Ramanan aims to make people's voices heard, uphold justice

Pay cuts for all GLCs too, not only Petronas

Malaysiakini

4 hours ago

Malaysiakini

Pay cuts for all GLCs too, not only Petronas

YOURSAY | 'Have you talked to PMX about the bloated civil service?' Harapan Youth demands pay slash for Petronas top brass Anonymous_3f4b: Pakatan Harapan Youth should direct their calls to the politicians in power first to reduce their obscene perks, allowances, and gratuities, besides eliminating pensions, which cause a dent in the national coffers. After all, these politicians say their duty is to serve the public, not serve themselves. Next, Harapan Youth must target all GLCs (government-linked companies) and state subsidiaries and demand that highly inflated salaries, allowances, and perks be reviewed, not only Petronas. Petronas knows that the oil and gas industry is going south and they are overstaffed. The same goes for the GLCs and state subsidiaries, which treat public taxpayers' money as their piggy bank without accountability and with no positive tangible results shown other than losing money and then getting bailed out again with public money. BlueCougar1744: Has Harapan Youth conducted the analysis on Petronas to retrench 10 percent of its workforce? It is a business decision. Our challenge to Harapan Youth is for you to tell Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that we indeed have a bloated civil service. Have you done that? Being affiliated with any political party, it is your duty and role to ensure checks and balances. Have you demanded that all MPs and assemblypersons be allowed only EPF (Employees Provident Fund) schemes and not pensions? With the bloated civil service and the never-ending pension saga, what are your resolutions to move forward? The top brass in Petronas and all GLCs require a haircut. Do not just target Petronas because the company decided to remove 10 percent of its workforce. Harapan Youth is just trying to shift the blame. It does not work this way, and do not think the rakyat are equally complacent like you. Meerkat: Good points have been raised in this article. Why does Petronas need sponsorship anyway? It has no competition. It's just another way of giving perks to the top brass, who benefit from the reflected effects. A real pity was that Petronas was used as a piggy bank to bail out underperforming assets at the height of its prosperity. If the funds were used judiciously, the country would be basking in prosperity now. Instead, it's lagging way behind the little red dot, which has barely any natural resources. Steven Ong: GLCs are a good example that CEO pay should be according to the company's performance. A good PM would demand that the salaries of CEOs of GLCs losing money be cut in half and further reduced if there is no improvement, and replaced after the third year. The curse on Malaysia is that the government and PM are unethical and unwise to allow the CEOs of GLCs, which incur losses, to be bailed out year after year, to continue receiving unacceptable salaries. If immorality and unethical acts continue to go on, more curses and unfortunate disasters may happen in Malaysia. Chiaberliao88: This should be the humane approach when times are bad. The top executives who have been enjoying high pay, perks, and allowances should volunteer for pay cuts. Retrenchment of full-time, contract, or other workers should be the last resort. The government should go for this approach instead of laying off or retrenching contract workers. Contract workers have families to support, too. Falcon: In Malaysia, GLCs are companies where the government has a direct controlling stake. These companies play a significant role in the Malaysian economy, often operating in key sectors like banking, telecommunications, as well as oil and gas. If there are administrative or financial issues, the call to slash the perks and wages of the top management team is both right and justified before addressing layoffs or retrenchments! Undecided: Following Petronas' announcement of a 10 percent workforce reduction, Harapan Youth has called for the national oil company's leadership to share the burden. This is a good call by Harapan Youth. If the CEO of Petronas had good leadership qualities, this call would not have been necessary. A Better Msia: Harapan is out of touch. This should be asked of all GLICs and GLCs too, as their performance is weak with a lack of dividend growth for shareholders of Perbadanan Nasional Berhad - established on March 17, 1978, as part of Malaysia's New Economic Policy - and EPF. In addition, why not ask for a pension review of politicians, who drain the country's coffers merely for filling up a seat in Parliament and being in 'cari makan' mode? What a cost all these are to the rakyat? FairMinded: This should absolutely be carried out, and every employee from the top to bottom should have the word 'frugal' imprinted on their forehead. Their posh offices with lavish decorations, imported flowers, and fruits, among others, should be minimised. All perks should be downsized, and no overexpenditure on the budget. The good days of mimicking the oil-rich Arabs are over. Electric vehicles powered by green energy generated from solar and hydro, wind and hydrogen, are displacing oil and gas. Wake up, guys, and turun padang. The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now. These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.

Daily Express

4 hours ago

Daily Express

What next for PKR and Sabah PKR?

Published on: Sunday, June 01, 2025 Published on: Sun, Jun 01, 2025 By: Teddy Chin Text Size: The dust following the party election is just beginning to settle down and Nurul is eager to get to work. What now for PKR? So the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) election has ended. Party president cum PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was returned unopposed. His daughter was elected the new Deputy President, defeating incumbent Rafizi Ramli who is a Minister in Anwar's Cabinet. This means that for the first time, PKR is led by a father-daughter team. It's historic in Malaysian politics, too. In his closing address at the PKR Congress, Anwar shot down talks of nepotism. Advertisement Tracing PKR's history, Anwar said when he was going to jail, he persuaded his wife to take over the party which Kak Wan agreed and for which he was grateful. 'It was a difficult time in the young PKR's struggle. At that time nobody said it was nepotism. Few people even dared to join the Opposition. 'But Nurul Izzah was elected by you all,' he reminded the party delegates, to applause from them. Indeed, Nurul Izzah had won from Day One. She got 200 nominations out of 222 parliamentary divisions. Had she lost, there must be something wrong somewhere. The dust following the party election is just beginning to settle down and Nurul is eager to get to work. What now for PKR? Party members expected Rafizi to keep his promise of resigning from his Minister post as he said he would if he lost the Deputy Presidency. The election was held last Friday. Rafizi didn't turn up the next and final day of the party Congress on Saturday in Johor. His press secretary said he had returned to Kuala Lumpur. Then on Monday he showed up at his ministerial office for work as usual and rumours had it that he was at the office to pack and resign. Wrong. Rafizi turned up for work to ask his officers to brief him on his role, if any, during the Asean Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Tuesday, he showed up at the Asean meeting in his role as Economy Minister, accompanying the PM. Then on Wednesday, immediately after the Asean 'do', he resigned. It was quite responsible and sporting of him to show up at the Asean function as Economy Minister as required. Had he been absent on purpose, wouldn't that make Malaysia a laughing stock in the eyes of the World particularly Asean? But that's not the end of the story. On the same day, another Minister, Nik Nazmi also resigned following Rafizi's footsteps. Nazmi was in Rafizi's camp during the party election and he failed to defend his Vice-Presidency. But he didn't do too badly. He missed the boat by just about 100 votes. Only four Vice-Presidents were to be elected and Nik Nazmi was No 5. He got 5,556 votes while the No 4 successful candidate, Chang Lih Kang received 5,757 votes. The consolation was that Chang an incumbent and also a Minister, was in Rafizi's camp too. So now there are two vacancies. Expected to be the new Ministers are Nurul Izzah and another successful Vice-President, newcomer Ramanan who got the second highest votes among the four. But this is only on the assumption that the posts will be given back to PKR. For Nurul to be appointed, she would first have to be made a Senator as she is not an elected MP. If indeed Nurul is appointed, it will be another history in the political annals of Malaysia. Will this mean the breaking up of PKR? I don't think so. Nobody is indispensable. Somebody will replace you. As the Malay saying goes, 'Patah Tumbuh, Hilang Berganti'. When you are No.2, then behave like a No.2. The political history of Malaysia, let alone the world, is full of stories of the No.1 ''etting rid' of the No.2 when he becomes suspicious. Azmin Ali used to be Deputy PKR president until he ran foul of Anwar. Perhaps having been Selangor MP for two terms and appointed as Economy Minister by Dr M had some effect. During the last PKR Congress that Azmin attended, he was not even invited to deliver a closing address as Deputy President as was the custom. What a humiliation. But Anwar himself was a victim when he was Dr M's deputy. History repeating itself? The Old Man was probably jealous when an international magazine put Anwar's face on its cover. Anwar was then Finance Minister. Anwar was also given top protocol treatment when he visited USA as if he were the PM. Another incident which could have aroused the Old Man's jealousy was when Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Conference. There was a dinner hosted by the British Government. It was on the Queen's royal yacht and Queen Elizabeth herself was there as Head of the Commonwealth. In her speech, British PM Margaret Thatcher said: 'If Finance Ministers are transferable, then I don't mind having Mr Anwar as my Finance Minister….' You can imagine how the Old Man felt on hearing that. Moral of the story – Never try to overshadow or outshine your boss! Coming back to the PKR election, no one from Sabah made it to the Supreme Council. Sabah PKR Information Chief Razeef Rakimin who had the blessings of the State PKR Leadership to contest only managed 2,920 votes compared to the last candidate who won and got 4,366 votes. Razeef is also the Tuaran PKR divisional chief and was recently reelected to that post. However, the Tuaran division is believed to be one of the four PKR divisions in Sabah who nominated Rafizi instead of Nurul. He was also not present at Nurul's event at SICC in May but instead attended Rafizi's function at ITCC on the same day. However, it is understood that a few of his divisional committee members defied him and went to SICC instead of ITCC. Sabah PKR chief Datuk Mustapha Sakmud himself did not contest as he would be invited to the party's supreme council meeting as State head. Instead he gave his blessings to Razeef at a press conference. But it is an open secret that Mustapha supported Nurul and was present and gave a speech at SICC when she came. Now that Razeef failed to get elected to the central committee, will his Sabah PKR Information Chief position be at stake or will Nurul replace him with one of her supporters? Datuk Christina Liew perhaps? It remains to be seen. This is politics. Anything can happen. Christina is close to the whole Anwar family including Nurul. When Nurul was in Kota Kinabalu to attend the SICC function, Christina accompanied her to Kota Belud for a party function after that. Another Sabah PKR leader who contested for a seat in the central committee was Sangkar Rasam. He is Keningau PKR head and he got more votes than Razeel although he too lost. He got 3,229 votes compared to Razeef's 2,920. Sangkar's name appeared in Nurul's 'Cai Dan', meaning he was in Nurul's team. Although he lost, he may be appointed to a position by Nurul. But who is this Rasam? A few years ago, he replaced Christina as Sabah PKR chief. How it happened or who was behind him, to borrow Dr M's words, 'I can't remember'. However, late last year or early this year, Rasam in turn was replaced by Mustapha Sakmud. How it happened? Again, I forgot. Anyway, politics is a game of being in the right team. Now that Nurul is elected, Rasam may see his fortunes coming back soon. However, he is neither a MP or Senator or Assemblyman. Mustapha is the MP for Sepanggar and Higher Education Minister. It is also possible that Rasam may replace Razeef as Information Chief. I am not sure how many Nominated or Appointed posts are there to the PKR central committee, if any. Assuming vacancies do exist, both Christina and Rasam stand a chance. However, Sabah PKR women folks had better luck at the party election. Rufinah Pengeran from Pensiangan was elected one of the three Vice Women Chiefs of PKR. She got 2,518 votes, far ahead of her closest rival who received only 1,574 votes. Another Sabah PKR leader who contested but failed to win a seat in the central committee was Dikin Musah who got 1,318 votes. He is the Beaufort PKR divisional chief. If I am not mistaken, he was also the PKR candidate for Beaufort in the 2022 MP election which was won by Umno. Not sure if he was in anybody's camp in the recent election. Now that no Sabah delegate won a seat at the central level, it remains to be seen whether anyone will be appointed and who he or she is. Nearer home, Sabah PKR is now in the safe hands of Datuk Mustapha Sakmud. He took over from Sangkar who in turn took over from Christina Liew. So full circle now. Sabah PKR has been associated with the name Christina for more than a decade. She has been the face of PKR which culminated in her being appointed a Deputy Chief Minister in 2018, the first Chinese woman to hold that post. But all good things must come to an end. In late 2020, the Warisan+ Sabah government which includes PKR and DAP and Upko lost the election and Christina found herself in the Opposition overnight. But as Kak Wan (Anwar's wife) said: 'Manusia merancang, Tuhan turut merancang' (Man plans, God also plans). Early 2022 Christina found herself a Minister again in the same Tourism Ministry after PH (DAP, PKR, Upko) threw their weight behind Hajiji who survived a coup planned by former comrades in Umno. But perhaps not many Sabahans remember that Christina actually took over from the late Datuk Lajim Okin as Sabah PKR chief last time after the latter left PKR to form his own party based in his native Beaufort. Lajim formerly of Umno and Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing joined PKR at about the same time when then Opposition leader Anwar came over to Sabah. Anwar spoke at Bumburing's property in Tuaran and Lajim's hometown in Beaufort. In the 2013 election, Lajim won in Beaufort, Bumburing in Tamparuli and Christina in Api-Api. After the election and the State Assembly sat, an Opposition Leader with official perks was to be elected. The fight for the post was between Lajim and Bumburing. But the Speaker announced that Lajim received more votes from Opposition Assemblymen than Bumburing. Christina became Lajim's deputy. A frustrated Bumburing soon formed Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), saying that he was never officially a PKR member. PCS is now led by Senator Tan Sri Anifah Aman while Bumburing returned to Upko where he was deputy president (to Dompok). Christina continued to lead Sabah PKR until about a couple of years ago. She even led Sabah PH until she lost to the Upko president recently. To add insult to injury, she even lost her PKR divisional chief post to her aide recently. But by now Christina is mature in politics and she now concentrates on her duties as Tourism Minister and Api-Api Assemblywoman. Being aligned to Nurul, Sabahans have not seen the last of Christina. In fact, when Christina first joined PKR in 2001 and stood in the Likas by-election the same year, the PKR president was still Kak Wan and the Sabah PKR chief was Datin Saidatul Badru Tun Said Keruak, sister of former Chief Minister Datuk Salleh. Lajim and Bumburing were not in PKR yet. That is how long Christina has been in PKR and that explains why she is close to Kak Wan. She supported PKR and Kak Wan when not many Sabahans dared to. She deserves to be rewarded by Anwar and Nurul. She also deserves to be appreciated by CM Hajiji because when Sabah PH threw their weight behind him, Christina was the Sabah PH Chairperson.

Malaysiakini

6 hours ago

Malaysiakini

Pay cuts for all GLCs too, not only Petronas

YOURSAY | 'Have you talked to PMX about the bloated civil service?' Harapan Youth demands pay slash for Petronas top brass Anonymous_3f4b: Pakatan Harapan Youth should direct their calls to the politicians in power first to reduce their obscene perks, allowances, and gratuities, besides eliminating pensions, which cause a dent in the national coffers. After all, these politicians say their duty is to serve the public, not serve themselves. Next, Harapan Youth must target all GLCs (government-linked companies) and state subsidiaries and demand that highly inflated salaries, allowances, and perks be reviewed, not only Petronas. Petronas knows that the oil and gas industry is going south and they are overstaffed. The same goes for the GLCs and state subsidiaries, which treat public taxpayers' money as their piggy bank without accountability and with no positive tangible results shown other than losing money and then getting bailed out again with public money. BlueCougar1744: Has Harapan Youth conducted the analysis on Petronas to retrench 10 percent of its workforce? It is a business decision. Our challenge to Harapan Youth is for you to tell Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that we indeed have a bloated civil service. Have you done that? Being affiliated with any political party, it is your duty and role to ensure checks and balances. Have you demanded that all MPs and assemblypersons be allowed only EPF (Employees Provident Fund) schemes and not pensions? With the bloated civil service and the never-ending pension saga, what are your resolutions to move forward? The top brass in Petronas and all GLCs require a haircut. Do not just target Petronas because the company decided to remove 10 percent of its workforce. Harapan Youth is just trying to shift the blame. It does not work this way, and do not think the rakyat are equally complacent like you. Meerkat: Good points have been raised in this article. Why does Petronas need sponsorship anyway? It has no competition. It's just another way of giving perks to the top brass, who benefit from the reflected effects. A real pity was that Petronas was used as a piggy bank to bail out underperforming assets at the height of its prosperity. If the funds were used judiciously, the country would be basking in prosperity now. Instead, it's lagging way behind the little red dot, which has barely any natural resources. Steven Ong: GLCs are a good example that CEO pay should be according to the company's performance. A good PM would demand that the salaries of CEOs of GLCs losing money be cut in half and further reduced if there is no improvement, and replaced after the third year. The curse on Malaysia is that the government and PM are unethical and unwise to allow the CEOs of GLCs, which incur losses, to be bailed out year after year, to continue receiving unacceptable salaries. If immorality and unethical acts continue to go on, more curses and unfortunate disasters may happen in Malaysia. Chiaberliao88: This should be the humane approach when times are bad. The top executives who have been enjoying high pay, perks, and allowances should volunteer for pay cuts. Retrenchment of full-time, contract, or other workers should be the last resort. The government should go for this approach instead of laying off or retrenching contract workers. Contract workers have families to support, too. Falcon: In Malaysia, GLCs are companies where the government has a direct controlling stake. These companies play a significant role in the Malaysian economy, often operating in key sectors like banking, telecommunications, as well as oil and gas. If there are administrative or financial issues, the call to slash the perks and wages of the top management team is both right and justified before addressing layoffs or retrenchments! Undecided: Following Petronas' announcement of a 10 percent workforce reduction, Harapan Youth has called for the national oil company's leadership to share the burden. This is a good call by Harapan Youth. If the CEO of Petronas had good leadership qualities, this call would not have been necessary. A Better Msia: Harapan is out of touch. This should be asked of all GLICs and GLCs too, as their performance is weak with a lack of dividend growth for shareholders of Perbadanan Nasional Berhad - established on March 17, 1978, as part of Malaysia's New Economic Policy - and EPF. In addition, why not ask for a pension review of politicians, who drain the country's coffers merely for filling up a seat in Parliament and being in 'cari makan' mode? What a cost all these are to the rakyat? FairMinded: This should absolutely be carried out, and every employee from the top to bottom should have the word 'frugal' imprinted on their forehead. Their posh offices with lavish decorations, imported flowers, and fruits, among others, should be minimised. All perks should be downsized, and no overexpenditure on the budget. The good days of mimicking the oil-rich Arabs are over. Electric vehicles powered by green energy generated from solar and hydro, wind and hydrogen, are displacing oil and gas. Wake up, guys, and turun padang. The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now. These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.

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Pay cuts for all GLCs too, not only Petronas

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