What happened to the ‘Borneonisation’ of our ‘lopsided’ Civil Service?
While we wish Dr. Chin a happy retirement, we cannot help but question why the State Health Director’s position cannot be filled by another Sarawakian.
https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/dr-mohamed-sapian-is-sarawak-health-director/
When Sarawak joined in the formation of Malaysia together with Malaya, ‘Borneonisation of the public service’ in the state was an objective of the Federation of Malaysia as stated in the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962 and recognised in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Article 153 of the Federal Constitution requires that the natives of Sabah and Sarawak be treated in the same way as Malays in respect of reservation of quotas in the public service.
Article 39 of the Sarawak Constitution requires the Yang di-Pertua Negeri to ensure the reservation of offices in the public service to natives of such proportion as he deems reasonable.
However, today, anyone who has ever walked into any government department in Sarawak will tell you that ‘Borneonisation’ has been replaced by ‘Malayanisation’ if not ‘Malay-nisation’.
In fact, a cursory glance at the administration will tell us all that we need to know, about discrimination, if not racism while ‘Borneonisation’ has been replaced by ‘Malayanisation’.
Flashback to the early years of Malaysia when Kuala Lumpur tried to impose its ‘Malayanisation’ agenda on Sarawak, the then Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak stated, “The IGC is a bible in as far as (our) entry into Malaysia is concerned.” It was understood that no state or federal government had the mandate to change these conditions.
Thus, Bornean political leaders referred to the agreed conditions as clauses of a treaty which must be honoured, in words and practice ‘in the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63)’. In Sarawak the Inter-Governmental Committee Report was widely regarded as a treaty.
Hence, the depth of Bornean feeling could only be ignored at great risk, more so now when ‘cries for independence’ are growing louder and louder due to the blatantly unfair treatment by the Federal Government which runs contrary to the spirit of MA63 – the perceived lack of ‘Borneonisation of the Civil Service being one of the sore issues after 58 years since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
Of course, our State Leaders cannot be excused for pretending that they have no control over ‘Federal appointments’. As Kingmakers in the PN Federal Government there is always an even better reason for YAB CM and GPS Leaders to be able to get ‘what we want’ or more precisely, to get what Sarawak rightfully deserves.
Which eligible Sarawakian Medical professional doesn’t wish to be considered for the post of State Health Director? Were any Sarawakian names even being forwarded to PutraJaya for consideration, taking into account that the outgoing State Health Director’s retirement was already public knowledge?
Surely the grooming of potential candidates for the top post would have been an integral part of the ‘continuous process’ of human resource development.
Abang Jo’s statement that “the state government’s main agenda was to safeguard Sarawak’s interests and protect its rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and Malaysia Agreement” is admirable, but perhaps, before asking Sarawakians to do likewise, he as Sarawak CM should explain why there appears to be no ‘lobbying’ for a Sarawakian to occupy the vacant top position of State Health Director – with due respect to Datuk Dr Mohamed Sapian Mohamed and MOH DG Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah ?
Whatever has happened to ‘protecting and safeguarding Sarawak’s rights and interests’, including appointments at Senior Ministry level as in the case of our Sarawak Health Director? If our GPS State Government wants to play the ‘one country two systems’ card, this is the best time to do it – for Fairland Sarawak.
Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr. James Jemut Masing, Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi, Prof. Dato Sri Dr. Sim Kui Hian, Datuk Amar Michael Manyin anak Jawong, Datu Dr. Penguang anak Manggil ‘dan lain-lain’ – you are the distinguished leaders in the corridors of Sarawak’s Government.
Surely you cannot remain oblivious to the facts or are you deliberately looking the other way ?
That said, if it had been done before, what is stopping you from ‘advising’ YAB CM to persuade Putajaya to continue the tradition of ‘giving back to Sarawak what belongs to Sarawak’ ?
May we respectfully remind you that the previous State Health Directors
( formerly known as State Medical Director of Sarawak) were all ‘home-based’ Sarawakians. ( except for Datu Dr. Zulkifli* )
The illustrious sons and daughters of Sarawak who had distinguished themselves as State Health Directors were :-
Professor Dr Chong Chung Hian
Datuk Dr Tan Yaw Kwang,
Dr Stanley Hardin,
Dr Yao Sik King
Dr Yao Sik Chi
Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan*
Professor Datu Dr Andrew Kiyu
Dr Jamilah Hashim
Dr Chin Zin Hing
*Dr Zulkifli Jantan (from Selangor) was posted to Sarawak after graduating in medicine from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1981. In his own words - “I was posted to Kuching as a houseman and stayed here until now,”
When asked on his plan after retirement, he said he would continue to stay here as his family members all preferred to stay here. ( Borneo Post June 7th 2016)
We have yet to recover much from what Sarawak had lost or given away yet we are still conceding more ground in our bid to recover lost ground.
Sounds confusing, if not silly, doesn’t it ?
Sarawakians expect more from the GPS State Government which keeps over-promising to ‘protect and safeguard Sarawak’s rights and interests’ but continues to fall short when it comes to the crunch ?
Doesn’t that remind us of the saying – “cakap tidak serupa bikin” ?
This does not seem to auger well for Sarawak towards regaining our rights under MA63 if our State Government were to continue being subservient, if not pandering to Putrajaya’s wishes.
Faced with ‘big brother’ in Putrajaya, is it a case of acting like buffalos - what else to do, but follow ?
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