It is encouraging that the Public Service Commission(PSC) will now study
the reasons for the poor number of applications from Non Bumiputras for
public and civil service jobs.
I would like to congratulate the new Chairman of the PSC Tan Sri Mahmood
Adam for his prestigious appointment and for taking this constructive
initiative to institute a Study which has been long overdue , so soon he
assumed duty on May 31st .
He has said that out of the 1.1 million applicants for government posts ,
Chinese and Indians made up only 5% ! He stated that this big
difference in the application ratio has been the trend since 2009.
However I believe that this has been a steady decline in this
application ratio for a long time since even 1970 .
I would also ask my former colleague Tan Sri Mahmood to please check on
the accuracy of this ratio and declining trend as many Non Bumi
applications could have been excluded in compiling the statistics I hope
that these statistics will be made public , as the Civil Service List
is no longer published .
WHY?
The PSC should be more transparent and address the common questions
raised by the public. For instance , why would Non Malays not want to
apply to join the public service ?
The PSC thinks that it could be because of the lack of awareness about
civil service jobs or that it is not attractive enough for them. But how
can they be unaware of civil service jobs when these jobs are
presumably advertised widely ? And today , after so many generous salary
improvements and attractive terms of service , the civil service is
pretty well paid and even pampered at some levels ?
Furthermore with so many unemployed graduates , why would they not apply
for government jobs ? Could it be because they feel , at there is no
point in applying for government jobs , after repeated rejections ?
After all Govt jobs offer unique experiences which can stand them in
good stead , if they want to join the private sector later in their
career ?
Monopolized
Actually I believe that there are strong perceptions among many Non
Bumis that the Public Service is monopolised by the Bumis and that it is
meant mainly for them . Non Bumis hear about the low recruitment rates
for Non Bumis and the poorer prospects of promotions for Non Bumis .
They believe that even when they are promoted , the promotion posts are
not the more attractive nor professionally satisfying jobs .
Having been a former senior civil servant , I am therefore very
interested in maintaining the high standards of the public service,
which is the` tulang balakang `or backbone of the whole Government
administration. The above comments are therefore my sincere feedback to
the PSC for their study to improve the public service to more
effectively respond to our Prime Minister's call , to serve the People
First and to Perform now .
But I hope that the PSC Study will be undertaken by an Independent Panel
which would include all major stake holders in a balanced manner , to
have greater public credibility and acceptability .
The recruitment into the public service in the past when I joined the
service , was based on a Ratio of 4 Bumis to 1 Non Bumi . That
reasonable ratio is now no more . Hence we see a vastly dominated Bumi
public service which could in time lose its Malaysian character . This
would reduce its ability to empathetically serve a more sophisticated
multiracial and multi religious society in the future
I would also request the Government to re-introduce the former ethnic
ratios for recruitment into the public service , including the teaching
profession. Then the unbalanced ethnic composition of the present public
service will be rectified , resulting in greater national unity and
peace and stability in our beloved country
Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam is Chairman Asli Center of Public Policy Studies
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