No End To Discrimination Stories

More readers of The Star have wrote in to say that they too have been discriminated against by The Malaysian PSD as the PSD DG (and of course the whole Malaysian government) continues their silence. Is this the way to treat Malaysians who complain through the "proper channels"? Or is our Government waiting for another mass rally before they act?

BTW, can our government for once define what are proper channels?


Complaint No.4

I REFER to press reports that quoted the Director-General of the Public Services Department as stating that “...of the 486,802 applications to work in the civil service last year, Chinese and Indians only accounted for 1.78% and 2.5% respectively.”

Since then I have also read letters to rebut the D-G's statement and in particular a letter by Au Yeong How regarding his attempts to enter the civil service albeit without success as the hiring system failed him.

My son also applied to join the police force in 2006 after graduating with a 2nd class LLB and he speaks fluent Malay, too.

He received an acknowledgement of his application but was not even called for any preliminary interview.

I was dissatisfied and e-mailed Datuk Ismail Adam using the address I obtained from the PSD website but as expected, there was no response.

If the very few non-Malay who have the minimum qualification applied and did not even get called for a preliminary interview, how does Ismail expect to recruit non-Malays into the civil service?

In addition, I would like to tell the D-G about what we hear on the ground in Sarawak – that although Sarawak has more non-Malay bumiputras, the government offices and even local councils are staffed mostly by Malays, especially at officer levels because the recruitment officers are mostly Malays from Peninsular Malaysia.

We can see this in certain local councils and government departments and of course it leads us to believe that the PSD is biased. Does the D-G want to correct this negative perception? Well, the ball is in his court now.

ANOTHER GOVT JOB SEEKER,
Kuching, Sarawak.


Complaint No.5


I REFER to the report “Few non-Malays applying, says PSD,” by the Director-General of the Public Services Department Tan Sri Ismail Adam (The Star, Dec 25) and wish to add my comments to that of Elsie Leei in “Case of once bitten?” (The Star, Dec 30).

Ismail’s statement that Government’s appointments are “based on merit or academic qualifications, not race?” is highly questionable as pointed out by Leei and Au Yeong How in “Qualified but can’t get government job,” (The Star, Dec 27).

The Government may have set fair policies but when it comes to recruitment and promotion, they do not work out that way.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the tendency to recruit and promote based on race is a common malaise in government departments.

This blatant disregard for fairness can be seen in my school.

Four years ago, a non-Malay colleague was appointed Ketua Bidang.

He had efficiently and responsibly carried out his duties for a good part of the year while waiting for his appointment letter.

But lo and behold, when the letter came, a Malay colleague who was well known for his lackadaisical approach to work got the job.

Recently, the school recommended a non-Malay colleague with 25 years experience for a senior administrative post but it was given to a Malay colleague who was much more junior in rank. Can the district and state education department sincerely say that such appointments are done based on merit or academic qualifications?

This is just a few among the many incidences that have occurred. Unless something is done to overcome this malaise and non-Malays are given the opportunity to achieve their full career potential “trying to reduce the gap between the races in the civil service” will continue to be a fruitless exercise.

FAIR & JUST,
Kuala Lumpur.