AFTER almost rejecting his posting to Sarawak, young Penang-born dentist Harvinderpal Singh now says the state is his home

Similarly, Dr Sue Wyn Luun, from Penang also found resistance moving to Sarawak from his parents, who objected to the “far away posting”.

However, things worked out for them and they are among doctors who find working in Sarawak a joy.

Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said as of August 4, the health ministry has offered 619 doctors permanent positions in Sarawak with 395 having reported for duty.

Fifty have rejected the offer, and 70 have yet to respond to their offer letters.

Back when the Health Ministry asked Harvinderpal where he would like to be posted after completing his orientation course, his first choice was Penang, his home state.

His second option was Kedah, and Perak third – states close to home.

The then 26-year-old who had only graduated four months earlier from the dental faculty of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), did not get what he wanted.

Harvinderpal – Harry to his closest friends and just Harvin to his colleagues – landed in Kuching, Sarawak instead.

Ten years on, the 36-year-old, now in-charge of the dental clinic at the Sarawak general hospital’s heart centre in Kota Samarahan, said he has no wish to go back home to Penang, except maybe to visit his mother.

“Kuching is my home now.”

He said given a choice he wants to spend the rest of his life in Sarawak.

And he’s serious about it.

He has bought a house and is in a relationship with a local girl.

“I love the lifestyle and pace of life here. I love the people. They are friendly.

“I love my work environment and the neighbourhood I live in. I’m happy here.”

Harvin said he seemed destined to go to Sarawak.

After submitting his choice of locations during orientation week, he had a rather “weird dream” the night before the letter of placement was handed out.

“In that dream, the letter clearly stated I was going to Sarawak,” he said, and it turned out to be right.

Like nearly all young health workers from the peninsula, Harvinderpal intended to appeal the placement.

His elder brother however, talked him out of it.

His brother, a professor in business administration at Universiti Sains Malaysia, told him to “go there for the sake of experience.”

“If you don’t go now, you’ll never know, was what he told me.”

Harvinder took the advice, packed up and in February 2013 headed to Kuching.

However, before the trip, the mental picture he had painted of Sarawak was that “it was not Penang”.

“But I also kept telling myself how bad could it be?”

When he touched down at Kuching international airport he was “wowed” at what he saw.

“Not bad. This is like Penang,” he said.

Harvinderpal said compared to the five years he spent in Medan, Kuching was “much better”.

He said in those five years, he had trouble adjusting to living in an environment where the water and air was polluted.

When Dr Sue Wyn Luun, Harvinderpal’s colleague and the oral & maxillofacial specialist at the clinic, received his order to report to his post in Kuching, his parents were the ones who objected to the “far away posting”.

Sue however, saw the posting as “another adventure”.

The 33-year-old Selangor native said after spending two years in India and three in Penang for his dentistry studies, going to “far away” Kuching was “like another adventure”.

“I had absolutely no idea what Sarawak was like.”

“I’ve been to India. I’ve been to Penang. Why not Sarawak?”

Sue studied dentistry at the Penang International Dental College (PIDC) and its twinning programme meant he had to spend two years in India and the remaining three in Penang .

He said his parents objected to the placement because “I’d been away for too long”.

“And there was also the question of distance. Penang was still ok because they could drive there.

“For Sarawak, they have to take a flight.”

Both Harvinderpal and Sue said the main reason why young doctors and health workers from the peninsula didn’t want to be posted to Sabah or Sarawak is because “they don’t want to be separated from their families”.

“Family attachments, was the main reason for rejection of postings to Sarawak and Sabah,” Harvinderpal said.

“They were already separated for five years when they were studying abroad. When they came back thinking they would start work near their families, they instead got sent to other states.”

Harvinder said this is especially so among female doctors.

“When they do not get what they want, their first reaction is to reject their postings.” –  August 20, 2023.