A war of words erupted in the Penang state legislative assembly today between ruling Pakatan Rakyat and opposition Barisan Nasional assemblypersons.

The fireworks started when Deputy Chief Minister (II) Dr P Ramasamy accused the Umno-controlled Public Service Department (PSD) of 'tearing up' job application forms submitted by non-Malays.

penang land scam 290708 p ramasamy According to the former UKM lecturer, this was among the tactics employed by the Umno-dominated government to stop non-Malays from joining the public service and to ensure that the government sector is controlled by one community.

"It's a lie that non-Malays lack interest in joining the government sector. The truth is they were denied the chance to join," he said in response to a written question.

"There are instances when government officers have torn application forms of non-Malays," he added, drawing flak from the opposition.

'Wild accusations'

At this point, Jasmin Mohamad (Umno-Sungai Dua) lashed out at Ramasamy for making 'wild accusations'.

However, the deputy chief minister insisted that his argument was based on facts unearthed during his own research on the lack of non-Malay participation in the public service.

public service sector in penang racial breakdown 131108 When Jasmin stood up to reply, he was stopped by Speaker Abdul Hamil Hussain who allowed Ramasamy to continue with his reply to the written question submitted by RS Nethaji Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima).

Rayer had asked for the percentage of participation in the public sector among all ethnic groups and the steps taken by the state government to verify and correct the imbalance at the state level.

According to statistics disclosed by Ramasamy, the public service sector in Penang has a total of 7,092 employees, with 5,812 Malays (81.95%), 916 Indians (12.92%) and 358 Chinese (5.05%).

The state public administration has 2,886 Malays (92.16%), 165 Indians (5.27%) and 79 Chinese (2.52%).

Statutory bodies have 191 Malays (71.54%), 46 Chinese (17.22%) and 30 Indians (11.24%), while local municipalities have 2,735 Malays (74.1%), 721 Indians (19.5%) and 233 Chinese (6.3%).

'Change your mindset'

Blaming Umno for creating racial barriers and communal divisions in the country, Ramasamy held the party's political dominance since independence and racial politics responsible for the lack of participation among non-Malays in the public service.

His suggestion to Umno leaders and members to change their mindset and come out from their 'racial shells' incurred the wrath of Shahbudin Yahya (Umno-Permatang Berangan).

breakdown of public service sector in penang 131108 Shahbudin criticised the deputy chief minister of being 'irresponsible' and disagreed that Umno was responsible for the ethnic imbalance in the public sector.

"There are procedures to follow such as applicants should submit applications and attend interviews. But statistics show that most non-Malays are uninterested in joining public sector," he said.

At this juncture, Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Datuk Keramat) popped out of his chair to highlight to the speaker that the Umno assemblyperson had violated Section 3C of the House Standing Orders by hurting a representative with scornful remarks.

Jagdeep even read out the section which states that an elected representative is prohibited from issuing statements or words that can hurt the feelings or sentiments of another respresentative.

Following this, a verbal tussle broke out between Jagdeep and Shahbudin, who demanded the DAP assemblyperson to explain how his words had hurt the feelings of Ramasamy.

The speaker then interjected and told both of them to sit down to allow the House proceedings to continue.

Study will be conducted

Later, Ramasamy explained to the House that the state government would conduct a study to implement a new policy to rectify the ethnic and gender imbalanaces in public employment based on meritocracy.

To a question by Umno's Azhar Ibrahim (Penaga) on whether a similar plan would be extended to the private sector, Ramasamy assured the state government's commitment to wipe out racial and gender discrimination in all sectors.

When Azhar demanded for the state government to unveil its plan in the next assembly sitting, Ramasamy hit back that the opposition was not qualified to give a time frame for the new Pakatan government to resolve an issue.

The problem was created, maintained and remained unaddressed during the past 50-year rule by Umno-led BN administration, he noted.