KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — The statement by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang regarding pensions for civil servants is misleading, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
Nazmi, who is also the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister, said Hadi’s claim of the Federal government reducing or stopping the pension is flawed as the proposal to review the remuneration of civil servants does not affect existing employees.
“The fact is, the government proposes to review the remuneration of all existing civil servants and explore options for hiring new civil servants with a new retirement scheme, such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), replacing the existing pension scheme.
“As a person with religious knowledge, Hadi should not make ignorant statements that do not accurately represent the Federal government’s proposal,” he said in a statement today.
On January 24, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the status of existing civil servant pensions would continue as ‘permanent and pensionable,’ with only new employees being involved in the new policy.
The details will be announced later by the Public Service Department’s director-general.
Nazmi added that Hadi also tried to portray EPF contributions as being unIslamic, whereas EPF is also a retirement fund with a Syariah-compliant savings option.
“The Syariah-compliant savings are managed and invested according to Syariah principles. To ensure Syariah compliance, a Syariah governance framework is established to govern the compliance aspects for contributors’ savings,” he said.
The proposal to replace the pension system with EPF contributions was also announced by the Kelantan state government agency Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) in 2022.
“So why is it that when YIK announced this proposal, there was no objection from PAS if it alleges that EPF is not Islamic or does not follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad SAW?” Nazmi asked.
He said PAS ought to have the moral responsibility to ensure teachers’ welfare in its Islamic daycare centres (Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam or Pasti), which are PAS-owned and established over 30 years ago, taking into account claims that its teachers do not have a retirement plan, including EPF, besides being paid below the RM1,500 minimum wage.
— Bernama
