(Nov 18): DAP today questioned Putrajaya's rationale in paying higher salaries to its special advisers, compared to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said that in the latest budget for the Prime Minister's Department, the salary for Special Adviser for Women Affairs, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, and chairman of the federal action council in Selangor, Datuk Seri Noh Omar each stands at over RM 27,000 a month.

This is higher than Najib's pay packet of RM 22,826 a month, Liew said.

"Why are their salaries even higher than the PM?" he asked.

Special envoy to India and South Asia, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, also earns RM27,000 a month, according to Liew.

The DAP political education director also asked Putrajaya to reveal if it was extending temporary contracts of some ambassadors and special envoys.

"Samy Vellu's contract was until December 2014. Was there an extension?" Liew asked.

He also questioned if the contracts of former MCA president Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting and Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing as special envoys had been extended, as they were to have expired recently but still listed in the budget breakdown for the Prime Minister's Department.

Ong was the prime minister's special envoy to China while Tiong was special envoy with ministerial status to East Asia. – The Malaysian Insider