KOTA KINABALU: Retired state civil servants are expected to get special assistance of RM1,000 in time for Hari Raya Aidilfitri next year.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor hoped this special grant would help retirees prepare for the festive season, among others.
“We will pay out this assistance to state pensioners by Raya next year. I hope it can help lessen their burden,” he said after the Sabah Government Employees Cooperative Berhad (Kopeks) annual general meeting here on Wednesday (Nov 27).
He said in the budget tabled recently, only civil servants were allocated a bonus and he felt that pensioners who had also contributed to the state deserved it as well.
At the meeting, Hajiji urged Kopeks members to diversify and come up with more business ideas and plans, as well as forge working relationships with other agencies to help entrepreneurship efforts.
He said Kopeks had over 20,000 members in the 1970s and 1980s but this has dwindled to just 5,898 active members now.
However, he said this smaller number can still drive Kopeks to great heights through transparent, consistent and disciplined management.
“I am glad that Kopeks has benefitted some 90% of its members with assistance and grants for children’s education, medical needs, and even home repairs for retired members,” he said.
Kopeks also has programmes such as credit loans, umrah and other travel packages, incentives and aid for its members and the needy, he added.
Kopeks has been operating for 61 years and is the oldest cooperative in the state, Hajiji said.
