SPECIAL RECRUITMENT DRIVE TO GET NON-BUMI TO JOIN POLICE
KUALA LUMPUR: Police will conduct a special recruitment drive to encourage more non-Bumiputeras to apply to become constables.
Federal Police Management director Datuk Seri Ramli Din said in an unprecedented move, they decided to launch a special two-week recruitment drive, starting March 18, after finding low non-Bumiputera participation in its recent intake.
He said the department had made special requests to the Public Service Department (PSD) to relax the acceptance criteria.
“Among the obvious reasons is that many non-Bumiputeras do not qualify because they don’t have at least two credits, including for Bahasa Malaysia, in their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“But in this special intake, the applicants are required to have only one credit in any of the SPM subjects to be eligible for the constable position,” he told a press conference at Bukit Aman yesterday.
He said the recruitment was namely for Grade YA1 (men and women) and Grade YP1 (native Orang Asli men and women), and people could apply via the department’s website.
“Interviews will be carried out at designated police headquarters in major cities and towns nationwide starting from March 18 till 31.
“Those who qualify and pass the interview will be notified via post whereas those who fail will be told on the spot. For those who pass the interview, physical and medical assessments, they can expect their Constable 2021 intake training session to start in June,” Ramli said, adding that it was a good opportunity for the non-Bumiputeras to join the police force.
He added that priority would be given to those who qualify in the basic assessments and were able to converse well in their mother tongue.
“We have requested the PSD to loosen the requirements from two credits to just one in any of the subjects.
“For this intake we are giving them a chance to re-sit the Bahasa Malaysia SPM paper and get a credit in it, within the first six years of joining the force.
“If they still do not get a credit in the Bahasa Malaysia SPM examination after six years, they will be terminated from the force.”
At present, he said nearly 80 per cent of the police force were Malays and Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak.
“To be more precise, at the moment there are only 2.9 per cent or 3,422 Indians, 1,959 Chinese or 1.66 per cent, and 18,929 or 16.06 per cent others,” Ramli said.
When asked if the constable recruitment for non-Bumiputeras had any quota to fulfil, Ramli said there was no specific quota but generally there were fewer non-Bumiputeras, especially the Chinese, joining the force in recent years.
“A constable would get a basic salary of RM1,441, followed by allowances such as housing (RM300), public service allowance (RM115), cost of living allowance (RM350) and special police allowance (RM200).
“If they are posted to a specific department, for instance, the constable is posted to the General Operations Force (GOF), there he would receive a special GOF allowance of RM400. For a detective, it is RM300 and for the traffic department, it is RM200 extra, monthly.”
Ramli also said the department had identified a decline in the number of new recruits from the Orang Asli community.
“It was brought to our attention that in the past many Orang Asli who had applied to the force were disqualified because of their height.
“The natives are small in size and many may not meet the height criteria set by the PSD. But this time, the police department has made a special request to lower the height requirement for those interested and eligible.”
He said in the past, the height requirement for women used to be 1.57m but this time they have lowered it to 1.55m to allow more applicants to participate in the constable intake interview.