I’M THANKFUL that the government has agreed to revise the formula for the calculation of pensions for retired civil servants.

The revised formula will give pensioners and their widows added benefits in that pension will be calculated based on the actual number of years civil servants had served the government but up to a maximum of 30 years.

Currently, the maximum number years of service for the calculation of pension is 25.

Pensioners should be grateful as we have been fighting persistently for this review for nearly two decades. The announcement could not have come at a better time when Malaysians are facing sharp increases in the prices of goods and services, and more importantly the prices of food items.

My only hope is that traders will not take advantage of the revision to justify further price increases because it involves only pensioners, and that too, will come into effect next year.

Cuepacs should be happy and not press the government further for a salary increase for civil servants as this will have far-reaching consequences in terms of inflation etc. that have begun to rear their ugly head in the country.

S. Ragunathan
Petaling Jaya

Source: The Sun – May 29, 2008