PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said he is willing to take a 10 per cent cut to his pension as long as it is used to help those who have lost their source of income.
"I admit that my life is not affected at all because of the lockdown and the standard operating procedure that I have to practise, " he said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov 10).
He said that every time he became prime minister, his first motion was to cut the salaries of ministers, deputy ministers and senior government officials by 10 per cent.
"There were no major economic problems at that time, " he said.
He said salaries have risen several times compared to before and while many had lost their source of income, those in the government did not have to endure paycuts.
Tun Dr Mahathir also claimed that there were no paycuts in the private sector as well.
"To reduce the gap between the fortunate and the unfortunate, the deduction of 10 per cent of those who are safe to give to those affected is justified, " he said.
On Monday, Dr Mahathir proposed that those earning high salaries in the government or private sector should forgo 10 per cent of their salaries to help the poor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
