All abuzz over salary hike
I was under the impression that the Opposition was more interested in putting more money into the rakyat’s wallet than their own. Then came the salary increase for assemblymen in Selangor.
My perception of Opposition politicians is that they are a bunch of frugal people who take buses, fly economy class and stay in three-star hotels when they go out of town for a ceramah. That’s the impression I got when I read some of their tweets. Moreover, whenever I attended their ceramah, they were always asking for donations.
Philip Golingai, The Star
If I was given the opportunity to have my salary increased to RM11,250, I would – in the blink of an eye – shout “sokong” (support).
That, according to a report in The Star, will put me (and anyone earning above RM10,000 a month) among the top 4% of Malaysian households and I would have reached the highest 26% tax bracket. That would put me in the same group as the country’s CEOs, millionaires and billionaires.
Unfortunately, I’m not a Selangor assemblyman.
Last Wednesday, Selangor YBs (Yang Berhomat) approved a salary increase that saw the Mentri Besar earning RM29,250 a month from RM14,175 while an assemblyman’s pay rose from RM6,000 to RM11,250 a month.
My first thought on the issue is that the salaries of assemblymen (except those in the Sarawak assembly) and MPs are too low. A few years ago, I was shocked to discover that an MP’s basic salary was RM6,508.59. (With allowances, an MP’s salary come up to about RM13,000, including the allowance to hire a driver.)
If you are an elected representative of a semi-urban constituency like Penampang, RM6,508.59 is not enough to pay for a wedding, funeral, baby’s first month of life celebration ang pows and “emergencies” your constituents encounter. In Penampang, which is my parliamentary constituency in Sabah, a YB is expected to attend all these events, otherwise he’ll be branded “sombong” (proud).
With that in mind, I’m supportive of a pay hike for elected representative.
That’s why I was not too excited when Sarawak assemblymen voted in May to increase their salary from RM4,500 to RM15,000.
Still, the Selangor move came as a big surprise.
My perception of Opposition politicians is that they are a bunch of frugal people who take buses, fly economy class and stay in three-star hotels when they go out of town for a ceramah. That’s the impression I got when I read some of their tweets. Moreover, whenever I attended their ceramah, they were always asking for donations.
To be fair, there are Opposition politicians who are into luxury such as those who Instagrammed themselves on board of a private jet for a frog hunting expedition in Sabah and Sarawak before GE13.
In general, except for the ultra-rich Opposition politicians who smoke RM300 cigars as one would with keretek cigarettes, I thought the Opposition was more interested in putting more money into the rakyat’s wallet than their own.
It was also a big surprise because I always thought that the Opposition was against salary hikes for elected representatives. Perhaps I had this false impression when the Barisan Nasional government had to withdraw its proposal to increase MPs’ salaries and allowances in October 2011.
The then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said he had to withdraw his proposal in Budget 2012 after it was shot down by Opposition bigwigs like PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub.
In his typical sarcasm, Nazri said the Opposition leaders should be considerate to their junior MPs who were not as financially independent as them.
“Anwar, Azmin, Lim Guan Eng are wealthy men, but they are not taking into consideration their junior MPs who are struggling to pour petrol to visit their areas,” he said.
This flip-flop is best summarised by Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s tweet. On Thursday, @mpkotabelud tweeted: “Mdm Speaker, point is your own MPs criticising BN in parliament for proposing the same idea. The stench of hypocrisy is nauseating.”
His tweet was in reference to the rather “defensive” tweets by Selangor Speaker Hannah Yeoh a day after the salary hike (including hers which was increased from RM6,109.29 to RM22,500).
It was quite funny to see a rather uncommon situation on Twitter where the Opposition was in the defence. My favourite tweet was from Stephen Doss. @stephendoss tweeted: “was raising the salaries of PR assemblymen one of the promises in its election manifesto presented before GE13?”
Interestingly, I’m not sure whether it was the spillover of the Team Azmin vs Team Khalid fight, when Azmin told Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to reduce the salary hike to a more reasonable quantum.
“We do not reject the need for a salary increase, but what was decided on is too high,” said Azmin, who is Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Backbenchers Club chairman. A poll survey conducted by The Star Online revealed that most respondents echoed Azmin’s opinion.
It asked people if the salary should be increased and 44% of the 726 respondents said “it should be but at a reasonable quantum”.
This was followed by 18.7% who claimed “the representatives were already getting paid enough” while 18.6% said, “yes they deserve every cent they get”.
The remaining 18.1% said, “the pay did not matter as long as the representatives carried out the tasks assigned to them”.
The Star Online also received about 215 mostly intelligent comments.
My favourite is: “They are there to serve the people. While you do not muzzle the oxen’s mouth, you should not allow it to guzzle the owner’s (rakyat’s) corn either.”
