Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad hasannounced that salaries of cabinet ministers will be cut in a bid to controlspending as the government is facing a high-level public debt that now exceeds 1trillion ringgit (around 251.5 billion USD).
Speaking at a press conference on May 23 after the first cabinet meetingwhich was attended by more than a dozen of the newly sworn-in ministers, PMMahathir said salaries of the cabinet ministers will be reduced by 10 percent.
Other senior civil servants will not be forced to follow suit, but theycan do so if they want to contribute towards reducing the cost of running thecountry, he said.
The PM said Malaysia's public debt is now equivalent to 65 percent ofthe country's gross domestic product (GDP). Aside from the pay cut, he has beenadvocating other measures, including forming a small cabinet, downsizing thegovernment and recovering some assets related to the 1MDB state fund overseas.
The Land Public Transport Commission will be disbanded, with itsprevious functions placed under the transport ministry, while several other"non-essential" institutions will be dissolved, he stressed.
In addition, he touched on the review process of some mega projects,saying the government is studying which will be scraped and which will becontinued.
PM Mahathir also revealed that the government is reviewing the contractfor the search of the missing MH370 flight, adding that the contract will notbe renewed if is not necessary.
Since taking power after the election victory, PM Mahathir has beenfocusing on performing his commitments during the campaign, includingabolishing the 6-percent goods and services taxes.-VNA
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