Wednesday, January 2, 2013

More non-malay in civil service



I was rather amused to read ‘More non-Malays  joining civil service’ in the dailies. The Chairman of Public Service Commission (PSC) Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said more non-Malays are applying to join the civil service. It is an irony to say that the non-Malays are joining the civil service in recent times only.

In fact, there has always been interest among many non-malays to join the government, especially with the economic downturn in recent times. Thousands of non-Malays have applied all these years to join the civil service, whether the local government or the federal government. Their applications always do not receive attention as many of them were not even called for interviews by the PSC.The non-Malays were always the prominent civil servants since the nation achieved independence. This a fact that cannot be refuted by any quarters. 

If there is an increase of interest among the non-Malays, fine, it is a positive sign. Then, the interest should be reflected in the number of non-Malay staff employed in the government machinery. The increase in the recruitment of non-Malay staff should be in proportion with the Malay counterparts.

At times, when we drop in at any government departments or agencies, we are surprised to see that the entire population of the staff are of one race only. This contradicts the noble 1Malaysia concept promoted by our Prime Minister.  Such an imbalance situation does not augurs well with the philosophy of 1Malaysia concept.

Non-Malays should not only recruited for the lower ranks in the government but also at managerial positions as we see the higher positions are dominated by one community only. We need a balanced civil service in the government machinery.

We are all the citizens of the country irrespective of our racial background. I strongly disagree with the terms like non-Malay and Malay as these are obstacles to achieve solidarity and unity among Malaysians. We are one, like flowers of one garden and leaves of one branch. This is the strength of the nation. So let us benefit from this strength and not split hairs because of the diversity of nation’s multiracial population.