Civil service downsize ‘won’t affect OKU’
PETALING JAYA: The government’s plan to “right size” the civil service will not affect the 1% employment quota set aside for persons with disabilities (OKU), says Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The Deputy Prime Minister said these positions would continue to be preserved for OKU as the government aims to recruit more differently-able people.
Dr Wan Azizah said in line with the 11th Malaysia Plan, it was her fervent hope that all OKU were supported and encouraged to take part in shaping the nation’s development.
“It will not be affected because we want to hire more of them.
“Our aim is to fill up the quota for OKU in the civil service and we have taken measures towards this end.
“There are still vacancies available, so we want these positions to be filled up first,” she said after attending Malaysian Association for the Blind’s excellence achievement awards for the blind and visually impaired here yesterday.
In February, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad spoke in favour of downsizing the country’s 1.7 million civil service workforce.
Earlier in her speech, Dr Wan Azizah said that as of last year, almost 3,800 OKU, or 0.031%, had been appointed to a range of positions in the civil service.
“From some 700 applications received, only two visually impaired persons were successfully appointed,” said Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the Women, Family and Community Development Minister.
She also said her ministry had surpassed the 1% target, with OKU taking up 144 out of the 8,138 posts available.
“The Defence Ministry came in second with 0.98% of posts filled by OKUs while the Terengganu state secretariat office is third with 0.97% posts filled,” she said.
The policy on the 1% intake of OKU in the public sector was introduced in 1988 and implemented through service circulars in 2008 and 2010.
At the event, 38 outstanding blind and visually impaired persons received excellence awards for their achievements in the field of education, sports, music and entrepreneurship.