The Malay Economic Action Council has urged the federal government to monitor the racial composition of the workforce in the private sector and the salaries that they earn so that wealth of these private sector enterprises can be better distributed amongst the workforce.
This proposal can be seen as desperate because there is a large pool of young unemployed university and college graduates who are still unemployed after completing their courses. But as they urge the federal government to do this, have we stopped to ask ourselves whether the federal government itself is practising what these NGOs are urging it to enforce?
For the sake of filling up a racial quota, a non-Malay is appointed or taken in at the lower levels of entry into the civil service. This non-Malay position is usually a position in which one can’t move up much.
Most of these positions are taken up by the Indians because they still seem very much interested in civil service appointments just like their Malay brethren. The younger generation of the Chinese are not interested because for the long term, they know very well that the Malays in the service would not want them there.
This is a very common phenomenon in the civil service workforce, the higher a non-Malay is qualified the more difficult it will be for them to move up the ladder because such a system is all part and parcel of the grand design in which our entire form of governance is based. Therefore if the civil service prefers the Malays for the top positions in its various departments and levels of governance and management, why can’t the private sector favour the non-Malays?
We can’t force the private sector to show an ethnic mix because the private sector is not welfare based, it is driven by performance and with performance comes productivity and with productivity comes bigger monetary gains for the sector. When we talk about performance, we don’t see the race and religion of the individual, if the individual can perform in accordance to the demands of his job responsibility, the race and religion is not a concern at all.
Have we stopped to think why we need to seek the assistance of a Bangladeshi petrol station supervisor or counter clerk as opposed to our own local unemployed youth? It is all because of the performance and ability. The Bangladeshis are willing to do it whereas our youth just don't seem to be bothered.
Can we then ask the government of the day to implement policies that will force employers to hire workers based on race and pay them a handsome salary, even though they are incapable and unable to perform?
We talk about seeking the public-listed companies to give better salaries to those that are in the lower rungs of its employment hierarchy but have we thought that these companies have the shareholders to answer to when it comes to the performance of the company?
They may have a corporate social responsibility but this comes after the company had reached a certain level of success where it starts to contribute back to society is some way, which will usually be in the form of training of youth to join its workforce or to give back to the environment and to the community that helped it prosper.
Better to go to the source
Therefore instead of pressuring the government of the day to pressure the private sector to hire based on some social agenda, it will be better if our NGOs go the source, which is none other than our education system which creates youths who are unable to meet the requirements set out by today’s employers.
Our prime minister talks about diversity in policies of listed companies and that these companies should consider showing the demographic breakdown of the employees to the public so that urgings for ethnic mix in its workforce will not be getting louder and louder, but has the prime minister stopped to consider whether his government is leading by example?
Lets take the Education Ministry as an example. What we seem to see today is when a non-Malay head teacher retires, the replacement is usually a Malay head teacher who is due for promotion coming from some school nearby.
The question is why can't another non-Malay senior assistant be promoted to that position? Why must the non-Malay only be offered an acting post till that individual nears the retirement month before he is sent off? Aren’t they qualified? Aren’t they capable? Therefore if the government wants best practice to be implemented, it, too, must do the same!
If the government wants the public to question the private sector when its annual reports are published as to whether they practice racial profiling, then can the public ask if we can do the same to the government? Please let’s not forget that we are supposed to be practising democracy, where we the people vote to form the government and the government is supposed to be answerable to us!
Therefore let’s not simply jump the gun by blaming the private sector that it practices racial bias when hiring and paying when the government, too, does the same thing when it comes to hiring and promotions. If we need to see change, then let it start from the top.
This country is lagging behind because we don’t seem to be admitting that we cover our weaknesses by using the shield of called ‘race and religion’. Whilst we still have the talent, we need to tap into it fast and promote based on merit. Race and religion are what makes us and we can’t escape that, but we need to acknowledge that our strength is our diversity and if we still ignore this, it will be our loss whilst our neighbours gain from our talents.
