KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) is urging the government to consider providing a special allowance or incentive payment of RM500 a month to 2,270 officers and personnel of the Marine Police Force (PPM).

Bukit Aman Management Department director Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar said the application was based on several criteria of PPM, namely, expertise, skill, importance of service, work risks, difficulty, encouragement and unusualness of job.

He said the payment of incentive was appropriate because the team had never received any special allowance since it was set up in 1947, namely, about 73 years ago.

"The application for the incentive involves a financial implication of RM13,620,000 a year,” he told a media conference in Bukit Aman, here, today. 

Abdul Rahim said the application of the incentive for PPM was among four allowances submitted by PDRM for consideration by the government.

He said PDRM had also sent a working paper to the Public Service Department in September last year to consider raising the allowance for a set of uniform to RM1,000 from RM500.

He said the current allowance provided was inadequate to meet the cost of ordering a set of uniform which costs up to RM800 each.

In addition, he also hoped the government could approve travel allowance from the house to the place of work as is being enjoyed by the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). 

"ATM have been receiving the travel allowance all along. Officers and personnel who are not allocated police quarters and are forced to rent houses in distant locations will be considered in the giving of this allowance,” he said.

In the meantime, Abdul Rahim said PDRM also urged the government to consider increasing the overtime work payment which currently stood at RM200 to RM500.

Twelve more allowances would be submitted by PDRM to the government from time to time depending on the financial standing of the government, he added.  — Bernama