MANDATORY RETIREMENT AGE EXTENSION STILL UNDER STUDY

KUALA LUMPUR April 3

The proposal to extend the mandatory retirement age of civil servants is still being studied as the government needs to address differences in retirement ages involving several services such as the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator Datuk Abdul Raman Suliman said the government would make a decision once all problems were ironed out.

"The government is very positive about extending the mandatory retirement age but when this sort of thing crops up, we can't make any announcement for the time being," he said to a supplementary question from Datuk Firdaus Harun (BN-Rembau) at the Dewan Rakyat here today.

Firdaus wanted to know how the government planned to address the retirement age differences involving the military if the extension proposal was to be implemented.
Responding to Firdaus' original question, Abdul Raman said such extension would benefit the government in terms of reducing its expenses like pension payments.

However, Abdul Raman said such savings would depend on the number of civil servants opting to work beyond the mandatory retirement age as well as their grade and monthly income.

He noted that the extension would not affect the chances for promotion for those who chose to extend their service or other staff.

This is because promotions are based on merit and the performance of each government employeee rather than their length of service or age, he said.

Abdul Raman also said the implementation of the age proposal would not jeopardise the chances of joining the civil service among the younger generation as vacancies would continue to exist due to optional retirement, resignation and death.

April 4, 2007