THE government will review the salaries of the board chairmen of all statutory bodies and government-linked companies (GLCs). 

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad issued the directive this morning following concerns raised regarding the salary of Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) executive chairman Abdullah Ahmad, which was said to exceed RM80,000 a month. 

“It’s more than the prime minister’s (salary). The prime minister’s salary is only more than RM20,000 a month,” Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in Putrajaya today. 

Loke was commenting on social media posts that went viral highlighting Abdullah’s salary.  

“I raised this in cabinet this morning. The prime minister has directed the chief secretary to review all the salaries and allowances, not only for the Mavcom chairman, but for all chairmen of statutory bodies, commissions and GLCs,” Loke said.

Abdullah’s monthly salary and allowances were RM78,200 in 2016 before a 3% increment the following year and a further 5% increment in 2018. 

“In actual fact, it has reached about RM85,000 for the executive chairman. So I can confirm that was the figure reported to me,” Loke said. 

Created in 2016, Mavcom was given initial government funding of RM90 million before paying for itself by charging RM1 per passenger. 

Loke, who was briefed by Mavcom officials on Monday, said the commission’s annual operational cost is RM25 million against its annual revenue of RM35 million.

He said, however, there are no plans to abolish it but it is subject to review.

Mavcom was in the headlines recently after it lodged a police report against AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes after the latter claimed that commission pressured the airline to cancel additional flights before the general election. 

Fernandes released a video days after the May 9 elections, apologising for his endorsement of Barisan Nasional and alleging that he was under pressure after adding 120 flights and reducing prices to help Malaysians return to vote. – May 30, 2018.