The government must conduct a comprehensive study into the critical allowance for civil servants which is still unresolved.

Chief Secretary to the Government Ismail Bakar (above) said the government has still not received any feedback from any party on whether a proposal paper on the matter had been submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

"The government is still looking at the latest development and will study the allowances given to all civil servants whether they are firemen, health personnel, teachers, police, armed forces and others,” he told reporters at a press conference held after his visit to the Kepala Batas Community College today.

He added that the proposal paper must be sent to Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

"I have not heard anything official about the proposal paper being submitted, but as far as I know, it must first be referred to Zuraida," he said.

On July 20, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Al-Mustafa Billah Shah expressed his concern for the welfare of firemen including the critical allowance of RM200 a month.

According to Zuraida, she was still waiting for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision on a special allowance incentive which would benefit up to 14,000 firefighters throughout the country.

On a separate development, Ismail said the flexible hours which will be implemented from next Thursday, Aug 1, will show if it was more efficient for civil servants working from 9am until 5pm.

“The flexible hours is not a new thing but was implemented 10 years ago. We want to see how effective it is,” he said.

He added that the government will make an assessment subject to requests from every group of the civil service.

“We will study every feedback received to see if they accept flexible hours from 9am till 5pm.

The flexible working hours introduced by the government benefit civil servants including avoiding traffic congestion, and giving them time to send their children to school and nurseries,” he said.

- Bernama