KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today called on workers to continue supporting his government, telling them the fight to improve their living standards is far from over.

The prime minister was speaking at this year’s grand Labour Day celebration at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil here, where he vowed to continue to improve their livelihoods.

Since February, the Anwar government has raised the minimum wage from RM1,500 to RM1,700 a month as well as increased civil service salaries by over 15 per cent, a move the prime minister cited as proof that he wanted the best for workers.

“People say I am a prime minister forged from the struggles on the streets, yes. And to look at history the thousands of demonstrators who supported me are mostly workers,” he said.

“Now we have the ability to do things. So we appeal that you give (my) government space because the country is still not free from racial and religious feuds, between states and the federal government.”

Raising living standards was one of the two key developmental priorities Anwar announced when taking office.

Since then, his government has rolled out economic blueprints that it said would create more high-paying jobs. The government also put in place short term measures to raise salaries, such as the Progressive Wage Policy and raising the minimum wage by RM200.

“Our approach is not just to raise salaries, but we did it in a way that gave a bigger increment at the bottom and a smaller one at the top,” Anwar said.

“Why? Because we don’t want a situation in which the country prospers only for a small group of people, while the majority of workers are sidelined. Just as we talk about frontliners, they all contributed but somehow only those at the top were appreciated,” he added.

Anwar then asserted that he is the only prime minister to have resisted the pushback from employers when his government mooted raising the floor wage.

“That is why we raised the minimum wage. Believe me when we talked about this in the Cabinet meetings, the pressure (from employers) was strong. Some of them complained that raising the minimum wage would raise costs, it will deter investments,” he said.

“We said yes, we buy some of your arguments, but until when are we supposed to keep wages low? When can we raise their salaries so we can help them a little?”

The pilot for the Progressive Wage Policy is set to take place in June.