Pay hike for Penang reps too, but less drastic

The Penang government is also expected to increase the monthly salaries of its 40 assemblypersons, albeit by 88 percent, and a proposal to amend a related statute may be tabled next week.

The matter is expected to be announced by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng ( left ) when the session ends by Dec 17.
However, to do this, the state legislative assembly must table an amendment to the Members of the Administration and Members of the Legislative Assembly Enactment (Renumeration) 1980.
It is learnt that the statute - dubbed Statute Paper 1 2013 Penang - for the amendment is already in the parcel of documents handed out to all assemblypersons at the start of today's proceedings.
Currently, the basic salary for each state representative is RM4,112.79 basic with a fixed allowance of RM2,000.
The fixed allowance includes RM500 (special allowances), RM500 (entertainment), RM400 (fixed transport allowance) and RM600 (driver).
If the increase is approved, the state representatives' salaries will be increased to RM6,000 (monthly salary) and RM5,500 for allowances, bringing it to a total of RM11,500 for each assemblyperson.
This includes the increase of special allowance from RM500 to RM1,500, entertainment allowance, from RM500 to RM1,000, driver's allowance from RM600 to RM1,500 and transport allowance from RM400 to RM1,000, bringing it to a total of RM5,000.
The proposed amendment would also include RM500 for housing allowance.
During his budget speech today, Lim confirmed the pay hike in basic salary (RM4,112.79 to RM6,000 per month), saying it was in order as salaries have not increased since 2004.
"This is not in line with the amount of work that our state assembly does.
"So we have proposed amendments to the statute and when passed, the pay hike will be effective on Jan 1, next year," he added.
Admist slight table thumping, Lim also announced that the allowance for the opposition leader - currently held by Teluk Ayer Tawar assemblyperson Jahara Hamid - will be increased 100 percent - from RM1,000 to RM2,000.
Lim, however, was silent on the increase in the state reps' allowances from RM2,000 to RM5,500.
Penang follows Selangor's controversial move
Penang's proposed move follows the controversial pay increase by fellow Pakatan-led Selangor government, which will see the salaries of his MB, assemblypersons, exco, speaker and her deputy go up by 87 percent to 373 percent from Jan 1, 2014.
This raised the of several Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including Opposition Leader and PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim ( right ), who deemed it " quite high ".
The Selangor assembly passed a 268 percent pay hike for its speaker, along with pay rises for the menteri besar (RM29, 250 per month), deputy speaker (RM15,750) and assemblypersons (RM11,250).