Letters
by R. Ganesh
I was utterly shocked when I read today’s NST dated 2008/12/27, article entitled “ACA officers feel ‘demoralised’ over new salary scale”. In the article, it was stated that Grade 29 officers would be offered a basic salary of RM1,482.85 and RM3,246.48 when they reached the top of the scale. “The maximum year between the basic salary and top of the scale is 22 years while the yearly increase is only RM80.17.”
Police officers in the same grade receive a basic salary of RM1,423.50 with a maximum of RM3,282.77. However, the maximum number of years getting to the top is only 18 years with a yearly increment of RM103.29, the article said.
My question here is this, how do you expect an individual in power to refrain from being corrupted when he merely earns RM1500? Nowadays, one can barely survive with RM1500 if one has 3 or 4 mouths to feed at home.
After paying your housing loan, car loan, study loan, EPF, income tax, medicine and supplements, Astro bill, water bill, electric bill, insurances (health, car, home etc), education cost for your children, how does the government expect one to survive with RM1500?
Can you blame an officer if he becomes corrupt?
Those days, corruption meant satisfying your wants and desires illegally. In other words, buying your luxuries with illegally obtained money. But I think these days, people become corrupt merely to survive ie to make ends meet.
It is high time the government revise the salaries of government servants in Malaysia.
Malaysia is a super rich country blessed with abundant natural resources.
We are thousand times richer than Singapore with oil, palm oil, rubber, tin, iron ore, timber, natural gas, copper, bauxite, coal and even Gold!, and yet, Singapore is far more progressed, richer and first world status. Both countries also Merdeka around the same time.
Singapore has zero natural resources, so how can they be richer than us with a higher GDP than us? Even low level government servants there earn Singapore $4000 a month and you can buy loads of food for the family of four in the supermarket for one whole week for S$100.
Here, the same items in the supermarket, cost around RM400 a week to feed a family of four.
And yet, the government expects their officers to earn RM1500?
#1 by k1980 on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 12:19 pm
R. Ganesh, you forget about the service, housing, cost of living, miscellanous allowances totalling about RM1,000 in addition to the basic pay of govt servants.
#2 by Emily Pratt on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 2:37 pm
To counter corruption:
i) Strict enforcement ala HK ICAC style. Independent body, answerable to the highest authority in the country e.g., the parliament, the Agong or the senate.
ii) Strong Punitive action ala PRC death penalty by a single gunshot to the back of the head. Personally I am not a big fan of death penalty. Maybe asset freeze and state confiscation of asset is more appropriate.
iii) Minimize chances of committing the act. “Opportunities maketh the thief”. Govt tender should be open to public scrutiny. Full Disclosure of wealth, income source and donation by top officials like the US system can probably minimize the chance of ill gotten loot
iv) Increase salary will not reduce the act of corruption, because some top officials with huge income still do it.
Summary: Reduce the opportunity to commit corruption, heavy penalty with strict enforcement will reduce drastically corrupt practices.
Emily Pratt
#3 by A true Malaysian on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 2:57 pm
Mahathir said before, if government don’t employ them, who will?
Over time, these ‘unemployable’ are getting a huge part of ‘gaji buta’ that supposedly better use if allocate to the ‘employable’. But because of government is so charitable, the average salary of government servant is low and could not even sustain increasing cost of living.
End result, their own policies backfire to their own people.
Having said the above, low pay should not be the excuse for corruption, no matter what. Just get rid of the root cause, no other way.
#4 by taiking on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 3:03 pm
Peanut salary is the reason for corruption. How attractively simple. Its all umno and umnoputras and the pro-umnoputras umno government policies. HK airport check-in counter is manned by only one lady. She keys in check-in details, issues boarding pass, issues luggage destination luggage tags, ties the tags to the luggage, and moves the luggage onto the inner conveyor belt in case they jam the conveyor passage. Here we have three. One at the counter. One to tie the tags and finally one to push the luggage along. Our check in lady could instantly earn the salaries of three people if she is tasked to handle the counter alone. Yeah this is also a simplistic observation but it is just a point I am trying to put across. Excess baggage in our civil service and inefficiencies led to lower salaries. Will that lead to corruption? I dont know. Perhaps it would for some. But I believe corruption has more to do with greed. Afterall there are a lot of poor and yet still honest people in the country. Now what has greed got to do with umno and umnoputras? Its their decades of concerntrated effort in enriching their kind through the shortest path possible. That has resulted in the birth of a super greedy power crazy core bunch of idiots widely known as umnoputras. But police and civil servants and not in that league. Yes, they too learned to be greedy through the good examples of umnoputras and all the wrong messages sent out to them by the umno government during elections like for instance, the country belongs to them as we are pendatangs / penumpangs. Our country in trapped in a very sad scenario created by umno and umnoputras.
#5 by limkamput on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 3:55 pm
Monsterball, is writing in phases with a series of ….. in between a new way of writing English? Look, you come here to talk like a hero, but the really is you probably can’t write properly or you simply have lousy habit. It is a distraction to write the way you did.
#6 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:01 pm
limkamput…Please don’t start that English and my character again.
Don’t like…don’t understand…just ignore…OK?
I have too many… Chinese..two timers to to talk about.
Do not add to one more.
#7 by limkamput on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:16 pm
This is precisely what i meant! Just look at this:
“I have too many… Chinese..two timers to to talk about.
Do not add to one more.”
What the heck is this? I know you have your right. But please, we have the right to expect your writing is conventional and understood by others. Anyway it is pointless for you to writing stuff that you alone understand. Good day.
#8 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:25 pm
The pattern of UMNO and BN commentators are always…talking about my lousy english….my limited written Bahasa …my character…when my messages hit them hard and proper.
Some may prick the guilty conscience of these.. two timers…sitting on the fence….in politics.
Yes… they are great sociable people…but in politics…..it is for or against…and it is these two timers…that maybe bad influence to 2 million new voters.
Anwar told malays..take the money from UMNO…but vote for Pakatan Rakyat….and so they did.
I say….expose these two timer Chinese….so that the 2 million will know…who they are.
Mahathir is gone and finished.
Who are the Chinese two timers??
#9 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:49 pm
Are you sure..nobody understand what I am talking about?
Mahathir have a style to challenge or accuse others…to program others to accuse him.
Chinese two timers are MCA and Gerakan supporters..sympathizers…..selfish blokes…voting for personal gains…and few more.
I am saying….some may support change of government now..but deep inside..they hope not.
These are the unreliable Chinese voters….keep to themselves OK…but no…they will try to convince other not to make up their minds…until last moment.
I have see few Gerakan
members…turned against Gerakan…and here comes a so call true malaysian….pledged to vote for change of government…yet support a third force…proposed by Gerakan cunning fella..telling those to keep an open mind….when they have made up to vote against Gerakan….bla bla bla.
What do you call these smart Chinese?
Keep to themselves.and vote secretly for Gerakan…OK. Everyone is free to vote anyone…..but keep playing agree to disagree….third force….and what I have already written above….these two timer Chinese….better try not to be too smart with their sitting on the fence attitudes.
And good day to you too.
#10 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:57 pm
Second sentence should be….” to program others not to accuse him”
Lousy English…forgot the word.. “not”..that is most important in that sentence.
Sori lor.
#11 by limkamput on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 4:57 pm
See, you just can’t accept your own failing. Instead, you tried to justify your stupid way by blaming others. Oh yes, there is an enemy behind every tree. You better be careful. You are just pathetic.
#12 by katdog on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 5:22 pm
It interesting to see that many people don’t believe in increasing salaries of public servants. If you look at Singapore, correctly managing the salary level of your public servants is a KEY ingredient to discouraging corruption.
Of course, this has to be accompanied by strict enforcement and accountability. But still, one of the reasons for Singapore’s low corruption is because their public servants are one of the highest paid in the the world. So, suggesting an increase of the salaries is really pretty logical. Of course whether it is practical is an entirely different matter.
Laying off public servants is probably not a smart option, as the side effects (increased unemployment and unrest) would probably cancel out any benefits that might be gained. The smarter way would be to reduce hiring and encourage early retirement.
#13 by OrangRojak on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 5:28 pm
Leave monsterball alone, limkamput! He is only being elliptical…
#14 by katdog on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 5:31 pm
of course, all this talk is purely rhetoric. As we all know the BN government will continue to hire more and more public servants in order to keep unemployment down. This will in turn lead to a lower salary levels. A bloated civil service with too many workers than work to do and too little pay will become lazy, complacent and unprofessional. And on and on it goes.
#15 by undergrad2 on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 6:37 pm
Poor old Ganesh who is a Form Three student is not even here to respond!
#16 by Onlooker Politics on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 7:06 pm
katdog Says:
Today at 17: 22.20 (17 minutes ago)
“Laying off public servants is probably not a smart option, as the side effects (increased unemployment and unrest) would probably cancel out any benefits that might be gained. The smarter way would be to reduce hiring and encourage early retirement.”
Quite contrary to what Katdog said, Pak Lah’s government has already passed a law amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age of the Government Servants from 56 to 58, effective 1 July 2008. If reducing hiring and encouraging early retirement are deemed to be the smarter way to trim down the government workforce size, then Pak Lah has been doing a disservice to all Malaysians by getting the Parliament to pass the law amendment for a delay in the retirement age.
Most Malaysians like to put blame on the Government Servants when any one of them does really take bribe. However, I have a few walk-in customers who work as the Government Servants telling me that they are quite fed up with their clients because they have been enticed by their clients to take bribe. For instance, one traffic policeman told me that it was his ordinary duty to issue “summon” to the road traffic rule offender but some offenders just preferred that he would not write a “summon” so that he would be offered a “RM50 coffee money” as a token of appreciation. The bribe offer was just too good for him to resist since it had been presented nicely by the offender as a friendly treat in order to thank the policeman for doing the offender a friendly favour so that the fine will be settled by the policeman on behalf of the offender in order to save the offender some valuable time since the offender will no longer be required to go queue up personally in front of a traffic offence counter in the Police Station for settling the fine payment.
Another instance, one engineer who worked in JKR told me that he was fed up with the lobby constantly made by some small contractors because they were willing to pay the bribe as much as RM2,000 even though the contract sum was just as low as RM20,000/=. He was fed up because he found it pitiful for the small contractors due to their having to waste 10% of their possible contract sum in the corruption practice since he was well-prepared in his heart not to lower down his standard in the quality requirement. He would take the 10% anyway in order to keep it as a collateral for performance bond in case the small contractor had to declare bankrupt or to run away without full completion of job delivery. Of course, the 10% money will eventually go into the JKR Engineer’s pocket, not necessarily at the expense of the job quality. However, the 10% money will definitely deprive the JKR Engineer of a good opportunity to enter heaven when he has to pass away in the future. Therefore the JKR Engineer was not quite happy about this performance bond arrangement!
We keep putting blame on the Government Servants for taking bribe. Shall we also do a soul-searching in our heart and see whether we have ever been a collaborator in any corruption practice in the past?
I believe they are still many thousands of the Government Servants who are happy with their present pay and not prepare to take a bribe. However, if we believe in meritocracy, then we must also accept the necessary criterion for successful implementation of meritocracy which stipulates that “a good worker deserves a good pay”.
In the anti-corruption operations, one key position will be the prosecuting officer, who is trained as a legal professional. In other words, the prosecuting officer is a qualified lawyer. If the Government only pays the prosecuting officer a peanut pay, how are we going to expect a high calibre senior lawyer from the private sector to join the Anti-Corruption Agency to take up the job as a deputy public prosecutor (DPP)? Any prospective employee will surely have to weight his/her opportunity costs right before he/she is going to take up a new job offer. If the DPP is not being paid high enough in order to make his/her remuneration consummated to his/her capability and experience, then perhaps we have to satisfactorily live with the facts that the public prosecution department will only be occupied with some second grade lawyers who will have no match to the first grade lawyers like Karpal Singh or Francis Ng Aik Guan.
Most Malaysians are keen to see the Anti-Corruption Agency to get some corruption big heads convicted in our legal court. The conviction will only be made possible with the prerequisite that the DPP positions in Public Prosecution Department have been filled up with some highly qualified lawyers. And I believe a highly qualified lawyer shall not be deliberately underpaid by the Government if the Government is sincere enough to want the Anti-Corruption job duties be duly assumed by some capable and competent men with high integrity!
#17 by A true Malaysian on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 7:07 pm
Get rid of the ‘MACRO ROOT CAUSE’, then those ‘micro root causes’ for corruptions, education, judiciary, abuses….the list goes on, can be ‘kautim’.
Without getting rid of this ‘MACRO ROOT CAUSE’, no point in talking on how to solve these problems.
Coming KT battle is not on Hudud Law, but getting rid of ‘MACRO ROOT CAUSE’.
Depending on which camps you belong to, ‘MACRO ROOT CAUSE’ is different to different people. But, most of us are in the same camp, except one or two. Just ignore this one or two.
#18 by butul on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 7:12 pm
People, please be aware that a whole single family of our tuans can be employed in the civil service while the grand parents are pensioners. That could mean a family income of RM20k per month!
#19 by OrangRojak on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 7:51 pm
It seems to me that your civil servants are not underpaid. I imagine they have employment contracts just like private sector employees and can leave their employer after a notice period. If they are underpaid, all they would have to do is find better paid employment and quit their jobs. If sufficient employees felt strongly that they were underpaid and quit for better rewards, the government would be obliged to increase pay to ensure adequate staffing levels.
If they are in a profession where the government was the only employer in the job market, I could understand some complaint. Presumably ACA officers need only be numerate, able to understand simple rules governing conduct in public life and have a clean record in matters of trust. Such a job would be hotly contested if it paid well! Unless, that is “a clean record in matters of trust” is such a rare commodity in Malaysia.
Perhaps the government could put ACA officers on a commission scheme, or even farm it out to contractors for a ‘bounty’.
#20 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 8:04 pm
limkamput is trying hard to insult me.
That’s good. Let readers just why.
What failing ..is he talking about?
At my age…smoking 10 sticks of cigars .enjoying life with good health…no money problem…what the hell is he talking about?
…
But this is about exposing two timers….monsterball style.
Pricking anyone conscience?
hi…limkamput…everyone can read your messages and mine…1000 times more than yours…all over so many blogs…for years..and are smart enough to judge me well.
Please tell..how not to be a failure…limkamput.
Teach something…just don’t judge and talk nonsense.
#21 by vsp on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 8:46 pm
Corruption spreads fast because the top level of society is corrupt. When the head is sick, eventually all members of the body will be affected.
I would suggest one cure: PAS’s hudud can be good. But this hudud must be modified to apply only to the top level of society, i.e. politicians, heads of departments, top businessmen, top law enforcement officers, etc. It must be color-blind: no matter if you are a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist or an atheist, once you are involved in corruption your hands will be chopped off.
Hudud must not be applied to the lower rungs of society. Let the normal law deal with it. Put the fear into the head and you will save the body.
I think this will extinguish all the rhetorics and politics of Hudud. If PAS is smart champion Hudud only for the head (not Muslims only but all) Leave the body to the other types of medicine and see the result.
#22 by jus legitimum on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 10:53 pm
No need to give them higher pay as their gross salary is more than 2500 ringgit and many graduates and professionals in the private sector do not earn that much.As long as they are not greedy and know how to manage their income and expenditure then of course they should not grouse about low pay.However the civil servants are composed mainly of Malays who are unlike Chinese and other races are reluctant to practise family planning.I have seen young Malay couples are already burdening themselves with 6 or more kids and that is quite rare among non Malays.Probably they have foolishly responded to the call of a targeted 70 million population made by Mamaktir.
#23 by limkamput on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 10:58 pm
Monsterball … there is no need to “howlian”. Those who are rich will not say they are. … Your failing is you are not teachable. By the way, failing is different from failure. I am not trying to teach you. You will never know the nuances.
#24 by vsp on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 11:20 pm
jus legitimum:
No need to give them higher pay as their gross salary is more than 2500 ringgit and many graduates and professionals in the private sector do not earn that much
——-
Aiyah, it’s not the money lah. Take care of the heads first. Hududed them if their hands are not clean and automatically everything will take care of itself.
#25 by monsterball on Monday, 29 December 2008 - 11:20 pm
When we are united as Malaysians…then we can talk of all the good religious laws.
Hudud law as clearly explained by RPK….protects the victim…not the accuser.
This that not a good law?
UMNO is victimizing the innocent with no laws.
Yet both PAS and UMNO…keep championing themselves as the protector of Islamic faith and keep using the Islam religion…to win votes.
For sure…PAS is more sincere than UMNO.
But the years of promoting Islamic faith…to th extreme in politics by these two…have created nothing but….contented …unproductive Muslims….leaving their fate to Allah,to God’s will and to UMNO or PAS..whoever they belong to .as members.
Vote for country and people are totally nonsense…as according to their controlled minds. No need to think at all.
Like I said…..PAS is much more sincere….but just look at UMNO.
So clear..totally hypocrites and using Islam to arrest whom they do not like…also using Islam..to protect the guilty corrupted ones.
One moment….promote the middle road Islamic doctrine….next moment apply the oldest Islamic law…where swearing by the Koran…you have proven to be innocent…no need to go to court at all.
Yes UMNO have used the religion to the fullest..to win votes…to jail people and to protect ….even a suspected murderer.
UMNO have even proven to be above Allah…by using ISA…on innocent people.
Islam religion is messed up by UMNO…with help from PAS too.
Therefore…as all Malaysians love to be broad minded and accepts good Islamic laws…nevertheless….it is quite impossible now..with dirty religious politics played by UMNO.
As such…no matter how sincere….how good.PAS maybe now….they will not get the support….particularly from DAP…as they need to prove.. good governance in Kelantan….winning UMNO members..with good results….different from before….methods. PAS need to contribute to contribute to the Malaysian Malaysian objective sincerely……not always promoting Islamic laws…to win votes and indirectly…is still .. a racialist party…..impossible to contribute to a united Malaysian Malaysia.
So all Islamic laws..sure to be gunned down by DAP…who are welknown to be..no nonsense Malaysian politicians.
PAS seems to enjoy getting Karpal Singh angry……I wonder why.
#26 by ringthetill on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 5:07 am
You get what you pay for. A graduate back in 1980 started earning slight more than RM1000. Now, 28 years later, starting pay is only 50% more whereas cost of living has gone 300% (simple comparison of a piece of roti cani then and now).
So, tell me, has the standard and quality of life improved, as what the government had wanted us to believe?
#27 by taiking on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 8:54 am
Corruption = Malaysia.
So conversely,
Malaysia = Corruption.
But,
Malaysia = Umno.
So should it be,
Corruption = Malaysia = Umno
Or maybe,
Umno = Malaysia = Corruption.
No No No.
Its,
Malaysia = Umno = Corruption
Err, what the heck. In short
Corruption = Umno
Huh!!
Oh yeh. How come I did not realise this.
See. Any which way one looks at the issue, somehow umno is in the picture.
Ahh the whole thing now seems that much clearer.
No wonder corruption is bad in the country.
Its badder than bad. Its organised corruption on par with organised crime.
Or mathematically,
Organised corruption = Organised crime.
#28 by monsterball on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 9:45 am
Like I said…..productivity with right attitudes….very low in Malaysia.
A lot of youngsters work for awhile…learn something and resign..applying for another job with RM50 better salary…..on and on…that if you look at the history of the past jobs…you will laugh and feel sorry for these youngsters..no productivity…no loyalty..but selling themselves to the highest bidders…with no shame..no sense of proportion…that…from a RM800 per month job.. to RM 1500 in 2 years..working for 6 companies..now applying for..RM1700 is not success at all!!
That’s digging their own grave….to be useless worker and need to retire young…..or get a low paid job…….to start all over again…at age 40.
That’s commercial firms experiences.
Government….enough is said.
Why are so many Malaysians be like that?
Easy to understand.
When you have an insincere corrupted government…and keep performing like actors….some youngsters are actually thinking….how to con bosses…talk sweet …no results to succeed too!!
Yes…teachers and government must be changed…if we want to advance.
Malaysia …so rich..so blessed by Allah…end is near..if we don’t wake up the the truths…and vote UMNO out.
#29 by pakmang on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 10:44 am
The ACA has to work extremely hard to prevent corruption so that our nation will be really rich but not the individuals-corrupted politicians. The benefits would distribute and share among our citizens and we will be equally or even weathier than Singaporeans.
#30 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 11:06 am
monsterball Says:
Yesterday at 20: 04.05
limkamput is trying hard to insult me..”
You don’t know Limkaput as well as old timers here do! That’s the only way he could feel good about himself.
#31 by ahseng83 on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 12:18 pm
Why don’t PKR engage Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew from Singapore to be a political advisor here if they somehow manage to lay UMNO to rest 6 feet under? He’s a genius.. Malaysia’s current ministers and even the top one siting there sleeping all day long has a lot ( i mean damn lot) to learn from him. Malaysia is supposed to be damn much richer than singapore. Why is it that we’re still int he 3rd world when they’ve already achived the first world dtatus. Something is very wrong somewhere… I wonder where all the $$ goes…
#32 by ahseng83 on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 12:21 pm
For all of your information, the PM of Singapore’s salary is the highest in the world!! 10 times more then the President of the U.S get!!
#33 by monsterball on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 - 7:56 pm
Thanks undergrade2.
Many mother hen can give me all their unwanted chicks….including limkamput.
I will raise them with loving kindness.
But if one falls for me again..I got to check….if I have room for one more….hahahahahahagha
#34 by veddy.lum74 on Wednesday, 31 December 2008 - 9:53 am
uncle kit,you are too humble,not some,it’s most of the gomen officers become corrupt!
infact,the police are enjoying lots of allowances,after adding it,a constable income is approximately rm2000!(much better than factory workers!),nevertheless,because of their greed in owning better lifestyles,they normally borrow quite a number of personal loans from Bank Rakyat and lots of Koperasi,jusy like ‘along’ kaki,borrow new ones to cover the previous loans…………….so when the debts are high,they will normally practising high level of corruptions!
to tell you the truth,there were so many police,bomba,army,dbkl,even teachers,their net take home pay is less than rm600!
Believe it or not,it’s amasing isnt it?
#35 by ekans on Thursday, 1 January 2009 - 1:26 am
This Malaysia-Singapore comparison is interesting. On several occasions, I had travelled by bus to & from Singapore via the 2nd Link and had noticed the following…
At the Gelang Patah CIQ, there would be 3 or 4 pegawai imigresen manning the passport counters and there would also be several of their colleagues hanging around chit-chatting, joking and reading newspapers.
At the Tuas immigration checkpoint, there would also be 3 or 4 Singaporean ICA officers manning the passport counters, and it’s just only them with a senior officer supervising them.
Hmmm…
I had the opportunity to stay with a close relative who holds a PR there, in a HDB flat where I noticed that there are no household pests like cockroaches, lizards and even mosquitoes, no stench of rubbish (they’re disposed through a chute into a closed dumpster on the ground floor which is emptied on schedule), and there’s no need for security guards. Next to the mailboxes on the ground floor, there is a notice board which lists the photo and phone number belonging to every member of the town council the flat is located in, so that a tenant will know who to look for, should there be a complaint.
Hmmm…
#36 by sukumaran on Friday, 2 January 2009 - 10:27 am
no one forced this people to work for government.
Gaji tak cukup.Kerja sendiri atau kerja swasta.
You Choose your way right?