Top posts in Sarawak still ‘colonised’ by Orang Malaya

Many top posts in Federal government departments and agencies in Sarawak are still being dominated by non-Sarawakians despite the fact that there are qualified Sarawakians to hold the positions.

Highly-qualified Sarawakians have been denied the opportunity to become department heads because Putrajaya had continued to transfer Malayans to Sarawak to head these federal departments.

Inside the Malaysia Agreement 1963, there is a clause on the 'Borneonisation' of the civil service in the east Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah.

There is a general agreement that Sarawakians and Sabahans would head the civil service departments and agencies in the two states, including state and federal departments.

However, until today, the highest posts of federal departments and agencies in Sarawak are not headed by Sarawakians.

These top posts are held by civil servants transferred from Malaya while Sarawakians are only given lower ranking positions to fill.

So who can blame Sarawakians if they have been very unhappy about such an unfair Malayan-centric policy which deprives them of moving up the ladder to be top decision-makers in these departments and agencies.

Indeed, it must be repeatedly mentioned that there are many capable and highly-qualified Sarawakians who can head these departments but because of the prejudices from Putrajaya, they are denied their rightful place.

This Borneonisation of the civil service in Sarawak has not been realised despite Sarawak and Sabah being equal partners in Malaysia.

The Barisan Nasional component parties in Sarawak need to raise this matter with Putrajaya to correct this situation.

It is high time to have a re-look into the clauses of the Malaysia Agreement so that Sarawak would be given fairer deal as was agreed during the formation of Malaysia.

The BN components in Sarawak - Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) - must demand that the civil service in Sarawak be controlled by Sarawakians who are more familiar with local issues.

There are eight Sarawakian Cabinet ministers in Putrajaya at the moment. Have they ever spoken to the prime about this important matter – to give qualified Sarawakians the opportunity to head federal departments and agencies in the state?

And Prime Minister Najib Razak himself has been talking about granting more autonomy to Sarawak.

Why not start with letting Sarawakians head all the federal departments and agencies in the state? Many are deserving of the positions, you know. It’s only fair to give them what they deserve.

by S Thomas