‘Prudent spending can help free civil servants from Ah Long’

February 18, 2016

SIBU: There is a need for the country’s civil service to train and guide the staff on prudent management of their salaries.

Assistant Minister of Social Development Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah voiced this out Monday, following the disclosure of a nationwide survey carried out by Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) last December, stating that 150,000 (12 per cent) of civil servants in Malaysia were borrowing money from ‘Ah Long’ (unlicensed moneylender, or loan sharks).

According to state Cuepacs secretary Omar Bahrein Unin, low wages and high cost of living are two key factors that lead to these government employees borrowing from Ah Long, who are notoriously known for their ruthlessness in collecting debts.

Sarawak expects to get fair share of affordable houses

November 1, 2013

SIBU: Assistant Housing Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah expressed optimism that Sarawak will set a fair share of the 223,000 affordable houses planned for 2014.

“The provision of affordable houses has been ongoing by the present state and federal BN governments all these years and 2014 is not an exception,” Abdul Karim, who is Assistant Minister of Youth Development and Asajaya assemblyman told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He was reacting to Sarawak Division Cuepacs secretary Ahmad Malie’s call for fair allocations of the 223,000 affordable houses announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak under Budget 2014.

Malie said doing so could make it easier for the people, including civil servants to buy their own houses.

He added that the result of the escalating prices of houses, particularly in Kuching, Bintulu and Miri, was that people especially those in the public sector could no longer afford them.

Malie said Najib should look into this problem as there were many people desperate for their own homes because house rentals were also going up.

“The state Housing Ministry is aware of the spiralling cost of houses which is due to increased demand and increased cost of building materials and is cushioning this increase by building more affordable houses especially in areas where the demand for houses are higher,” said Abdul Karim.