The recent Turun protest saw hundreds of Malaysians protesting against the price hikes and calling for ministers to reduce their salaries for not combating the issue.
However, recently, Minister of Multimedia and Communication Tan Sri Annuar Musa argued that the that protests will not solve inflation and that slashing the ministers’ salaries and allowance will also not suffice in battling inflation.
The Ketereh MP also rhetorically asked the rakyat to name one country that has managed to bring down inflation by asking government members to take pay cuts.
Proving him wrong
His statement drew plenty of backlash from Malaysians who argued that the slashing of the salaries and allowances of ministers is exactly what is needed to help the rakyat.
One Malaysian took the time to compile various instances where members of the government have taken pay cuts in order to combat a specific issue within their country.
The Twitter user named @Dafrosty, wrote in his post, “OK Annuar Musa, here’s a list of countries that cut salaries of cabinet members and senior officials during times of financial crisis.”
He went on to list a few instances where members of the governments of other countries have taken a pay cut in order to solve a nationwide crisis and these included:
- New Zealand in 2020, with a 20% pay cut for 6 months due to Covid-19,
- India in 2020, 30% pay cut for a year due to Covid-19,
- Singapore in 2020, 20% pay cut for a month due to Covid-19,
- Ghana in 2022, 30% pay cut due to rising fuel prices,
- Zimbabwe in 2018, 5% pay cut due to economic crisis,
- Ireland in 2020, 10% pay cut due to uproar that 3 ministers got a pay raise,
- Japan in 2011, 20-30& pay cut for reconstruction after an earthquake and tsunami.
As for now, Annuar has not responded to the backlash over his comments about why ministers shouldn’t face a pay cut, but we hope that it has at least been proven that the governments of other countries have done so in order to help their nation.
Read the full tweet here.
What do you think of this?
Also read: Annuar Musa Disagrees With Ministers’ Pay Cuts, Says No Country Has Stopped Inflation By Doing So
