Fatimah holds up a printed image of the e-recruitment website, with a whiteboard explaining e-recruitment and SPP in the background.
KUCHING: Make it a point to approach the right government agency whenever one has doubts about certain issues instead of making wild allegations against the government, said Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.
She said this during a press conference here today to clarify an online report headlined ‘Why is the Sarawak Islamic Department filtering non-Muslim teachers?’
Before she began clarifying, she read out the news report dated March 2.
“Jahat” (bad), “always goes back to race” and “senseless allegations” were among the comments made by Fatimah while she briefed reporters.
As soon as she made sure that the press had a clear picture on the issue, Fatimah pointed out that e-recruitment is for the state civil service while individuals who want to be teachers have to apply for the job through Jobs Malaysia or the Education Service Commission (SPP) under the federal civil service.
The recruitment of teachers does not fall under the state list and hence applicants should not apply via e-recruitment, she explained.
“On the case raised by (DAP Sarawak chairman) Chong (Chieng Jen), the applicant applied for a job advertised by the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department (Jais), and her application had to be vetted by Jais.
“It was Jais that put up the job vacancies and of course the agency will do the vetting. What Jais advertised is a specialised job where the applicant will be posted at Jais rather than be a teacher.
“The application was rejected because the applicant is not suitable for the post. It is about job matching and has nothing to do with race,” she said.
Fatimah came prepared with a white board during the conference to distinguish e-recruitment from SPP.
She said it was “very transparent” and there was “nothing to hide here”, but regretted that some quarters had misunderstood the issue and capitalised on it – an act she feared could create racial tension.
She assured the press that Jais had done a background check on the application and confirmed that the applicant did not meet what the department required.
“We are puzzled by the allegation made by Chong as everything is clearly stated on the website,” she said, adding that the government would not want to see a job mismatch either.
According to Jais, the post applied by the applicant received 4,438 applications from Jan 12 to 27, 2017. The department also made it clear that it was recruiting only two out of all applications received.
“The moral of the story is, there is an explanation to every question. Approach the right agency for an answer and do not make non-issue into a racial issue as this is unhealthy for our multi-racial and multi-religious society.”
She felt that Chong should have come to her for an explanation rather than going to the press to fuel suspicion against the government.
“If there is any problem, let us know so that we can get to the root of the problem. We can explain. We hope that Chong will be more careful about issuing statements like this.
“He (Chong) is either confused or he did it on purpose, or that he is just ignorant. Our doors are always open, anyone can call us to clarify.”
On Thursday, Chong was reported to have urged Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg to explain why Jais had to filter and approve applications from non-Muslims who wished to be teachers.
In that report, Chong cited Wong Wang Yuen, an applicant whose focus to be an arithmetic clergyman was deserted after an Islamic dialect vetted her focus a month ago.
According to Chong, the applicant holds a master’s degree in arithmetic preparation from Sultan Idris Education University. She graduated in 2013.