YOURSAY | ‘The government is not adopting an inclusive policy.’

How minorities are underrepresented in the civil service

Existential Turd: Special Functions Minister Abd Latiff Ahmad said that civil servants are recruited based on "merit and competency" to ensure only the best are selected.

"There are no race-based quotas for recruitment and promotions. All Malaysians have the same opportunity to be considered based on open and fair competition," he said.

If the reverse lopsided statistics occur in the private sector, would Abd Latiff accept his own explanation?

The truth is, no effort is spared to help the majority in the private sector, but the lack of minority representation in the public sector is dismissed as "they are not interested" or "they are not qualified" on account of their less-than-perfect command of Bahasa Malaysia.

The only "merit" that counts is their command of BM, not competence, not ethics.

Recall that one of the pillars of New Economic Policy (NEP) was to re-engineer the society so that no single race dominates in any sector.

Pathfinder: Affirmative action is a fact of life in Malaysia. Look at the Malay graduates today. There is no way that they can compete if it was based on merit only. Quotas are still needed to help the Malays.

We might as well make affirmative action work properly so that only capable Malays get the job, and work on creating more capable Malays.

This composition is also reflected in many government-linked companies (GLCs) too.

In many GLCs, Malays dominate all levels but there will be a smidge of non-Malays at the middle management level because they are needed to do the actual day-to-day management, strategy, and operations.

The top levels are almost all well-connected Malay elites - sons and daughters of so-and-so. The lower levels are overwhelmingly Malays, throngs of fodder from Mara and other local universities.

Siva1967: We can understand that the impetus would be to slide towards your own kind.

But here in Malaysia, we have labelled each other based on race. After more than 60 years, and unless there is a genuine will to change this, we will not be able to overcome this problem.

My take on the issue is - it’s okay to filter potential candidates based on race, using the race composition of the country to come up with a quota or something.

This should be the initial criteria, however once one is already in the system, the criteria for promotion or occupying a higher or senior level position should be based on merit and not race.

Only the best in the department or company be promoted to the highest office, not the race, religion or the colour of one's skin.

Cuepacs: Seputeh MP never did anything on 'ethnic imbalance' while in govt

Vijay47: What a pathetic man you are, Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat.

The issue of the overwhelming dominance of Malays in the civil service is not a state secret, it has even been proudly revealed in Parliament when we were reminded that selection of government servants is based on merit. Yeah, sure.

Why are you viewing Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s call for racial balance in the civil service as a personal affront to you?

As Cuepac's president, you should be concerned with the working conditions and well-being of those under your concern, not consider things from a racial perspective and be another useless politician.

Such is the quality of the Umno government and the total mess they created over 60 years that 22 months of Pakatan Harapan change could hardly make any substantial impact.

And cunningly, you suggest that Teresa Kok had not been attending to her responsibilities.

Please remember, Adnan Mat, not everybody has four coffee breaks a day. By the way, when do you retire? You may be considered for appointment as a GLC head.

Nash: If Teresa Kok were to touch on the racial imbalance in civil servants during the Harapan era, I assure you, it will provide ammunition to BN and protests would be held.

Most civil servants during the Harapan era were stressed out because they cannot 'cari makan' - duit kopi dried up, cannot mark up prices involving government spending, no claim without proof, and budget scrutinised to avoid wastage.

If you were negatively impacted by this, then for all intents, you are the bad apple here.

Our government jobs are not balanced. Some sectors have more than required (how many directors and assistants does a department need?) while some don't have enough.

Teresa Kok said the civil servants are racially imbalanced and that is true. It’s not politics, that's a fact.

The Cuepac president seems very disturbed by the statement made by Teresa Kok. Is he uncomfortable when she called the right thing out?

MarioT: So, over 60 years of lopsided recruitment policies are expected to be handled and resolved by Harapan in 22 months?

This is the usual outburst of these so-called unionists without seeing the genuine concerns raised by the MP.

A bloated civil service monopolised by one race has led to gross discrepancies and abuses of power.

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