Pay cut is good PR but vaccination rollout is No. 1, says Prof Chin

Prof James Chin

KUCHING (June 6): The pay cut announced by the state government is a good public relations move for GPS and the Opposition may be expected to make a similar move soon, observed political analyst Professor James Chin.

“This is symbolic only in tandem with what the federal government is doing. They have done this before for natural disasters previously. It is nothing new.

“But this will be good PR for them especially in terms of with the voters in Sarawak. I think the Opposition will do something similar fairly soon,” he said yesterday when asked to comment on the pay cut for GPS ministers and elected representatives.

However, he opined that the cut is actually not much per individual.

“If you look carefully at the cut, a majority of the people are cut 15 per cent and below, so even though the figure 30 per cent looks high it only affects one or two persons only.

“The cut is not that much in terms of individual’s concern but again it is very good PR,” he said.

However, he is of the opinion that if the GPS government really wants to win the coming state election, the most important thing now is actually to roll out the vaccination programme.

“I think that’s the number one thing on most people’s minds,” he said.

On Friday, the Sarawak government announced that the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and the state Cabinet will have two months worth of salary deducted from this month onwards for the State Disaster Fund.

The Chief Minister’s Office, which had issued the statement, said the contribution would also involve assistant ministers, ADUNs, the DUN Speaker, GPS assemblymen and the political secretaries to the chief minister.

The chief minister’s salary will take a 30 per cent cut followed by deputy chief ministers (25 per cent), DUN Speaker and ministers (20 per cent), assistant ministers (15 per cent), DUN members (10 per cent), and political secretaries (five per cent).

“The total contribution is expected to amount to RM3 million,” the statement said.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3fW71QC
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