The Star reported that civil servants will receive the first RM1,000 and government retirees RM500, as announced in Budget 2018 which was tabled last October.
This was also confirmed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also our Finance Minister, on his Twitter account.
Insya-Allah, bayaran khas pertama sebanyak RM1,000 bagi penjawat awam dan RM500 bagi pesara seperti yang saya umumkan dalam #Bajet2018 akan dibayar pada 8 Januari. Moga dapat dimanfaatkan.
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) January 7, 2018
During Hari Raya Aidilfitri, civil servants will be given another RM500, while pensioners will receive their remaining RM250.
There are currently 1.6 million civil servants in total serving in Malaysia and 775,000 government retirees.
According to Malay Mail, this special payment will cost taxpayers RM1.6 billion for civil servants alone, whereas payments made to pensioners summed up to RM387.5 million.
So, anyone considering a change of career into the government sector this year?