Press Statement By Chong Chieng Jen:
After 59 years of formation of Malaysia, there exists a gross disproportion in the high positions in civil service held by Sabahans and Sarawakians as compared to our counterparts from West Malaysians.
Two days ago (7.3.2022), I received an answer from the Prime Minister to a question submitted by me. I asked the question on the number of civil servants holding the positions of Grade 54 and above and a breakdown of the respective states that these civil servants are from.
The answer revealed that as at 16.2.2022, excluding the Police and Armed Forces, there were a total 25,947 in the civil service holding the position of Grade 54 and above and their respective states of origin are as following in the table.
Out of a total number of 25,947 civil servants holding Grade 54 and above, there are only 1,040 (4.01%) from Sarawak and 747 (2.88%) from Sabah.
According to the census conducted in 2020, the total population of Malaysia was 32.37 million. Sarawak’s population was 2.90 million (9% of total population) and that of Sabah was 3.88 million (12% of total population).
With a population which constitute 9% of the country’s total population, Sarawakians only constitutes 4.01% of the total number of civil servants holding the positions of Grade 54 and above in the country. And for Sabah, even worse, with 12% of the total population of the country, Sabahan only constitutes 2.88% of the total number of civil servants holding positions of Grade 54 and above. THIS IS GROSS DISPROPORTION AND GREAT INJUSTICE TO US FROM SABAH AND SARAWAK.
Are Sabahan and Sarawakians generally inferior and unfit for these high positions in the civil service? Or is there some systemic discrimination in the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam that side-lined Sarawakians and Sabahans all these years?
The GPS and its predecessor the Sarawak BarisanNasional were part of the Federal Government for the past 59 years with the exception of the 22 months of PH Government. How could they allow such injustice and disproportionality be perpetrated for so long? Why is it that this was never brought up or even mentioned by the GPS Government when GPS claims that it is now the king-maker of the Federal Government?
In fact, the GPS should make it its top priority to rectify such imbalance within the civil service, instead of embarking on the agenda of changing the title of “Chief Minister” to “Premier”.
Such imbalance in civil service is Rakyat’s problem, whereas the title “Chief Minister” or “Premier” is merely to satisfy the ego of certain personalities, not the problem of the Rakyat.
The implication and effect of insufficient Sarawakians holding the position of Grade 54 and above is not only a matter of less career opportunities for Sarawakian, but it affects the implementation of federal government policies across the country.
Those holding Grade 54 and above wield huge power in government, because they are mostly heads of departments or those holding important decision-making positions in government departments. As such, they are in fact the de facto policy-makers and implementors. By having less than proportionate representation in these positions, it is no wonder that the interests and rights of Sarawak and Sabah are consistently and constantly being disregarded.
Therefore, I demand that the Prime Minister in his winding up next week to state:
1.whether there is plan on the part of the Federal Government to right the wrong by increasing the number of Sabahan and Sarawakians government servants of Grade 54 and above so that the number is proportionate to the population of the 2 states in the Federation?
2.If so, what is the plan and the timeline for the implementation of such plan?
Chong Chieng Jen
Member of Parliament for Stampin
