Twelve-year-old Daniel Boniface ended his life yesterday when he could not raise the money to pay his school fees.

His sister found the standard six pupil hanging in their house in Miri, Sarawak, at about 5.30pm. He was then rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead.

The boy's uncle, who declined to be identified, told Bernama that he saw Daniel last at about 3.45pm.

Prior to this, he said the boy, who is the youngest among five siblings, had asked his mother for money to pay his school fees.

His mother, who is separated from her husband and works as an office cleaner, told Daniel that she could not afford it.

According to the uncle, the boy then contacted his father who lives in Mukah. However, Daniel was scolded when he asked for the money.

The boy then turned to his grandmother for help. She too scolded him and told Daniel to quit school and look for a job since he could not afford to study.

A Miri police spokesperson confirmed receiving a report on the incident last night.

Salary revision

In an unrelated development, the Congress Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) said a salary revision is needed to avoid more than 50 percent government servants from falling below the poverty level by the year 2010.

Omar Osman said based on inputs from economists, Cuepacs had adjusted the poverty level for public service employees between RM850 and RM900.

"If Cuepacs does not come up with the new revision, by 2010 this group will fall below the poverty level," he told reporters after heading a Cuepacs delegation to a meeting with Chief Secretary to the Government Mohamed Sidek Hassan to discuss several requests from the body.

Cuepacs has proposed a salary increase of between 10 and 40 per cent since the last revision was made 14 years ago.

Omar said Cuepacs, the umbrella body for some one million civil servants, was fine-tuning its memorandum on the salary revision before submitting it to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.