Mukhtar (centre), Awang Badele and Norazela Leno Abdullah at the press conference.
BINTULU: Sarawak Customs Officers Union (Kespeker) and Peninsular Malaysia Customs Officers Union (KPKSM) object the move by the Customs Department (JKDM) to impose a limit on overtime claims by officers performing operational duties.
KPKSM president Mukhtar Md Saman said the overtime claims were currently limited to one-third of the salary of Customs personnel, and any claims exceeding that amount would be replaced with replacement leave.
“This stricter control on overtime might affect the overall performance the personnel in terms of enforcement activities because these personnel will have more leave replacement to spend within a certain period of time,” he said at a joint press conference with Kespeker president Awang Badele Awang Ali and Kespeker secretary-general Norazela Leno Abdullah on Saturday.
“Hence, Customs will face staff shortage, especially during operations.”
He said overtime among Customs personnel would occurred when there was shortage of personnel in certain sections.
The two unions also concurred that as one of the important agencies, JKDM should look at the importance of Customs’ duties instead of targeting overtime allowance.
They cautioned that if there were shortage of personnel, it would cause leakages and affect revenue collection for the government.
Kespeker and KPKSM are also against the proposal to allocate only one set of uniforms per year, compared with three pairs previously.
Mukhtar said the provision of three set of uniforms was in line with the regular use of uniforms.
On the department’s directive on ‘Guidelines on measures to optimise government spending’ in effort to optimise public expenditure for the year 2016, Mukhtar said the unions welcomed five of the seven saving measures outlined and fully supported the department’s move to apply for additional provisions to cover its operational cost.
He opined that in order to have a world class Customs service, the department and the government should give serious attention to Customs’ operational
aspect.
“The unions hope vacant posts will be filled accordingly, and we seek improvement in Customs Service Scheme in line with the nature of our duties.”
He said they had contacted the Finance Ministry to hold a discussion with the secretary-general of the treasury to find solutions to overcome issues and problems.