KUCHING: Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, former Works Minister under the previous government, said he is not surprised by Putrajaya’s decision to abolish the critical service allowance for 33 sectors in the civil service.
He described the decision as part of the PH government’s ‘misguided’ policies in cost-cutting measures.
He said the decision, which has angered the medical fraternity in the public sector, was clearly made without proper studies done to ensure fairness.
Fadillah, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) senior vice president, said that a similar ‘misguided decision’ was seen in the proposal to buy over tolled highways despite costing billions of public funds.
“There is clearly a disconnect between the government’s self-styled financial prudence and the importance of the welfare of Malaysians,” he said.
He said that the government failed to prioritise which sectors should take the impact of ‘budget cuts’.
Fadillah said the decision called into question Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s repeated claims that government coffers were improving despite the abolition of the goods and services tax.
“It is time the government come clean about its financial health, or else it will be exposed again by decisions such as this one,” he said.
