Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Civil service must reflect Malaysia's - 10 Malaysian Chinese, 116 Malaysian Indians amongst 8,372 civil servants in Johor

Whenever we go to government departments - we find that the civil servants do not represent the peoples of Malaysia. Many departments also seem not to have Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians - let alone Malaysian orang asli.

The 8,372-strong [Johor] state civil service has only 10 Chinese and 116 Indians, an assemblyman pointed out.

Bentayan assemblyman Gwee Tong Hian said in terms of percentage, Indians and Chinese made up 1.39% and 0.12% respectively.- Star, 30/3/2010, Rep says state civil service has only 10 Chinese and 116 Indians
I wonder about the  State civil service, and Local Council staff in the Pakatan Rakyat States of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.

Language is still an issue especially with the elderly - and it would be good to have people in the various departments/offices of civil service that can speak the Chinese/Indian languages. 

Maybe the non-Malays are not interested. If so, why?

* There is a perception that even if you join the civil service, there is really not equal chances of promotions, etc. Promotions, it is believed, is not based on merits and capacity rather ethnicity, religion and more importantly one's 'connections' - be it political, etc..
* It is not that we are not interested - but we did not know of the vacancies, and procedures for application.

* The present composition of the civil service, i.e. almost 100% Malay is a put-off.

Najib talks about 1Malaysia - maybe it is time for changes in perception and policies to ensure that Malaysia's civil service is more reflective of Malaysia's people. I am not for quotas - so do not even consider setting ethnic quotas. Just start looking at Malaysians as Malaysians - not bothering at all with one's ethnicity, religion or gender.

JOHOR BARU: The 8,372-strong state civil service has only 10 Chinese and 116 Indians, an assemblyman pointed out.

Bentayan assemblyman Gwee Tong Hian said in terms of percentage, Indians and Chinese made up 1.39% and 0.12% respectively.

Gwee said the statistics were given to him in a written reply from Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

Gwee, who posted the reply on his blog, had asked the Mentri Besar at the state assembly sitting on the percentage of non-Malays in the state civil service and the measures to recruit more non-Malays.

Abdul Ghani revealed that in 2007, only five Indians applied for jobs in the civil service, with only two being short-listed and appointed.

There were no Chinese applicants that year.

In 2008, there were seven Indian applicants. Only four were appointed. As for Chinese applicants, only five applied, two were short-listed and appointed.

Abdul Ghani said the Johor Public Services Commission had received many applications that were now in the vetting and interview stages.

He said the commission had also taken initiatives to encourage non-Malays to join the civil service with programmes initiated by the state’s Economic Planning Unit and Jobstreet.com.

The commission was also taking steps to advertise vacancies in vernacular newspapers.
Gwee, when contacted, said he was shocked over the reply, adding that the numbers did not reflect the Prime Minister’s 1Malaysia concept.

“I find it hard to believe that non-Malays are not interested in government jobs as the salary and allowances are good,” he said.- .- Star, 30/3/2010, Rep says state civil service has only 10 Chinese and 116 Indians

For the police, Immigration, Labour Departments, Industrial Relations Department, hospitals, there also must be staff that can speak the language of the migrant workers in Malaysia - Burmese, Nepali, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, ... - if not it is very  difficult for the purpose of communication. How can they complain? How can they respond? ...and it is absurd to expect them to be fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese or Tamil. [Maybe, there should be a translator pool in every town, who could serve the various departments.







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