SIBU: About 50 per cent of Malaysian Chinese who have applied to join the police force this year come from Sarawak.
Speaking to the press after the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) Police Retiree Programme under the ‘Have Ex-Policemen Serve As Neigbhourhood Safety Leader’ initiative at Paramount Hotel here, Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Wira Muhammad Sabtu Osman said the police force received a total of 1,629 applicants from Sarawak.
“The number who came for the interview was 1,220 while 478 of them made it to the academy,” he said.
He believed the good response from Sarawak Chinese was due to the intense promotion by the police force.
“We have such a good response from the Chinese in Sarawak, hopefully next year, we can take more Chinese into the force,” he said.
The initiative, he added, was introduced to involve police retirees to provide information and help the police solve crime in their respective areas.
“The retirees will play their role as volunteers to control and monitor their respective places using their experiences in the force.”
He acknowledged that some of the retirees were old, but they still had clear minds.
He hoped through their involvement, the crime in the country could be reduced.
More than 100 ex-servicemen joined the programme this year.
Acting deputy state police commissioner SAC Dato Dr Chai Khin Chung and Sibu police chief ACP Mohd Kamal Kordi were also present at the event.