KUCHING: Dusit Jaul regards his new appointment as the special functions officer in Sarawak of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia as an honour and recognition of his 30 years of experience in the federal civil service.
Dusit, 61, whose last post was as Sarawak director of the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) of the Prime Minister’s Department, wants to make a difference for the better in terms of federal-state ties.
His appointment, effective yesterday, was announced by Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo who was here on an official visit to the state.
Dusit reports directly to the minister.
“Thank you to the minister for the trust given to me to look after the ministry in Sarawak … give me six months to take off.
“To me, personal contact, talking to each other (between federal and state officers or political leaders) is very important so that we understand each other’s requirements,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
As part of his immediate task, Dusit has to oversee all the ministry agencies in Sarawak, namely the Information Department, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (Finas), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Pos Malaysia and Telekom Malaysia.
Dusit said he would meet with them soon.
On ways to enhance the relationship between the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government and the Sarawak government, he said that being from different political platforms should not be a barrier to working together.
“We need to talk. To me, there is no barrier … after all, at the end of the day, we work for the ‘rakyat’ (people) so each of us, whether from the federal or Sarawak, are duty bound to empower the rakyat in whatever way we can,” said Dusit, who hails from an Iban village in Jalan Gedong, Serian.
Dusit, who is also the Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association president, is the second Sarawakian to be appointed by the current federal government to a crucial post, following the appointment of management consultant Dr John Brian Anthony as Bintulu Port Authority chairman last year. — Bernama