contracts worth more than RM36,000 ($A11,500) to family members.
According to MACC statistics, Public Servants made up 46.3 per cent of 4,860 persons arrested for graft offences from 2014 to June 2019.
The MACC also revealed that last year, 467 Public Servants were arrested for various graft offences.
This was a slight decline from the 525 arrested for graft offences in 2019.
Kuala Lumpur, 15 February 2021
