Sarawak civil servants’ salary review after Oct’s federal Budget 2025 announcement, says Premier

KUCHING (May 18): The Sarawak government will review the state civil servants’ salary after October’s federal Budget 2025 announcement, says Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.

He said the state government can only carry out the review after getting details on the federal government’s move to increase the remuneration of federal civil servants by 13 per cent this year, which would only be made known during the Budget 2025 announcement in October.

“Even now, I don’t dare to announce the 13 per cent salary increment (for Sarawak civil servants) like what the federal government did, which they had already made the announcement.

“I have promised the Sarawak civil service that I will announce this within one and a half months. However, we still don’t have the details yet.

“What if it’s implemented across the board? No brackets, meaning no details yet.

“That’s why in this (last Sarawak Legislative Assembly) session, I said we will review and announce it as soon as we get the details from the federal government.

“The federal government will announce it during the 2025 Budget, which means we have to wait until October to December,” he said.

Abang Johari was speaking at the Sarawak Budget Discussion town hall session with the Persatuan Mahasiswa Sarawak Universiti Malaya Faculty of Business and Economics in Kuala Lumpur today.

On May 1, Anwar announced that federal civil servants would enjoy a salary hike of more than 13 per cent starting December this year, among the highest increases in the nation’s history.

He said the increase would involve an allocation of over RM10 billion.

“The increase will be more than 13 per cent… among the best increases in history by the Madani Government,” he said.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said that under the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA) being revised, the government would ensure that the minimum income for civil servants exceeds RM2,000 per month.