COMMENT | Defending our civil service

COMMENT | Recently, an MP asked what has been construed as an unnecessarily provocative question about the Malaysian civil service.

The question was on the breakdown of the racial composition of the civil service and if the government has any plan to make it more representative of the ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ concept promoted by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The MP does not seem to be aware that Malaysia already has a multiracial civil service. As clarified by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Abd Latiff Ahmad, of the total number of 1.2 million civil servants, 987,333 comprised Malays, 73,190 Chinese, 60,084 Sarawak bumiputeras, 59,978 Sabah bumiputeras, 47,751 Indians, 2,417 Orang Asli and 8,698 others.

This multiracial composition is also found in the top posts (super scale) above the Grade 56 category, 3,300 are Malays, 386 Chinese, 240 Indians, 74 Sabah bumiputeras, 53 Sarawak bumiputeras, three Orang Asli and 42 others.

The breakdown shows that no racial group has been left out...