SARAWAK signalled its intention to have a clean civil service by making it mandatory for all their officers declare their assets every five years.

The declaration also forms part of the requirements for promotion.

The state’s new ombudsman, Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office Talip Zulpilip, told the state assembly today that these officers would also be screened by various relevant authorities to ensure that they have no criminal convictions before they are considered for promotion.

Talip said making integrity the number one value among the state civil service’s six core values reflects the state government’s emphasis of only having employees “with a high sense of values, integrity and character”.

He said excellent academic qualifications is no longer enough to land a job in the civil service.

To ensure the state civil service recruits only the best talent “with integrity”, he said, the government has adopted “a competitive and transparent five-phase recruitment process”.

Applicants that pass through the first three phases – academic screening, language proficiency test and an assessment at the assessment centre – then need to undergo a psychological profiling assessment before they can be considered to go for the job interview.

On top of that, he said applicants would also be screened on their financial status to determine if they are insolvent and they also need to declare the status of their education loans, if any, “to ensure that they did not default on any of their financial commitments”.

Applications must also be certified but a commissioner of oath. – May 18, 2017.