AS the Pakatan Harapan federal government continues to show favour for meritocracy over race in its actions and decisions, a debate over race is stirring in Sarawak where tribalism remains a big influence. 

In particular, the Mahathir government’s appointment of Tommy Thomas as Attorney-General has ignited calls on social media and in the local press for more posts in the state civil service to be given to locals instead of Malays.

Malays, lumped together with the Melanau, make up about 29% of the state’s population, yet they occupy 54% of the posts in the state civil service.

The Dayak, on the other hand, form 45% of the state population but occupy a mere 28%.

Malays also fill the majority of the high positions between grade 41 and grade Jusa, holding 65% of positions in the latter grade, according to 2015 statistics.

Caught in the line of fire is Deputy Chief Minister James Masing, who has been fielding attacks over the state government’s failure to remedy the long-standing imbalance.

Masing was particularly peeved at a message on social media that said: “James Masing, what have you been doing all these years?”

While the Dayak have long been unhappy with the racial imbalance in the civil service, such chatter picked up again after Pakatan Harapan won the May 9 elections.

Political and rights activist Hugh C Mawar ​said on Facebook: “Who is practising apartheid here in Sarawak civil service, Malaya or Sarawak BN?

Another​ ​social media user,​ ​Anne Samuel wrote: “The BN gov’t have not been fair at all since the ​‘70s. It is time for people power to come into force. ​(Chief Minister) Abang Jo said he is the CM of all races in Sarawak but is he?? The field is so glaringly uneven and it is high time we must change!”

Masing, in particular, is under attack because he was with the now defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) which was formed to champion Dayak interests and rights. Those efforts had included protection of native customary rights (NCR) and preventing native land owners from losing their land to large scale palm oil plantations.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insight, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president said he had spent his entire political career fighting for the rights of the state’s indigenous people.

“Where were you when we fought for Dayak rights and interests?” Masing said, in an indignant response to his critics.

“I spent seven years with PBDS from 1987 to 1994 as an opposition party, fighting for this unfairness in the civil service, among other things.

“We were rejected twice, in 1987 and 1991, by the majority of Dayak whose interests we fought for,” he said, referring to PBDS’s electoral setbacks

PBDS, founded in 1983, eventually dissolved in 2004 after failing to win in successive state elections and also because of a leadership crisis resulting from the rivalry between Masing and then president Daniel Tajem. Masing moved on to form PRS.

The Dayak National Congress (DNC) has also added its voice to the renewed debate over racial balance in the civil service.

Its president Paul Raja in a statement today said it was high time the “injustice” in the civil service in Sabah and Sarawak was addressed. 

He said many national institutions were staffed by mainly a single race, which resulted in “dysfunctional agencies leading to breakdowns in services”.

Raja said federal agencies in Sarawak and Sabah also did not have employees who were locals.

He said the state government seemed to have forgotten Article 153(2) of the federal constitution requiring a “reasonable proportion of positions” to be reserved for East Malaysian officers.

“When it comes to the promotion of officers and civil servants, too often than not, Sarawak Sabah officers are overlooked.”

He said with the election of the PH government, it was only right that Malaysia addressed the imbalance.

“It is high time that this injustice to Sabah and Sarawak be addressed.” – June 15, 2018.