Dr Sim wants more Chinese joining the public sector

KUCHING: A state cabinet minister wants to see more Chinese joining the civil service for a healthy racial composition in the public sector.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said a fairer racial composition in the civil service would better reflect the multi-racial and multicultural society like Sarawak and Malaysia.

“Many people say that the Chinese can just go into business but you should not forget who would be issuing trading licences to you and who are going to teach your children. We must look to the future and as such we do not want to see only the Chinese in the business sector and Bumiputeras in the public sector,” he said when officiating at a talk entitled ‘Tips and Guidelines on Entering Public Services’ held at City Square here yesterday.

Dr Sim said more than 10,000 Sarawakians applied for jobs in the state civil service last year.

Of the total applicants, only 1,000 were Chinese, he added.

“Chinese make up about 23 per cent of the total population and yet only 10 per cent of the total applicants last year were Chinese. Based on the population, it should be 2,300 Chinese applicants,” he asserted.

If the Chinese community still continued to shy away from serving the public sector, he said they would not find any government officers speaking Mandarin particularly at the local councils. He hoped that the Chinese would start altering their mindset instead of seeing the civil service as their last option when it came to seeking employment.

Dr Sim said he also wanted more Sarawakians to serve as federal civil servants.

“Federal civil servants are different from state civil servants. In Malaysia, there are 49,000 teachers and 26,000 others with the Health Ministry, all of whom are federal civil servants.

“Whereas in Sarawak, my ministry - the second biggest in terms of number after the Chief Minister’s Office - has only about 5,000 state civil servants,” he added.

He believed that “unnecessary misunderstanding” could be averted with a healthier racial composition in the public services.

“Today (the talk) marks just a beginning and the impact can be seen only in 10 to 15 years,” said Dr Sim.

The talk was organised by the Federation of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division Chinese Associations’ public relations section.

Two invited speakers were Public Services Commission (PSC) Sarawak branch secretary Matthew Dominic Barin and Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) deputy director Cornelia Wong.

Among those present was president of the federation Dato Richard Wee.