PUTRAJAYA: Health minister Dzulkelfy Ahmad has called for MPs from both sides of the divide to raise the issue of contract appointments for new civil servants without pensions when the Dewan Rakyat convenes next month.
He said the government will attend to the issue then.
“We will debate this in the Dewan (Rakyat). The minister has to answer.
“Both government backbenchers and opposition MP can raise the matter at the lower house as part of check and balance ,” he told reporters after delivering his New Year’s address at the ministry here today.
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The Melaka exco also said that it was not right that MPs continue to receive pensions when the scheme is being abolished for civil servants.
On Wednesday, deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the contract appointments are only a temporary measure before the Cabinet approves a new policy for permanent appointments without pensions.
He said this was to lighten the government’s burden in the payment of pensions, which will amount to RM120 billion by 2040 if a new system is not available by then.
Meanwhile, Dzulkefly said that anybody is free to voice proposals on the matter.
“Anyone has the right to make recommendations. Don’t take (contract appointments without pensions) as a negative,” he said.
In other developments, Dzulkefly also said that the appointments of medical graduates as housemen at public hospitals is better than before.
“In the past, one would have to wait up to two years, but now it is only two months,” he said.
Previously, Malaysia Medics International had urged the government to expedite the process of appointing housemen following a report on the shortage in some health facilities.
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