The Penang government today announced the payment of a Special Financial Aid of RM1,000 in conjunction with Aidilfitri to 3,600 state civil servants.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the bonus would be paid on Wednesday to ease the burden of civil servants in making preparations to celebrate the festivity next week.
“Though on the national front, we have to be on an austerity drive, in Penang, our financial situation is very healthy so I hereby announce a bonus of RM1,000 for all civil servants in the state,” he said in his speech during a gathering with the state’s civil servants at The Top in Komtar this morning.
“The bonus payment will involve a total of RM3.6 million which is hoped to be able to assist in preparing for the festive season this time,” he said.
The bonus amount is higher than the bonus announced by the federal government which is RM400 and only meant for civil servants below grade 41.
Chow also thanked all the state civil servants for their cooperation and trust in the new state leadership lineup.
“The state government leadership line-up and I hope that similar cooperation and, in fact, better, could be rendered by the state civil servants to ensure that we can continue to become the best state in terms of development and infrastructure,” he said.
Meanwhile, when asked on the abolition of toll at the Penang Bridge, Chow said the toll abolition was under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
He said the pledges in the Pakatan Harapan state manifesto did not include the abolition of the Penang Bridge toll but the federal government was committed in matters on fulfilling its pledges.
“I think at federal level, they have appealed for more time to understand the situation, and the commitment is still there and I believe in due time the commitment will be fulfilled,” he added.
He said the Penang government was implementing efforts to fulfil the pledges contained in the Penang Pakatan Harapan General Election Manifesto.