More Indians in the civil service

Indians accounted for a little more than 5% of all appointees in the first eight months of 2012.

KUALA LUMPUR: The first eight months of 2012 saw a higher percentage of Indians appointed to the civil service, statistics from the Prime Minister’s Department indicated.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon said that 1,173 Indians entered the civil service, accounting for 5.6% of the total appointments (20,796).

He added that this was 0.3% higher than the same period in 2011, which saw 1,191 Indians out of 22,556 Malaysians entering public service.

Koh said this in a written reply to DAP-Batu Kawan MP P Ramasamy at Parliament.

He, however, did not supply the current total of Indians working in the civil service.

Citing a Tamil daily Thinakural article, Ramasamy said the number of Indians enlisted in the public service appeared to be low.

He also asked what steps the federal government has taken to increase their numbers.

Koh said that people taken into the public service were judged according to their merits, besides the number of job vacancies available.

In an attempt to entice Indians, he said that the Public Service Commission (PSC):

• conducted engagement programmes with the Indian community, various NGOs and other means under the Prime Minister’s Department to reach the Indians. This was to encourage Indians to enrol in the public service;

• held career promotions at public areas or schools and colleges;

• broadcast crawlers about job recruitment possibilities at electronic media outlets;

• prepared frequently asked questions in the Tamil language on the PSC’s website; and

• advertised on the matter either on its website, or in various Malay, Tamil and Chinese newspapers