How much is the pay to that MP in the Dewan ? At least RM25,700 per month each

Here’s a look at the pay and allowances our elected reps get, and it’s a pretty sweet deal.

I AM writing this week’s column on Monday, a public holiday, courtesy of our newest Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

We can thank YAB for it but let this be his last “playing to the gallery” crowd-pleasing act. It was a nice but unnecessary gesture. In fact, it was more disruptive, especially to businesses and schools, than helpful. 

Not everyone’s happy with sudden public holidays

Instead, what we need from Anwar and his government is hard evidence that they will be able to effect changes that can finally bring about Malaysia Baru. And it starts with how he assembles his Cabinet which he assures us will be lean and mean. But we also want ministers who are people of calibre, intelligent, efficient and with integrity.

On that, everyone – from politicians, commentators, academics and NGOs to retired civil servants and the public – has his or her take on it. Whether Anwar has had the time to watch or read the deluge of advice, suggestions and even veiled threats is something else. He’s keeping it very close to his chest; we don’t even know who his closest and most trusted advisers are.

Anyway, Aunty here will refrain from joining the “can I advise you something” cluster. Instead, inspired by Anwar’s promise to cut his and his minister’s salaries and allowances, I will take a look at how much our elected representatives are worth in terms of pay and allowances.

This is an issue that’s been close to my heart ever since I wrote a feature article published in The Star on March 31, 1989, in which I compared the rewards given to politicians versus civil servants.

Politicians were not entitled to pensions or gratuities until the passing of the Administration and Members of Parliament (Pensions and Gratuities) Act 1971.

That Act was repealed and replaced by the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980 [Act 237] which provides for pensions, gratuities, benefits and allowances.

Various people, including MP for Muar and former Youth and Sports minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, have raised the issue of pension entitlements and allowances for assemblymen, MPs and ministers, which Syed Saddiq claimed could exceed RM100,000 per month for some.

Both MPs and state assemblymen (adun) are paid salaries and enjoy many allowances and benefits. There is an even longer list of rewards for the PM, DPM and Cabinet ministers but due to space constraints, I will focus on what serving MPs get.

Now, there is no denying our elected representatives have a lot of work to do and they should be rewarded accordingly. But are they being over-compensated? What are these benefits and allowances?

You can find them in Statute Paper 235 of 1983 on the Official Portal of Parliament of Malaysia (bit.ly/malaysia_mp).

First off, an MP’s monthly salary is RM16,000. He/she also has a phone allowance of RM900 and a fixed travelling allowance of RM1,500 a month without the need to submit any claims.

An MP is also eligible to receive RM400 a day for attending Parliament and RM300 a day for official meetings, workshops, briefings, seminars, etc; a daily subsistence allowance of RM100 while on official duty within the country or RM170 outside Malaysia; food allowance of RM340 for every night spent outside the country; hotel charges of not more than RM400 a night, if the fixed allowance is not enough to cover all these claims.

There is also a “special payment” of RM1,500 a month for MPs who are not a member of the administration as defined under Clause (2) of Article 160 of the Federal Constitution, meaning he is not a minister, deputy minister, parliamentary secretary or political secretary.

If they travel by air on official business, they are entitled to business class seats and every month they get allowances for fuel (RM1, 500), toll (RM300) and entertainment (RM2,500).

They get a driver’s allowance of RM1,500 even if they don’t hire one, so they get paid for driving themselves. Extra benefits include getting a motor vehicle licence or a firearm permit FOC.

There are many other benefits like allowances for medical care, warm clothing, ceremonial and black tie attire; and loans for cars, housing and computers. All in, our MPs are pretty well looked after.

The above salary and allowances, which amount to at least RM25,700, while not really exorbitant, is still a very high income for most Malaysians. What’s more, MPs, after completing 36 months of reckonable service, get a pension after they turn 50.

That’s why it’s important we elect worthy persons to represent us in Parliament and state assemblies because we are their pay masters.

Besides, they are not expected to fork out any of this money to help their constituents. That’s where development funds and grants come in.

However, under both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan governments, whoever was in power discriminated against those in the Opposition in how funds for MPs were allocated.

In 2020, Pakatan government MPs reportedly received RM2mil for development, such as facilities for the community, another RM1.5mil for grants and donations, and RM300,000 to run their service centres. Sabahan and Sarawakian MPs got an extra RM500,000. Opposition MPs got a mere RM100,000 as development funds.

This is patently unfair. Citizens should not be punished for voting for who they want to represent them. Years ago, there were photos of roads being nicely paved in a Barisan constituency that ended right at the border of an Opposition-held seat.

That’s why there have been calls, including from Bersih chief Thomas Fann, that there should be equal constituency development funding. This can be institutionalised by new legislation to ensure the allocation of funds is dispensed by Parliament and not at the discretion of the Prime Minister’s Office.

One of the conditions of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government’s memorandum of understanding with Pakatan, signed in Sept 2021, was equal funding for all MPs. That should be still honoured and implemented under Anwar’s government.

If that is in place, we can judge how fairly, responsibly and with full accountability our MPs spend these precious funds for the betterment of their constituencies.

They must also show their attendance record, what they have raised or spoken on in the Dewan Rakyat. We can do that by making it mandatory for MPs and assemblymen to publish their report cards just before the annual Budget session in Parliament.

From my years as a journalist covering Parliament meetings, many MPs are seat warmers who hardly ever speak on anything, spend more time in the cafeteria and lounges and even leave before the day’s sitting has ended. That’s why the hall is often very empty, barely making the quorum of 26 MPs from the total of 222.

Fortunately, there are representatives who do take an active part in the Dewan Rakyat; who study new Bills and debate them; raise issues important to their voters and national interest and are really service oriented; they are on the ground and readily available to attend to the needs of their constituents.

These are the kind of dedicated, selfless MPs with integrity we want and we have no qualms about paying them well. Probably the finest example we have is former MP for Bukit Bintang Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye. In the present generation of MPs, the one seen as Lee’s most likely successor is the much loved and admired MP for Segambut Hannah Yeoh.

I started this column by saying I won’t tell Anwar who to appoint. But in the best political tradition of backtracking, I will say I do want to see Yeoh appointed to a meaningful ministerial post in the Cabinet.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own. 

By June H.L. Wong

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Start work on Friday for better luck? Sink or swing with the Monkey: Pay peanuts, get monkeys!

THE fifth day of the Chinese New Year, which falls on Friday, is the best day to start work in the Year of the Fire Monkey, China Press reported.

The best time to report to work on that day is from 5am to 11am and from 1pm to 3pm, according to Feng shui Master Wei Xuan.

However, Wei Xuan said it was not a good date to start work for those born in the Year of the Horse.

He said other good dates to start work are on Feb 15, 16, 19, 22, 24 and 27.

According to Chinese belief, a person will have a prosperous year if he or she starts work on an auspicious date and time at the beginning of the lunar calendar.

Wei Xuan also advised the employees to be dressed decently and not to be late on the first day to work as it will affect their luck.

Bosses and their employees should also give angpows to each other on the auspicious day, he said.

Sink or swing with the monkey

There’s a lot to learn about this simian which can be lovable and loathable in equal parts.

WELCOME to the third day of the Year of the Monkey!

I must say it’s a great relief to say goodbye to a wild and woolly Year of the Yang during which we witnessed much sheep-like behaviour and had quite a lot of nasty things rammed down our throats.

A year ago in this column, I shared that yang is Mandarin for a horned ruminant mammal which can mean either sheep (mianyang) or goat (shanyang).

I argued the case for celebrating the Year of the Goat as the animal has more attractive and positive traits than the sheep.

Sheep have been documented as dependent, nervous creatures that require close supervision and are known for being mindless followers.

Goats, however, are a lot smarter, independent, nimble-footed and full of fearless curiosity.

Well, as it turned out that while some Malaysians tried to be goat-like, there were more who were sheep-like and got spooked by scare-mongers who, as usual, used the race and religion cards, and the sheepish ones ended up bunching together even more tightly in fear and suspicion.

So, what now in the Year of the Monkey? What sort of traits does this simian have that can give us some pointers to go by?

But first, we should get some basics right. Just as we had to separate the goats from the sheep last year, I have learned there are 264 known species of monkeys, but the chimpanzee is not one of them. The chimp, like the orang utan and gorilla, is an ape. Monkeys are different from apes, the most obvious difference being apes don’t have tails. So, let’s not confuse monkeys with apes.

Primatologists will tell us that monkeys in the wild behave very much like humans. They are intelligent creatures with the capacity to learn, innovate and live in social structures.

According to monkeyworlds.com, “the hierarchy of the social structure is very detailed. It doesn’t matter if there are only a few members or hundreds of them. They all have their role within that group”.

Interestingly, like humans in political parties, the monkeys can form smaller groups (what we would call factions) within the larger group. What’s more, if the monkeys aren’t happy about their social status within that group, they can leave and create a brand new group.

The similarities don’t end there.

Male monkeys frequently challenge the leaders of the group. Experts say this is to give better opportunities for breeding: a strong alpha male will sire sturdy offspring which will ensure the survival of the species. That happens in monkey groups but sadly doesn’t seem to have the same effect in political parties.

The monkey society is also admirable in that they have a welfare state: they “help each other with finding food, caring for the young, and staying protected” to quote monkeyworlds.com.

But like humans, they can be stressed if they lack food and shelter, which can lead to conflicts. But when there is plenty of food and they don’t feel threatened, monkeys are more likely to live in harmony with each other. Co-existence 101!

Perhaps it is because they are so human-like that the monkey is an animal that evokes both admiration and scorn.

In most African and Asian folk tales, it outsmarts its cunning adversaries like the crocodile and the shark, but in some, the overconfident primate takes the fall.

In Chinese culture, the animal is immortalised as Sun Wukong or the Monkey King, and the main character in the classic novel, Journey to the West.

Sun Wukong is depicted as highly intelligent, mischievous and so bold as to rebel against the Jade Emperor that results in his imprisonment by Buddha for 500 years. He is finally freed to allow him to atone for his sins by accompanying and protecting the monk Xuanzang on his perilous pilgrimage to India to obtain sacred Buddhist sutras to bring back to China.

Then there are Japan’s Three Wise Monkeys. That’s how they are seen – wise – in Asia because their desire to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil has roots in Confucianism which exhorts people to not look, listen or speak in a manner that is contrary to propriety.

But in Western societies, this behaviour has a negative connotation.

It’s associated with pretending to not see, hear or speak about the misconduct or impropriety of others. It’s similar to the idioms “turning a blind eye” and “looking the other way”.

I must say, I am pretty pleased with the Star Media Group’s clever take on the Three Wise Monkeys by turning a passive response to an active one.

The message urges Malaysians to see with clarity, hear with an open mind and speak with kindness.

These are actions we sorely need to connect with each other again. This is especially so in a year that has been predicted to be seriously difficult and challenging on many fronts.

After all, in simian terms, many people feel like they have already started the new year with a monkey (or two) on their back and wish the authorities will stop monkeying around with them.

And I would add, after months of witnessing a lot of monkey business, especially among politicians who seem to turn the state assemblies and Parliament into a monkey house, people would dearly like less monkey see, monkey do behaviour from both leaders and their supporters.

Of course, some people may see antics in the August House as more fun than a barrel of monkeys but I would prefer to throw a monkey’s wrench into that sort of nonsense.

Indeed, many of us keep hoping to return to a time when sanity, equilibrium, inclusiveness and trust and honour prevailed, but cynics will most likely reply, “I’ll be the monkey’s uncle!”

I have saved the last idiom which I think will resonate with a lot of my fellow citizens, which is a reminder to employers thinking of pay-cuts and hiring cheaper and that is “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys”.

But for this festive season, enjoy your peanuts because the huasheng (as it is called in Mandarin) is an auspicious food representing good health and long life, as well as wealth and good fortune.

That’s the Chinese for you. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

By June H.L. Wong, So aunty, so what?

Aunty was gobsmacked when the pig character Zhu Bajie went missing from the Monkey King 2 movie posters and billboards in Malaysia. If this animal is the cause of so much sensitivity, how in the world are we going to celebrate the Year of the Pig in 2019? Send feedback to aunty@thestar.com.my.


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