Goodies for civil servants

The goodies are starting to be distributed! This could only mean one thing...elections must be very near indeed! From The Star today:

Government servants deserve pay rise, says Pak Lah

Tue 8 May 2007
By SHAHANAAZ SHER HABIB and V.P. SUJATA

KUALA LUMPUR: All government servants will get a pay rise “because they deserve it,” said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“That’s how we all feel about it,” said the Prime Minister.

He added that it had been a long time since government servants had received a pay increase.

(for rest of article, click here)

This when barely 5 months ago the government was coy about CUEPACS' request.

As with most other pronoucements by the PM, details are lacking. No details on quantum of the raise are forthcoming. CUEPACS have requested for a raise between 10%-40%. Considering the general elections is going to be called before end of the year (Uncle Kit is even suggesting a date before Aug 31 07!), my gut feeling is that the request would be fulfilled.

Personally I don't mind our civil servants getting a more decent pay. The people at the lowest end of the pay scale really are living on pittance. I've known low ranking civil servants who was getting pittance jumping into similar roles (something of the level of clerks or general workers) in the private sector and getting almost double. One cannot expect people, especially those with a family, to realistically live on that kind of low pay anymore. What more with the increasing cost of living in urban areas such as the Klang Valley, thanks to the not too recent increase in prices of utilities, tolls, and fuel. Whatever people may say, monetary compensation is still a key motivation for most workers. If people do not feel they're adequately compensated for the job they do, you can't really expect them to be motivated and be as efficient as we expect them to be. Taking out the cases of blacksheeps, civil servants are human just like you and me, and a more adequate monetary compensation, especially for those on the lower scale, would be a good motivation.

Some will argue that our civil servants are already getting too much for the little work they do and their inefficiency. I believe this is a chicken and egg issue. If people see that there are rewards in doing their job, they will naturally do it. And adequate monetary compensation is one form of reward which motivates most people. Of course, the way the civil servants are reviewed, promoted, punished should also be reviewed to be more inline with the norms of the private sector. But that must be matched with a more reasonable pay structure. Otherwise one could potentially see a further degradation in service levels where civil servants feel victimized and are further demotivated.

Jeff Ooi had a post on this not too long ago when CUEPACS first raised the issue of pay increment for civil servants where he mentioned a couple more reasons for an increase.

Anyway, as a parting shot and something unrelated to the need to ensure our low ranking civil servants are not forced to live below the poverty line and having to do two jobs, it has been more than a year since the grandiose announcement of the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP), yet nothing seem to be happening. Contractors are questioning where the supposed projects are, and it was bad enough that RM600mil has to be given out to umno divisions during the 2006 umno general assembly just to keep them quiet. Moving on closer to the general elections, take note of more feel-good inducing goodies being dished out. Civil servants seem to be the first in the queue getting such goodies. I wonder who will be next, and what they will get.