Special Aidilfitri payment was promise by previous government not Pakatan government

(NST) – The RM1,500 special Aidilfitri payment for civil servants promised by the previous government was merely an announcement that was not part of an allocation under 2018 Budget.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that the matter needs to be validated by the Accountant-General’s Department, whereby its related 2017 circular letter number five has been cancelled and replaced with 2018 circular letter number one.

“Accountant-General Datuk Saat Esa also confirmed that the allocation for the special Aidilfitri payment, as announced by former prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) in 2018 Budget on Oct 27 last year, need to be approved as a Supplementary Supply Bill 2018.

“Therefore, Finance Minister’s (Lim Guan Eng) recent statement that there is a need for additional allocation or Supplementary Supply Bill, for special Aidilfitri payment to civil servants and pensioners, to be passed during Parliamentary sitting in July, is most accurate.

“This is because even though the special payment was mentioned in the 2018 Budget speech, it was merely an announcement because it was not provided in the allocation for 2018 Budget,” it said in a statement today.

MOF added that on May 30, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that Aidilfitri Special Payments of RM400 were approved for civil servants at Grade 41 and below while RM200 in such payments were approved for retirees.

“Therefore, the Finance Minister have said that the government would seek for additional allocation to finance the said spending needs in the upcoming Parliamentary sitting.

“However, there are those who believe that the additional allocation were provided in 2018 Budget because the then prime minister (Najib) had announced the RM1,500 special payment to all civil servants during the speech while unveiling the 2018 Budget.

“However in reality, the allocation for the announced payment was not provided in 2018 Budget,” it said.