KUCHING, Sept 17: The top positions in the Sarawak Customs Department should be reserved for Sarawakians, says Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong in urging the federal government not to delay the appointment of a new State director, which has been left vacant for more than nine months.
Yong also demanded Sarawakians to hold the four deputy director posts, which at present are held by officers from Peninsular Malaysia.
“There are many qualified and credible Sarawakians who are fit for the State director post and assistant director posts.
“It is unacceptable for the government to leave the director post unfilled for such a long period since the retirement of the previous State director Herman Shah Abdullah and not let a single Sarawakian be the deputy director of Customs in Sarawak,” she raised in a statement today.
Yong thus questioned if some systematic discrimination in the Public Service Department sidelined Sarawakians in taking up high positions.
“It is obvious that there is a flaw in the appointment of top positions in our civil service.
“All these years, there has been a gross disproportion in terms of high positions in the federal civil service being held by Sarawakians, and the Public Service Department must seriously resolve this imbalance issue,” she emphasised.
If the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government, which claimed to be a ‘kingmaker’ of the Federal government, was serious about defending and fighting for Sarawakians’ rights, Yong said the post of Sarawak Custom director would not have been left vacant for nearly one year and that the four deputy director posts would have gone to Sarawakians.
“Unfortunately, we have a situation whereby Sarawak GPS allows such injustice and disproportionality to perpetrate for so long in the civil service.
“We need more Sarawakians to take up the high positions in the civil service to stop the interests and rights of Sarawak from being consistently and constantly disregarded,” she slammed. — DayakDaily
