Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said today the government consulted Cuepacs when drawing up the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).   

He told the Dewan Rakyat that the government held the consultation with the Cuepacs representatives through the three national joint councils which convene at least three times a year.

“Unscheduled meetings were also held between government top officers and members of the Cuepacs executive council. The government also received a memorandum from Cuepacs on its specific claims which were considered in drawing up the SBPA.

“Throughout 2011, 13 major meetings were held with Cuepacs, including the meetings with the national joint councils, briefings were held for members of the Cuepacs supreme council and a series of meetings were held with Cuepacs, resulting in the memorandum of understanding on the SBPA implementation signed between the Public Services Department and Cuepacs on Dec 28, 2011,” he said.

Najib was replying to a question from Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Permatang Pauh) who had wanted to know why Cuepacs was not consulted on the SBPA and what the government’s stand was on Cuepacs’ claims.

There was a stir when Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), in raising a supplementary question, asked about the status of 36 people in the Premier Group who, he claimed, had enjoyed salaries and pensions under the SBPA since Jan 1.

Najib, by way of a reply, said: “It seems that the honourable member wants to be champion of these 36 people. Our government wants to be the champion of the 1.4 million civil servants.”

The prime minister’s reply prompted Mahfuz and several other opposition Mps, including Ahmad Kasim (PKR-Kuala Kedah) and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) to express their dissatisfaction.  

The war of words only stopped after Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia intervened and said any minister can answer the question or choose not to.

Last Friday, Bernama learned from a Public Services Department source that the department is scheduled to meet this week to come up with a suitable mechanism to resolve the issue of civil servants and pensioners who had been paid in accordance with the SBPA.

On March 8, Najib announced the cancellation of the SBPA and retention of the Malaysia Remuneration System (SSM) with improvements.

- Bernama