PKR Sarawak: Different races must be represented on civil service recruitment, promotion panels

Abun Sui Anyit

MIRI (Feb 13): Civil service recruitment and promotion panels must be made up of different races for more equitable representation, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy chairman Abun Sui Anyit.

He said this in a statement in support of Works Minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi’s stance calling for the composition of civil servants in Sarawak to reflect its various ethnic groups.

“Alexander Nanta Linggi’s suggestion is a good suggestion because in this country, especially in Sarawak, there are various ethnic groups or races.

“All races now have almost the same level of education and qualifications,” he said.

Abun said Nanta’s call for diversifying the civil service must be implemented as soon as possible, as it should have been practiced since the formation of Malaysia.

He said in the spirit of Borneonisation, all federal departments in Sabah and Sarawak should be led by those from the Borneo states.

According to Abun, a quota system should be unnecessary if those hiring public servants do so based on merit.

“Many complaints are received when the interviewees make a comparison between them and found that those who had better exam results were simply side-lined,” he claimed.

He also suggested there may be a few decision-making panels that still practice racism in selecting and appointing new employees in the government or promotions, leading to the seeming imbalance of racial composition of civil servants.

He said a quota system could help correct the imbalance provided that decision makers in the recruitment and promotion of civil servants really implement government policies based on either quotas or merit.

On Feb 10, Nanta, who is also Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) secretary-general, called for ethnic-based quotas to be set up for jobs in Sarawak’s civil service as the Chinese and Dayak communities have felt marginalised over unequal employment opportunities.

In a Facebook post, he recommended the Sarawak government establish a quota system at the recruitment level, saying this was the starting point of injustice, which was reflected in the low percentage of non-Malays holding high positions in the administration of the federal and state governments.

from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/lPdByxA
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