Chong chides Fatimah of ‘trying to divert the real issue’
KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen is now accusing Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah of “trying to divert the real issue” following her clarification on the application of Wong Wang Yuen for a Mathematics teacher post.
The DAP Sarawak chairman, said Wong did not apply for any job advertised by the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department (Jais) given that she applied through all three websites namely Jobs Malaysia, Education Service Commission (SPP) and e-recruitment for the position ‘Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Gred DG41’.
“Ask any teacher in government schools and they will tell you that ‘Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Gred DG41’ is the position of a graduate teacher in government schools.
“As evidence, I am now providing images of printscreen of all Wong’s applications through the three websites for the position. Particular reference is made to her application through the e-recruitment website which Fatimah alleged that Wong was applying for a job advertised by Jais.
“In the printscreen of Wong’s application submitted through the e-recruitment website, there was no advertisement by Jais. She applied for the position ‘Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Gred DG41’, which is the position of a graduate teacher.
“How and why her application for the position ended up in Jais? Fatimah’s reply yesterday (Friday) has not cleared the query,” said Chong in a press statement yesterday.
He further asked why the state Education Department, in the recruitment of teachers teaching in Sarawak, gave priority to teachers from other states over a fellow Sarawakian who has all the necessary qualification.
In the statement, Wong is said to have a Master in Education.
Chong said Fatimah had ignored the question about “priority not given to Sarawakians for the government teaching posts teaching in Sarawak.”
He went on to disclose that the state Education Department had on Feb 3 sent a letter requesting for the posting of 600 teachers from other states to teach in Sarawak.
The reason given was that there was no qualified local Sarawakian teachers to take up the job, he said, quoting the letter.
He added that out of the 600 non-Sarawakian teachers requested, 64 were for Mathematics teachers.
“Yet, we have here in the case of Wong, a person who is holding a Master of Education (Mathematics Education) who has applied for the job but was not recruited by the government.”