A Sarawak trade unionist has described the 2006 Budget unveiled in Parliament yesterday as a 'business-friendly' budget as it ignores the majority of Malaysia's workers, who are in the private sector.

"The only good thing is it takes care of the 1.2 million workers in the government sector but not 85 per cent of the country's workforce who are in the private sector," said Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak division secretary Andrew Lo (right).

When Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced bonuses and cost of living allowances for government employees yesterday, it disappointed trade and labour unions when he did not address the majority of private sector employees.

Among earlier expectations were greater personal tax relief for individuals and companies, in view of the impending Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation.

Lo said private sector employees too had to cope with rising costs of living and increase prices of goods and services.

'For example, when I was having lunch at a Green Road coffeeshop in Kuching today a can of Coca Cola had gone up by about 13 per cent from RM1.50 to RM1.80. There is just one example. There are many such examples. There is no escape for everyone.'

No consultation

Lo said even trade unions or workers organisations were not often consulted during pre-Budget dialogue sessions. Only the views of the employers were given weight.

He cited as the latest example the case of the workers of Sarawak in relation to the implementation of the amended Sarawak Labour Ordinance which comes into effect today.

According to Lo, the government had bowed to the wishes of employers, allegedly backed by the Sarawak government, and lowered the wage ceiling rate for overtime entitlements and other benefits from RM2500 to RM2000.

"While the Human Resources Minister Fong Chang Onn has the power to make changes but he has to give justification for such a decision," he added..

Since the cost of living is higher in Sarawak, Lo said that if the ceiling rate in Peninsular Malaysia was raised from RM1500 to RM2000, the rate for Sarawakian workers should be RM2500.

Prior to the implementation of Sarawak's amended labour laws, several trade organisations had lobbied the Sarawak government to make certain changes to the amended labour laws for the state on grounds that if employers had to pay for higher allowances it would make Sarawak less competitive to investors.

"We wrote to the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and the Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn because we wanted to make out our own case, but they did not even respond to us," Lo said.

RM200... that's all?

A government pensioner, who requested anonymity, said that in spite of the one-time RM200 special payment that Abdullah announced for pensioners he was disappointed that therec was no new pension formula or an increase in pension.

"By that special payment, he wants to show he has not forgotten pensioners, but what we need is an increase in pension for the vast majority of pensioners who retired many years ago and can hardly cope with today's rising cost of living," he added.

On the need for a new pension formula, he said when he retired in 1982 from the police force he received a pension of RM800 calculated on the basis of maximum 25 years of service, even though he had served the force for 34 years and should be receiving a pension of RM1200 instead.

'Lost cause'

A Unimas senior academic told malaysiakini that the large allocation for education and training was pointless when the issue of meritocracy is ignored.

He also questioned the huge allocation to assist Bumiputeras to acquire commercial property in urban centres.

"This suggest that the New Economic Policy has not succeeded. They should examine the cause of this problem instead of throwing such large sums of money after what may well be a continuing lost cause," he added.

Meanwhile, Consumers Assocation of Sabah and Labuan president Patrick Sindu, when contacted said the government's announcement that thousands of new law enforcement personnel would be futile and counter-productive if the issue of corruption is not fully addressed.

"There will only be more corruption," he said, adding that the best way to address the problem of enforcement is for the government to be truly transparent.

It was unvield yesterday that Sarawak would be receiving RM2 billion for rural infrastructure and utilities development.