PSD to look into Cuepacs' call to extend retirement age

The Public Service Department (PSD) will look into the call made by the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) to have the retirement age for civil servants be extended from 60 to 62.

PSD director-general Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal, however, said that the PSD could not make any decision on the matter alone as it involved a government's policy.

"We have to look thoroughly into it first, the decision (to extend retirement age) is not ours to make, it's the government's...it's a government policy, so we have to take it back to the government.

"So, right now, I think we don't have to make further comment on this matter," he told reporters after opening the Penang Regional Development Authority Advanced Technical Institute's (Perda-Tech) Centre of Advanced Skills here Sunday.

Also present were Penang state secretary Datuk Seri Farizan Darus and Perda general manager Saringat Hassan.

Yesterday, Cuepacs called on the government to consider extending the retirement age for civil servants from 60 to 62 following the country's economic uncertainty towards becoming a developed nation.

Its president Datuk Azih Muda said most countries, such as Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, European countries and the United States had extended their retirement age to 65, and Malaysia, which is heading towards becoming a developed nation should take similar steps.