KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — At least 50 percent of exemplary young police officers will be promoted to senior roles to lead the force, said Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
He said the matter has been discussed with Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
“This is important so that groups of officers do not retire at the same time and at least there would be continuity of longer serving officers who will then take up the higher positions in the force,” he said at a meeting with Chief Editors of media agencies at Bukit Aman, here today.
He said the decision to promote these officers came about after they were faced with situations where several heads of departments went into retirement in the same year.
Commenting on the salary increment for lower ranked officers, Razarudin said the matter has been taken up for review with the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general.
“We will look into it and discuss it with the PSD. One of the matters for review is the salary.
“For example, RM2,500 is considered adequate for a lower ranking officer in a rural area but when they are transferred to Kuala Lumpur they become the ‘urban poor’,” he said.
Razarudin said some of these officers in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bharu have to share rooms with others due to high rentals.
“These (lower ranked) officers have to budget their expenses as they are not from rich background but mostly just normal people,” he said.