COMMENT | PM raising civil servant pay is brave, laudable but…

COMMENT | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s brave move to raise civil service salaries by at least 13 percent come December is laudable.

However, he needs to clearly show how the sum of at least RM10 billion yearly needed to finance this can be raised without straining tight government finances.

If he can do that, and show that he can make this a reality without endangering the country, then it is a move which will be welcomed not only by the civil service but by the public at large.

That must be the focus going forward, based on what he has said previously. In January 2023, barely a couple of months after becoming the 10th prime minister, he warned civil servants that the national debt was RM1.2 trillion, rising to RM1.5 trillion if contingencies were included.

“The reality is that the economic situation has not subsided. It is still gloomy and this has ties to international and global developments such as the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 post-pandemic,“ he said...