Gobind vows to absorb as many laid off civil servants as possible

KOTA KINABALU: Communications and Multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo vowed to absorb as many Special Affairs Department (JASA), Bernama and RTM civil servants as he can into his and other ministries.

He explained that absorption of JASA staff had been proposed in an earlier report made after Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s May announcement to disband non-essential agencies created by the previous government.

“An early report received, had proposed for the absorption of many employees into other positions in my ministry,” he said during his first official visit to Sabah KKM building in Kepayan here on Friday.

“So I have asked for a special report. To me, as far as I can, I will make sure that the government servants are absorbed to other divisions where they can continue with their duties there,” added Gobind.

When it comes to the fate of RTM and Bernama staff after a proposed merge, Gobind said their welfare is also a priority as layoffs could happen in this matter as well.

“We need to understand that it is only referred to the news segment only because Bernama is a news channel. RTM goes beyond news, RTM includes other segments,” he explained on the merge.

“We are now looking at how Bernama can be merged into the RTM news segment. There are a lot of interesting suggestions that have been put forth and ideas that have been highlighted,” said Gobind.

The Minister stressed that a working paper is still in the process of being prepared for the “very complicated” merge and is expected to be completed in “another month of two” for decision making.

“That (possible loss of job) is also a matter that has become priority to me. I understand that this is a matter that can happen. Therefore, in the process of bringing the proposal regarding how the merging process will happen, one of the matter that I look at seriously in terms of what will happen, whether we have a situation where we have extra workers because the work from two has become one,” he said.

“In that situation, I will make a proposal for the employees to also be absorbed into other divisions whether in RTM or other sectors. That is dependent on the final pitched proposal regarding this merging process,” added Gobind.