YOURSAY | Stop denying race factor in civil service recruitment

YOURSAY | 'Non-Malays stopped applying as they are not called for interviews.'

Civil service commission insists no racism in recruitment

Vijay47: Public Services Commission (PSC), your frantic defence of government service intake has about as much credibility as Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat’s statement. Believe me, that does not say much about either of you.

And members of the audience like PAS’ Razman Zakariah rushing to echo the call hardly do anything to strengthen your stand though his is accompanied by the inevitable religious slant.

At the pain of sounding repetitious, I will focus on some basic arguments you would offer, the most desperate being that much as the harvest is great, the non-Malay labourers are few.

Non-Malays simply do not apply.

How did this situation arise, especially since non-Malays had traditionally been keen on joining the civil service? Why did they suddenly stop trying?

Let me suggest an extremely minor cause - after years of applying, the non-Malays realised that almost none of them were being called for interviews and being selected, despite your assurance “there is no racial discrimination in the recruitment of civil servants”.

Thus, in sheer despair at the futility, the non-Malays stopped humiliating themselves further. Yeah, every non-Malay wants to work in Singapore, start billion-ringgit businesses, and stop playing football and hockey.

No doubt in your next statement, PSC, you will strut out your Mother Teresa defence, where the racial percentages of acceptance into service would be proudly presented.

You will state that fully 38 percent of non-Malays who applied were appointed, while the corresponding figure for Malays was a mere 23 percent.

Yeah sure. You conveniently forgot to mention that a total of 4,186 non-Malays were recruited while the figure for Malays was 89,752.

“No racial discrimination,” you say? What is the number of non-Malays in crucial positions, like in finance, defence, home affairs, and education? How many non-Malay secretaries-general, vice-chancellors, and professors are there?

Yeah, I know, for the latter two, you will piously lament they don’t fall under PSC.

With all this brilliance, merit and competence, including hundreds of PhDs every year, why do Malays still need crutches and walking sticks in every other area?

Siva1967: “PSC said in a statement that the method of appointing civil servants is transparent and based on the candidate’s merit and competence, adding that no quota was set for any particular race or ethnicity.”

The PSC expects the public to believe this. Please for heaven’s sake, as the Malay idiom goes “Jangan menegakan benang yang basah” (don’t try to uphold something wrong as right).

It is clear that the hiring and promotion within the civil service, including enforcement agencies, are skewed racially. There is no need for extensive, data capturing. There is no need for lengthy random surveys to be carried out.

A mere visual observation is enough to ascertain that only a single ethnicity dominates the public sector and then a few “dots” of other ethnics are “hired” as an eye wash and to chest thump that Malaysia is a multi-racial country and gives all its citizens equal opportunity and so on.

The statement issued is utter rubbish. My peers and I of the same generation had lost out tremendously simply due to the skewed unwritten policy. We lost not because we were not qualified, we lost not because we were not able to converse fluently in Malay. In fact, the opposite is more accurate.

Upon completing our Form 6 in 1986, after obtaining the STPM results in early 1987, I relentlessly tried to secure a job coming from a family of 90 percent government servants, the obvious path for me was the civil service.

This was due to the fact I had made the cut for a public university and my retired Public Works Department dad had no money to send me for private education.

My applications were sent to the KL City Council, Inland Revenue Board, police, armed forces, Health Ministry, Fire and Rescue Department, Forestry Department and whatnot. There were no responses from any of these agencies nor a letter of acknowledgement of receiving my applications.

However, my Malay peers, who had lesser qualifications and results than I and did not make it to either Form 6 or to the many Malay-dominated higher learning institutions and matriculation courses, landed jobs in some of the abovementioned agencies.

Many of my Malay friends in the late 80s received a spot in the civil service but I had to struggle to find a job.

This is how my generation had it in the early years of our lives. So please don’t try to hoodwink the public and say PSC did not discriminate in their hiring process.

Anonymous 10928: This is certainly a misuse of the civil service for one’s political interests or for the interests of a certain political party by reserving jobs for potential voters from a majority race.

Not only that, but they are also more obsessed with the promotions of civil servants to gain their support for certain political parties rather than for their services to the public.

No investigation done on this matter? Why was no action taken against those who commit this malpractice?

Isn’t it stated in the general orders for civil service that any decision made, or actions taken in the civil service is to be for the good of the service and the public and not to prioritise the gains for any civil servant or any particular political party?

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