Government servant as petty traders?/ 公务员兼商的利弊

通膨上涨，生活拮据负担日益剧增，人民无一幸免。政府体恤公务员，为缓和涨价和通膨对公务员生活带来的冲击，早前批准公务员兼职。因考虑到公务员兼职或引发的滥权、工作表现低落、恶性经济竞争等因素，关于这项决定，我不表示赞成，也在6月15日的部落贴中详析己见。今天，政府另有打算，计划批发短期小本从商执照予公务员。我认为这项计划弊过于利，因为：

1． 要启营生意需要一笔资金，若身无分文他们则必须向政府或MARA（土著）贷款。这种情况下自营生意，预见贷款摊还率将非常低。
2． 任何一种生意都需要特定的专业技术和经验。若从零开始，此刻才开始学习做生意的窍门，无可避免他们会分心，以致忽略正职，直接影响了在正职的表现。
3． 如果他们将营业执照出租，而没有亲身参与和经营这盘生意，可能会招致滥用资源等弊端。
4． 此外，这也会在传统的同行间制造竞争，促使同行迁怒于公务员。

要全面帮助低收入的人民，政府应该认真考虑为所有低收入者提供现金生活津贴，并鼓励私人领域仿效此策，以协助低收入群体渡过这个艰难时刻。别忘了，我国的1千万人力市场中，只有100万人在政府领域工作，其余的900万人来自私人机构。据了解，大部分在私人领域工作的低收入群体每月薪金低于1千500令吉，对一家三口而言，1千500令吉只能糊口。所以，在私人领域工作也不能保证生活宽裕。

据我了解，一些国家的政府每月都会为低收入家庭提供现金补贴，以拉近国民收入悬殊，更实际和有效地减轻低收入群体的生活负担。其实这项政策值得我国政府研究和效法。大马政府也应该认真考虑为低收入者直接分发现金补贴。随着石油价格逐年高涨，国际石油价格每涨一美元，作为原油出口国之一的大马每年就能赚取2亿5千万令吉。目前石油每桶已从60美元涨至143美元，以这两年的石油行情来推算，国油公司应该大唱丰收，而政府应该拥有绝对足够的流动资源，为低收入民众实施现金补贴。我的建议，并非要求国油将所有的石油受益捐作国内的燃油津贴，而是挪出将部分的利润，以现金方式帮助穷人。

我呼吁政府能慎重地考虑这项建议，因为这是帮助低收入人民最直接、简单的方法之一。政府需要做的只是鉴定低收入的定义和薪额组别，确保只有落在设定组别的人士受惠。

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First, the government talked about part time job for government servant and I’ve written about this in my blog 3 weeks ago. Now, the government is thinking to give license to government servant to be petty traders on short term basis. Again, I must say that this is not a well thought out plan.

1) To start a small business, you need capital and if they take a small loan from government or MARA if they are bumiputra, it is likely they will default.
2) Any form of business needs expertise and experience. It cannot start from nowhere. If they start learning the trick of the trade, they will neglect their work.
3) Abuse will definitely set in since they can rent out license and they become absentee operators.
4) It creates competition and makes the traditional small petty traders angry with government servant.

The government should seriously think of coming out with cash or Cash of Living Allowance (COLA) to help the lower income group to tie over this difficult period. In the same way, the government should impress upon the private sector to do the same. We must not forget, out of the 10 million workforces, only 1 million is with the government, the remaining 9 million is with the private sector. The lower income group in private sector is equally suffering since majority of workers are receiving less that RM1500 per month and it is difficult to survive for a family of three on income of only RM1500 per month.

Direct funding by cash is one option that government should seriously consider. It is simple and directly benefiting the lower income group. The windfall profit from the increase of the oil price can be a source of this funding. For every US$1 increase in oil price, Petronas will make RM250 million per year. Since oil price has gone up from US$60 to US$130 a barrel in the last 2 years, Petronas is looking to bumper profit this year. I’m not advocating that Petronas profit should all be channeled as subsidy for petrol, rather one of the options is direct cash aid to the poor. What the government needs to do is to determine at what income level before they are entitled to these funding.