State to veto PJ council’s 3-month bonus

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali is said to not be happy with the decision of MBPJ to approve the 3-months bonus and will meeting with the Petaling Jaya mayor Puasa Md Taib tomorrow on the issue. – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 3, 2015.The Selangor government will not approve the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)’s proposal to pay up to three months bonus to its staff.

The state government is seeking an explanation on the proposed payout which it has deemed as “excessive”.

This is because it was reported that of the council’s 1,409 staff, a total of 1,340 employees are said to have qualified for the three months payout.

Acting Mayor Puasa Md Taib will be summoned to face Mentri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali and other executive councilors at the weekly exco meeting tomorrow to explain the proposal.

According to state government sources, Puasa will be asked to explain the three month payout when the state government only approved 1.5 months.

When contacted, Azmin confirmed the decision. In a brief text he said he is in Sarawak and will seek an explanation from the council upon his return.

At last Friday’s Full Board meeting, MBPJ councilors voted 12-7 for the bonus payout; as well as a RM500 increase in allowances for councilors and assistant councilors who are currently paid RM1,500 a month.

Cynthia Gabriel, who represents the NGO block of the MBPJ’s 19 councillors said she had voted against the bonus payout and increment for a number of reasons.

“It is troubling for me as these are public funds and we should be able to justify this payout to the ratepayers.

“Furthermore the council’s performance can still be improved as our public delivery is still wanting,” said the co-founder of the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).

“There was no consensus on this decision. It was just a majority decision,” she said, stressing that MBPJ declared a deficit budget in 2014.

The entire PAS and PKR block voted for the bonus while DAP and NGO councilors voted against the bonus at the Full Board meeting.

Council directors and heads of department had to leave the meeting room when the votes were taken, so as to avoid accusations of conflict of interest.

The proposal mooted by the Finance Committee was that those who scored over 80% be paid three months bonus, while those who scored between 40 and 80% would receive a month’s bonus.

“Those who scored under 40% would only receive a flat payout of RM1,000. This is because there were concerns that these underperformers would be further demoralised,” said Gabriel.

- TMI