PKR vows a RM1,500 minimum wage for Sarawak - Malaysiakini

By Tony Thien | May 1, 08 2:44pm

Sarawak PKR chief Dominique Ng said his party would implement a monthly minimum wage of RM1,500 in the public and private sectors if Pakatan forms the federal government.

“If Pakatan Rakyat forms the government at the federal level, both the public and private sector employees will be accorded their right to more just remuneration,” he said in his Labour Day message.

The welfare of Malaysia's working class must not be neglected in the process of national development, he said, adding that they deserve their dignity by way of minimum living standards.

Sarawak employees, whose wages are among the lowest in the country, earns a basic salary of only RM300 to RM400 per month.

Ng also said a minimum wage should be a major strategy in alleviating poverty among working class families.

"Workers and their families have fully legitimate rights in having their basic living conditions protected," he added

Ng justified the proposal for a minimum wage by saying that it has been widely adopted in Western countries, as early as 1907 in Australia and in several Third World countries much poorer than Malaysia.

Sept 16 an important date

“To give substance to our goal of being an advanced nation, we need a strong political will to implement a national minimum wage which should be annually indexed against inflation”, he added.

The Padungan assemblyperson said Sept 16, as mentioned recently by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, would be a very important day for Sarawak and Sabah as it is also the actual date of the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

He added that Anwar has indicated that the Pakatan Rakyat government would be established at the centre.

“Anwar is right as we have the numbers to add to Pakatan’s 82 MPs,” he said, adding that more than 10 of Sabah BN's 24 MPs will likely join the coalition while in Sarawak there will be less, perhaps three or four," he said.

"The rest of the cross-overs will be from Peninsular Malaysia, But we do not want to do it in a hurry because a stable government is very important to us,” Ng said.