The government should appreciate civil servants who had rejected bribes by giving them a more permanent reward like a promotion and not in the form of cash, Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Omar Osman said.

He also proposed that the reward be given based on the value of the bribe offered by the bribe-givers.

"Cuepacs would agree if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) wants to reward civil servants who reject or had taken action against bribe-givers. However, let's not give the reward in the form of cash, but in the form of promotion instead.

"If the bribe rejected by the officer had a value of RM300,000, it shows that the officer has a very high integrity and he should be considered for promotion," he told reporters after closing the triennial general assembly of Kelantan Technical Service Union in Kota Bharu today.

Omar was commenting on MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed's statement on Friday that the MACC was planning to reward civil servants who take action against bribe-givers.

Omar said the act of rejecting the bribe also proved the individual's fine values and attitude which should be taken into consideration by the department in promoting its staff.

However, he said promotion was just a suggestion as other rewards would depend on the mechanism stipulated by the MACC.

In another development, Omar said Cuepacs also called on the Public Service Department to speed up the approval for a new salary scheme for technicians who numbered 45,000 nationwide.

He said the new scheme was vital as the technicians comprised professionals with specific knowledge in the technical area.

"It is also aimed at improving their productivity because their salary scheme had not been reviewed for the past 19 years," he added.

- Bernama