A lawmaker has proposed a 13-month salary system to boost citizens' capital and encourage investment.
Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru) suggested in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 22) that the additional month’s salary could be used for investments with greater returns, as well as for expenses like back-to-school shopping.
He urged both private companies and the government to consider the idea, noting that some private companies have already adopted the model, which is also common in other countries.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yz8v4mnm
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru) suggested in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 22) that the additional month’s salary could be used for investments with greater returns, as well as for expenses like back-to-school shopping.
He urged both private companies and the government to consider the idea, noting that some private companies have already adopted the model, which is also common in other countries.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yz8v4mnm
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00If we want to be a high-income country, our workers' salaries must increase.
00:07So this is the main point in the 2025 spending.
00:12In the 2025 spending, we see that two main efforts to increase salaries and income of the people.
00:21Firstly, we see that the government has increased the salaries of public servants by 13%.
00:31This is the largest in the history of Malaysia. Congratulations to the government.
00:36Secondly, the government has also increased the minimum wage from Rp 1,500 to Rp 1,700.
00:43Also, 13% shows the equality and justice given not only to public servants but also to private workers in Malaysia.
00:57I support the government's efforts to increase the salaries of both public servants and private workers.
01:04Salaries among Malaysians are too low. We are trapped in the middle-income trap for too long.
01:10This is the best opportunity for us to increase their salaries.
01:15Actually, according to the share of employee compensation in CE in Malaysia,
01:22we still have room because we are still in the range of 35%,
01:29and we have the opportunity to increase to 40%, 45% or 50% in CE.
01:42The second issue that I want to raise is co-prosperity.
01:48In the budget, PMX mentions Thomas Piketty, who has a very famous book entitled Capital in the 21st Century.
01:58Thomas Piketty found that those who have capital are more likely to get profits than those who have salary.
02:07Co-prosperity in corporate companies and those who have capital also happens in Malaysia.
02:14I will give an example.
02:16If someone has capital of RM10,000 in 2000,
02:23if he invests the RM10,000 in stocks such as Petronas Dagangan, Maybank, Hong Leong Bank, Selkom Digi or Public Bank,
02:36the investor will become a millionaire today.
02:42Because in the past 25 years, their stock has increased by 10,000%.
02:49Similarly, the country's wealth investment is also in large companies.
02:55For example, the profit of a large company, Maybank, in 2022 was RM7.9 billion net profit.
03:03In 2023, RM9.35 billion net profit.
03:07In 2023, RM17.4 billion net profit.
03:12In 2022, RM0.81 billion net profit.
03:18In 2023, RM1.84 billion net profit.
03:22RM127 billion net profit.
03:26Therefore, those who have capital will become richer.
03:29As ordinary people, we only hope for wages.
03:32We do not have capital to invest and get returns.
03:37Our wages have been used up 100% for daily life.
03:42So how do ordinary workers get extra capital to invest?
03:47So I want to suggest, I always think about how to help our people get capital so that they can invest,
03:56so that they can get better returns.
03:58So I want to suggest a 13-month salary system.
04:07This means that in December every year, for example,
04:12workers are paid a two-month salary.
04:16The first salary can be paid with normal expenses.
04:22But the second salary can be used for investment or large expenses such as back to school and so on.
04:29This 13-month salary system is used by many half-corporate companies.
04:36But it is not widely used in Malaysia.
04:39Overseas, there are many.
04:41I want to suggest the 13-month system to private companies and governments to think about
04:48whether it can be used to help our workers have capital to invest and so on.