your say ‘Malaysia with a population of only 28 million has a civil service workforce of 1.2 million - just imagine how colossal the pension figures will be.’

Malay-dominated civil service no good to no one

Phan Gaik Cher: Non-Malays would be mad to join the civil service which is hopelessly inefficient and corrupt. You just have to visit any government department - you may have rows and rows of counters but only one or two are manned and the staff are taking their own sweet time attending to their duties.

Most of them are either at meetings/training/seminars/tea breaks. This is the reason why Malaysia with a population of only 28 million has a civil service workforce of 1.2 million - one civil servant for every 23 people despite advanced information technology.

Just imagine how colossal the pension figures are and soon the government will go broke just paying pensions. And salaries are increased at the whims and fancies of politicians - take the recent case of a pay rise for the police force - didn’t they just receive a 65% hike? Why another round of increase?

Mr KJ John: The writer has said it honestly and truthfully. I confirm the sentiments of all you said and that was my actual experience of the public service from 1972 - 1996 when I was seconded to a government-linked company (GLC).    

Mahendran: This article summarises the problem that is endemic not only in civil service but also in many other areas such as the GLCs etc. We are all of one nation. Malaysians are the only way we should look at ourselves. Every other label is secondary.        

CD: A well-argued, truthful article. As the sole non-Malay senior management staff of my government-linked company, I feel every bit of what you have mentioned daily. I do hope the powers-that-be can are listening to you.

Yap Wing Chun:

Which ambitious brain would want to join the civil service when you know you cannot be promoted based on merit and ability? Need one explain the ‘brain drain’ of our youngsters which is benefitting the economies of Australia, Singapore, etc?        

Client: My fellow good-hearted rakyat irrespective of  religion and race, I was a victim way back during ‘Operasi Isi Penuh’ because of my skin colour. I was, in fact, dying to get the job after my MCE exam to help my parents and siblings. Sad to say, I never made it to the civil service. I promised myself my children would not suffer the same fate.

Ong:

Shagul Hamid Abdullah claims that non-Malays have shown little interest in working in the public sector and that discriminatory career prospects is a 'perception'.  The writer politely disputes his contentions. I on the other hand call Shagul either a liar or at best, ignorant.

I, too, was a civil servant, a very senior one when I resigned. When I was filling vacancies for labourers, two officers, always Malays, would be sent to 'help' me. They would gang up against me, two against one and always insist (to be ‘fair’ in a polite manner) that the Malay candidates are better than the non-Malays. These Malay civil servants even grab all the lowest government jobs for fellow Malays.

P Dev Anand Pillai:

What the writer describes is what many non-Malays in the civil service have gone through since the 1980s. It is has come to a point that any smart non-Malay teenager would tell you that it is a waste of time to apply for a place in the civil service if one is not from the main race.

If this administration is really serious about its ‘1Malaysia’ concept, then let’s see it being implemented. Lets see a non-Malay vice-chancellor, let’s see a non-Malay inspector-general of police, let’s see a non-Malay chief judge being appointed. If this happens, then we may see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what this whole slogan and rallying call is all about is nothing but another route to gain power and thereafter it will be back to the same status quo.

Unless and until the Malays are allowed to think out of the box and to have a different opinion without being ostracised, Malaysia will be on its way to become a feudalistic banana republic.

Ksn: My view is give 50% of the places in the civil service to the bumiputra, 30% to the Chinese, 10% to the Indians and the remaining 10% to others which reflect our racial population composition. What happened was that 70% was given to bumis under the NEP.

The civil service serves the people of the various races and when the public visits government departments for various services, what they see is all are from one race.What does one expect them to feel? No clarification is necessary here and perception is indeed the truth. And while this exercise was going for the last 40 years, our MCA and MIC and Gerakan slept through all along.

Now that the landscape has changed beyond recognition, how do you correct the sad injustice inflicted on the non-Malays? Even if the BN has the stomach to do so, it cannot complete the job in one generation. So imagine the magnitude of this injustice.

SusahKes:

First of all, the tendency to ‘deny the existence of problems’ is no longer a symptom unique to the government only. The fact that Shagul's opinion appeared in ‘The Star’, clearly shows that the denial syndrome had long gripped all of Umno's support team and lackeys.

Try telling ‘The Star’ that an opinion exists that differs from theirs. Even the GLCs practice this discrimination. How many CEOs/CFOs/heads of department are non-Malays? Trust me when I say that many good non-Malay staff are by-passed when it comes to promotions.

Abc123:

Let see if ‘The Star’ re-publishes this article. Any bets?