Sabariah and Jaul (second left) sharing a light moment with Adenan. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: The state civil service achieved another milestone when Dr Sabariah Putit was appointed as the first woman Deputy State Secretary (administration).
Sabariah’s appointment by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem marked the state government’s recognition of women in the state civil service.
“This is also the first time the state has three deputy state secretaries (the other two being Datu Ismawi Ismuni and Datu Jaul Samion) because there are three cabinet committees headed by our three deputy chief ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing and Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg,” Sabariah told The Borneo Post when met after paying Adenan a courtesy call at his office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
Also present during the courtesy call was Datu Jaul Samion.
With her new post, Sabariah will focus on the performance and service delivery transformation in relation to issues such
as state civil service transformation, educational attainment of students, state public relations strategy, welfare, sports and more.
Asked on what were her aspirations in her new role, Sabariah said she looked forward to seeing Sarawak progress further and that all Sarawakians would be able to benefit from the state’s development.
“No doubt, there are many challenges ahead but with more women holding decision making positions in the civil service, we are ready to work together hand in hand with the men in transforming the state as a whole,” she remarked, and expressed her gratitude to Adenan for the appointment.
“I’m privileged and honoured to serve in the Sarawak civil service,” she added.
Sabariah, who has been in the state civil service for the past 28 years, was previously State Human Resource Unit director.
She started her career in the civil service as a researcher to the State Agriculture Department before becoming the director of Women’s Bureau under the then Ministry of Social Development.
She also held positions as Human Resource Development Unit principal assistant director, Centre for Modern Management chief executive officer, Human Resource Development and Quality Unit director, and Service Modernisation and Quality Unit director.
Meanwhile, Jaul said his role as deputy state secretary would be mainly to help the cabinet on rural basic infrastructure as well as other issues that have been assigned to him by State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani.
“The main focus here is to basically help attain and achieve what our Chief Minister has been emphasising on which is rural transformation. My area of work will be specifically on rural infrastructure.
“The chief minister has been very concerned about the development of rural areas in the state and strategically the State Secretary and Deputy State Secretary offices have been reorganised and restructured to cater to three or four areas of focus by Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan,” he explained.
Jaul, who replaced former deputy state secretary Datu Ose Murang, has been in the state civil service for 37 years since 1979 and prior to this new appointment, he was the permanent secretary to the then Ministry of Land Development.
Apart from that, Jaul also served as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture.
Both Sabariah and Jaul were appointed as deputy state secretaries on Aug 8.