Only yesterday we commemorate the gallant men in blue that died in battle at Lahad Datu to defend the nation from a foreign threat. It pains us today to hear the news that the police is lowering it's entry requirement and offering a higher pay scheme to entice Chinese to join the force.
It shows insensitivity on the part of police management to existing police already serving dutifully and those committed and dedicated to their job. They entered the force despite the low pay and not received their desired pay increment from government to commensurate with their authority, responsibility and risk.
It is also an insult to the serving force that government could discriminate and back backward to attract Chinese whose never considered a profession in security as priority. Will this mean that the Chinese new recruit will be given special passage to fill up higher position for the sake of filling up position and not on merit as happened in organisations like Petronas and MAS?
If so, it is inconsistent with the practise of meritocrasy which is strongly advocated by certain liberal quarter of government.
The Bernama report on the announcement:
02 March 2014| last updated at 01:13AMThe Bernama report did not mentioned the better deal offered to new Chinese recruits in which both side of the political divide are working hard to entice their vote with endless list of cconcessions.
Police relax entry rules for Chinese
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin (left) presenting an award to the best police trainee cadet during the 2/2013 series Cadet Inspector Course Passing Out Parade Ceremony at the Police Training Centre in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday. Bernama pic
LOW-RANKING OFFICERS: Force hopes to take in 5,000 members from the community
THE police have relaxed; conditions relating to recruitment, apart from studying numerous aspects of improvement in its service to attract more Chinese to join the force.
It also hopes to recruit 5,000 Chinese as low-ranking officers beginning this year.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said police would review areas related to salary, promotion opportunities and others to entice the participation of the Chinese.
"We are targeting about 5,000 Chinese in stages."
Bakri said this after the 2/2013 series Cadet Inspector Course Passing Out Parade Ceremony at the Police Training Centre in Jalan Semarak here yesterday.
He said the number of Chinese police personnel currently made up only 1.87 per cent of the force.
He said the force had also formed a special team to ensure the participation of the Chinese could be implemented as soon as possible.
"The team will explain to the public, especially the Chinese community, on the benefits of joining the force. This is to ensure we get suitable candidates."
Bukit Aman Management Department director Datuk Seri Fuzi Harun said the force viewed seriously the boosting of Chinese participation as the community made up about 30 per cent of the population.
"So far, less than two per cent had joined the force. It does not look good, so we have to improve this figure by relaxing the entry requirements."
Bukit Aman Personnel (recruitment) assistant director Assistant Commissioner Saiful Azly Kama- ruddin said recruitment exercise for new police constables for the first session of this year would be carried out tomorrow.
He said requirements relaxed included a pass in Bahasa Malaysia at Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia level.
"We understand the entry requirements before this were too stringent for the Chinese community, such as a credit in Bahasa Malaysia, as there are those who are not fluent at all," he said in an interview themed "2014 Special Recruitment Exercise for the Post of Constable" to encourage the community to join the force here yesterday.
According to Saiful, the relaxed requirements were necessary because the current membership ratio of the force was imbalanced among the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races.
"Based on statistics, as of Dec 31 last year, membership was dominated by the Malays (90,156 people), followed by the Indians (3,659 people) and the Chinese (1,974 people). The rest were made up of other races."
He said the lack of Chinese participation was because of several reasons, including salary, which was regarded as low. Parents also did not encourage their children to join the force.
"According to a study, most do not realise that a constable can bring home RM3,000 a month, with allowances included."
For the recruitment tomorrow, interesed Chinese candidates are encouraged to download the application form from the force's website at www.rmp.gov.my.
After the form has been filled out, it should be sent to the nearest police station or the Personnel Recruitment Unit at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.- Bernama
The Star report has the details:
Published: Sunday March 2, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AMIf money is the limiting factor to attract new recruits, then government should raise the salary and perks of the whole police force in order to attract applicants of all races without discriminating existing members of the force, which also include Chinese and Indians.
Updated: Sunday March 2, 2014 MYT 8:47:34 AM
Drive to get more Chinese to be cops
by M. Kumar
A youth's chest being measured by the police recruitment team. - Filepic
KUALA LUMPUR: Entry requirements into the police force will be lowered during a campaign by the police to recruit more Chinese into the force starting tomorrow.
Bukit Aman assistant director of personnel (recruitment) Asst Comm Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said there were currently only 1,974 Chinese among the 111,395 personnel making up the nation’s police force.
“One of the biggest issues is that those who apply do not meet the requirements of having a credit for SPM in Bahasa Malaysia. So now, only during this campaign period, applicants with only a pass in SPM Bahasa Malaysia can apply.”
Another requirement lowered, said ACP Saiful Azly, who is heading the task force set up for Chinese recruitment, was allowing those who wore spectacles and contact lenses to apply.
“This does not, however, mean that the quality of the force is being lowered,” he stressed.
Once recruited, said ACP Saiful Azly, the applicants would be trained and tutored in areas they were lacking in to maintain standards.
“Applicants who do not have a credit in Bahasa Malaysia will be tutored and they will have to retake the test until they get a credit in the subject. We will guide them every step of the way,” he said.
The campaign, which will be launched tomorrow, is aimed at increasing the number of Chinese policemen in the country, especially for rank-and-file positions like constables.
ACP Saiful Azly said the Chinese only made up 1.77% of the force, which was a very small fraction for the country’s second largest ethnic group.
“The disparity is worse in the rank-and-file positions,” he said during a briefing about the campaign at Bukit Aman here. He described the statistics as “worrying”.
“We believe that the force should reflect Malaysia’s diversity,” he said, adding that the campaign ends on April 30.
ACP Saiful Azly said the idea for the campaign was not only to encourage Chinese youths, aged 18 to 28, to join the force but to make it easier for those who did not meet the requirements.
ACP Saiful Azly said studies carried out by the task force found that there was a misconception and stigma tied to being a policeman among the Chinese.
“Firstly, it is a low-paying job and does not offer a good career path. This is untrue as the salary of a constable with an SPM qualification is about RM1,700, which is quite reasonable.
“This amount will then be supplemented by other allowances and perks which can bring the salary to as high as RM3,517,” he said.
Despite the low number of Chinese policemen, ACP Saiful Azly pointed out that most of them were mid- to high-ranking officers, which showed that the force did indeed offer good career paths.
“We will be going all over Malaysia during this campaign period to change this misconception,” he said.
Those who wish to apply can download the form from www.rmp.gov.my or walk in at one of the campaign roadshows.
It is heard that the Chinese recruit are offered a higher salary scheme and has already affected morale within the existing members of the force.
Whenever police and other public servant seek a review of their salary package, in which given the wider responsibilities and complex manner of their duties deserve to be at par with corporate sector, government's usual excuse is budget constraints.
This announcement of police will only increase resentment against Chinese.
Although Chinese claim to be a higher tax contributor by virtue as their wide involvement in business and commerce, the reality is the bulk of tax contribution came from Bumiputera run GLCs and Chinese controlled corporate sector contribute only 10% of tax income.
One commentator in our Whats App group is more frank.
"Kalau nak tarik cina masuk polis dgn cara naikkan gaji maka cina yg jadi polis ni akan jadi mata duitan..nanti mereka ni yg akan melindungi rumah2 pelacuran dan kongsi2 gelap utk dapat banyak duit lagi setiap bulan...tak ada sifat2 patriotisme...polis jenis ni memang layak dipanggil polis gergaji dua mata dan bukannya mata-mata."Another commentator see it as a pathetic policy.
Sektor strategik sebegini jangan sama sekali dijadikan alat utk menarik sokongan cina. This is not a smart move but indeed it shows we are getting desperate to gain the chinese favour...this is wrong..
Currently, police force is discouraged by certain actions of government that not only burdened their work but have made public order and security have become untenable. Since the particular release of Simpang Renggam ISA detainees, hardcore crime had been on the rise.
Many could not understand the need to give them special treatment and relaxation. Applicants with only a pass in Bahasa Malaysia will only result in poor quality of work since government department and agencies like police use the national language as medium of instruction.
The lowering of standard is not only an insult to the generally Malay members of the force but to non Malay members that met the minimal requirement.
After getting their feet in, will there be demand for these Chinese recruit to be given easy passage for promotion?
If so, it will be similar to the occurence in Petronas in which capable top Managers and Engineers were purged to make way for Chinese into the high ranks of Petronas. It was an exercise of having Chinese for the sake of having Chinese and not to fill up the position with competent and capable staff.
The lack of self esteem in Malay Government top political leaders and government servants in their race have resulted in Petronas making "coward" and unstrategic actions. Having Chinese does not mean raising competency of the organisation.
It is competency and experience of it's people that make the organisation. Not so much of having Chinese.
Seldom Malays in the top echelon of administration and management are having blurred by their own prejudice to their own race and easily fooled into believing the stereotype that Chinese equates with competency.
Capability and competency has to be judged on the individual and not the race. Many Malaysians irrespective of race had rose up the ranks of the police based on their capability and competency.
If this is the new attitude of the top rank of police or instruction by some empty vessel superior, then the police top management will eventually fell into that same trap of stereotyping which only leads to rising incompetency to the police force.