DAP tightens screws on Perak MB

The DAP has challenged the Perak state government to restructure its civil service to better reflect the racial composition that exists there.

DAP national labour bureau chief A Sivanesan dared Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir to embark on this exercise by allocating non-Malays 49 percent of the posts available and the balance to the Malays.

"As it is now nearly 95 percent of the civil service jobs in the state has been given to Malays while the non-Malays are made to compete among themselves over the remaining five percent which is not fair," he said.

Sivanesan ( right ) then put forward his ratio of how the job opportunities in the civil service should be distributed among the non-Malays.

"It should be 33 percent for Chinese, 13 percent for Indians and three percent for Orang Asli," he said.

Sivanesan who was the executive councillor in charge of the health, environment and human resources post during the Pakatan state government rule, had compiled a working paper on the restructuring of the civil service in Perak last October but the state government collapsed this February and the plan was put in cold storage.

"Indians should be given civil jobs across the board from the management level, to support and labour levels, instead of just confining them to manual jobs," he said.

Quality over quantity argument

"Do you see any Indians now either in the top management posts of the civil service or government linked companies?" he asked.

"The Indian community is always eager to serve in the civil sector whereas the Chinese are not too keen as they prefer other lines of employment to earn a better living."

He sugggested that in the case where the state government is unable to fill the Chinese quota, it should go to the Indians and not reverted to the Malay community which would then make up 51 percent of the civil service.

The state government must place stress on quality of service instead of giving importance to the quantum of one race, said Sivanesan.

He said that the transformation of the present state civil service is a long process and the Barisn Nasional (BN) should start the ball rolling now since the state is under its control.

Turning to Zambry's ( above ) announcement at MIC state chief S Veerasingam's Deepavali celebrations last Sunday, that he will allocate about 800ha to grow palm oil to help the financial needs of the 134 Tamil schools in the state, Sivanesan dismissed it as a political stunt.

Copy cat flattery

He added it was aimed at fooling the Indian community that BN is finally doing something for their betterment.

"Furthermore he has copied the Pakatan's original idea of giving palm oil cultivation to Independent Chinese schools and Agama schools to make them financially independent," he added.

Sivanesan then proposed that the federal government acquire the land where the Tamil schools are situated under the Land Acquisition Act and make them fully-aided schools.

He claimed that the BN government had neglected the Indian community for the past 52 years while Indian schools had been suffering the same fate for a 100 years.

"It is about time that the BN corrected this economic imbalance that the community had suffered for ages," he added.