P Arunasalam, a former deputy secretary-general of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, said workers needed their wages to be raised now to help them deal with the rising cost of living.

But Shankaran Nambiar of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, while agreeing that the current minimum wage could not meet minimal living standards, said the government should wait for the economic situation to improve before raising it.

Arunasalam told FMT he believed the RM1,800 minimum wage the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) had proposed was reasonable and said the government, being the biggest employer in the country, should set the trend in giving “living wages”.

He said workers, especially those in the low rungs, were facing severe financial problems with their “grossly insufficient” wages.

“And since civil service unions under Cuepacs don’t enjoy collective bargaining rights like unions in the private sector, they can only hope for some wage hikes. RM1,800 is a very reasonable demand.”

Arunasalam said a minimum wage of RM1,200 plus subsistence payments should not be equated with a neat basic salary.

However, he said, in the event the government could not meet the proposed RM1,800 rate, it should negotiate with Cuepacs to decide on a fair sum.

“Anything less than a RM1,600 basic minimum salary is inadequate. This should exclude all allowances.”

The basic salaries of some civil servants are still below the national poverty line of RM2,208.

On Monday, Cuepacs president Adnan Mat said the minimum wage had to be raised as each household was spending an estimated RM5,000 a month, with the spending mainly focused on housing, transport and daily needs.

He said that most workers in the government sector started at a basic salary of RM1,200.

Nambiar said minimum wages in both the public and private sectors should be raised for moral and economic reasons.

It would help trigger the switch to more efficient choices of technology on the part of firms and government, he said.

However, he said instituting a wage change now would put excessive pressure on the government, pointing out that even in the private sector, companies were struggling to get back on their feet.

He said the government was already burdened with a bloated civil service and was now having to grant all kinds of cash transfers, wage subsidies and other support schemes to cushion the effects of Covid-19.

“Now is not the time to make changes to wages. The government should concentrate on recovery,” he said.

He said raising the minimum wage should be a part of the Covid-19 recovery plan.

Another economist, Madeline Berma of Unimas, told FMT there were pros and cons in increasing the minimum wage for civil servants.

She said an increased wage could help them face the high cost of living and could also reduce the number of poor households but would see government expenditure soaring.

If Putrajaya could not meet the proposed rate, she said, it should offer training to those earning the minimum wage to help them expand their skills.