MB to Azmin: Take it or leave it!
Khalid said Azmin could donate the additional amount of his salary to charity if he was not happy.
(The Posto) – Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has defended the considerable pay increase for state assemblypersons and brushed off Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyperson Azmin Ali’s suggestion to delay it.
Speaking to reporters in Shah Alam today, Khalid said the state legislative assembly has approved the salary hike and the decision is final.
Khalid said Azmin could donate the additional amount of his salary to charity if he was not happy.
“He may not want to receive the salary. That’s the right of the individual. If (he) doesn’t want to take it, (he) can leave it,” Khalid said.
He also disagreed with parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that the increase was “quite high”.
“It’s not quite high. We do not raise the salary unneccesarily. In fact, the salary in Malaysia is quite low,” Khalid said, adding that it was low compared with what Sarawak pays its lawmakers.
Azmin, who is also Gombak MP, told reporters at the Parliament lobby today that the pay increase should be shelved because there was no prior consultation.
He said that the amount was “too high” and thus a review would be a “smart” move.
Azmin said that the Selangor Pakatan backbenchers, of whom he is the chairperson, were not consulted on the matter.
“This is about the taxpayers’ money, and the concept of Pakatan Rakyat to always have dialogues. We should have more discussions on this matter,” Azmin said.
He also said that Khalid had only said on Nov 19 that pay hikes would be reviewed, but felt it was “too soon” for such a review be done and then be tabled in the state assembly sitting.
He however admitted that he had met Khalid personally to express his opinions.
“I did not have the opportunity so far,” he said.
Azmin however denied that his statement was a form of attack on Khalid’s administration, just a month after the backbenchers led by him sent a memorandum to the latter over state budget allocations.
“We are not attacking Khalid,” he said, while denying that the backbenchers had lobbied Khalid to raise the pay of assemblypersons.
“We never made such a demand before. Our memorandum has nothing about personal interests,” Azmin claimed.
The salary hike for elected representatives of Selangor is meant to stop the lawmakers making extra income, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said today
“This income (hike) is suitable for the people’s representatives and state executive councillors as they will no longer need to find extra income from outside. This has happened (before),” Khalid told the media at the state assembly complex today.
He said some of the federal ministers too could be looking for extra incomes to sustain their political work.
“Though they get the salary of a minister (besides the MP’s or senator’s allowance), they sometimes may need to get extra income (duit dari luar), to pay for their work,” he said.
“So, this has been difficult for us as well.”
Khalid defended the remuneration increment as “not high” and “reasonable”, if compared with wages in the private sector.
He said the state government has taken into consideration objections from the rakyat on this matter.
It therefore chose the salary of the Sarawak assemblyperson as a basis and worked out a 30 percent lesser rate on the new salary for the Selangor assemblypersons.
Though both states have financial reserves, Khalid said, Selangor was bigger than Sarawak in terms of economic performance.
Khalid added that the media has been treating Selangor unfairly over the matter and blowing the issue out of proportion, despite the fact that everything was above board and done in a transparent manner.
He said that in contrast, the media had remained relatively silent about the dramatic pay increase of Sarawak’s state legislative assembly members.
