'Najib must explain marginalisation of Dayaks'
MalaysiaKini.com
Dec 1, 2014

Prime Minister Najib Razak has been called to make a ministerial statement in Parliament during this senate sitting to clarify the Dayak community's allegations of discrimination in the federal civil service.

"Najib should clarify the current controversy in Sarawak revolving around a  list of promotions, purportedly in the Sarawak Road Transport Department, which has sparked outrage among Dayak professionals and civil servants in the state over what they see as proof of discrimination against non-Malay bumiputeras in the federal civil service.

"The list, which has been posted on a blog and on Facebook, names eight Malay enforcement officers as successful in securing promotions from the N27 scale to N32, while three Dayak officers were listed as 'simpanan', or reserve.

"To Dayaks, the list confirms what they have felt all along and what has also been noted in the just-released Malaysia Human Development Report 2013 - that discrimination exists within the bumiputeras working in the civil service, with Malays given preference over natives," said Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang in a statement.

'An important part of the Malaysia Agreement'

He added that Najib should take this matter seriously as it is a part of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 that Sarawak and Sabah bumiputeras take charge of civil service in their states.

“The prime minister should take these grouses of Dayaks in Sarawak and the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut communities in Sabah about their inequitable representation in the federal civil service seriously, as this constitutes an important part of the Malaysian Agreement that Sarawak and Sabah bumiputeras take charge of the federal civil service in their states.”

Lim also said Najib should give full details on the representation of the Dayak, Kadazan, Dusun and Murut groups as well as the posts being held by them in the federal service during his ministerial statement.

“In his ministerial statement, Najib should not only give a full account of the process of Borneonisation of the federal civil service in Sarawak and Sabah in the past 51 years since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, stating the number of federal departments which are now headed by Sarawakians or Sabahans, but also the representation of Dayaks and Kadazan-Dusun-Murut groups in the overall federal service

“Najib should state the highest federal civil service posts ever held by Dayak and Kadazan/Dusun/Murut communities, whether there had ever been Dayak and  Kadazan ketua setiausaha (KSU), to state how many and to name them,” Lim said.

Last week angry Dayaks demanded on cyberspace that Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president and Land Development Minister James Masing (left) should leave BN, decrying "marginalisation" of the majority race in Sarawak over the past 50 years of BN rule.

Ruling party Umno has often publicly referred to Sarawak as its "fixed deposit", as its hold over  the large number of seats in the Borneo state is a major reason for BN's parliamentary majority at each general election.

In response to growing discontent in the Borneo states with BN and calls to review the Borneo states' 1963 agreement to form Malaysia, Najib announced last week in his historic U-turn on abolishing the Sedition Act, that it is to be further strengthened to include East Malaysia's calls for seccession.

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