Civil Servants' Retirement Age Stays At 56

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Civil servants' retirement age remains at 56 and the government has no plans to raise it to 58, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said Monday.

He said the government was not ready to accept the proposal by Cuepacs to increase the age limit.

"Several years ago, Cuepacs did propose to raise the retirement age to 58 but the government did not make any decision, and although there was a proposal on it, till now no final decision is made," he told reporters after presenting the Excellent Service Awards for the Federal Territories Ministry and agencies under the ministry for the year 2004 here.

Samsudin said Cuepacs' proposal to raise the retirement age, among others was based on the longevity rate among Malaysians.

He said this when asked to comment on a report in the New Straits Times last Saturday that the retirement age for 850,000 civil servants may be raised from 56 to 58 from next month.

According to the report, the move was to address a burgeoning pension bill that had tripled over the last decade, with the number of pensioners and pension recipients rising from 305,000 to 513,689 in just a decade from 1994.

It said the government had to fork out RM4.96 billion for pension payments last year, a RM3.36 billion increase over the allocation in 1994.

At the event, 794 officers and staff of the Federal Territories Ministry, City Hall, Putrajaya Corporation and Labuan Corporation received their awards.

-- BERNAMA 6/9/2005