PENANG PAS information chief Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan has hit out at the victimisation of civil servants in Penang as part of an attempt to block the advances of Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-ruled state.
The first-term Permatsng Pauh MP who unseated incumbent Nurul Izzah Anwar during the 15th General Election (GE15) claimed that he has received complaints that there have been cases of civil servants who were being harassed with threats of not being promoted or transferred elsewhere.
“Some are also pressured to use public property for the benefit of certain political parties while others are pressured to resign from political parties, especially those who have different political views from the government,” he pointed out in a recent statement.
Fawwaz further attributed such mistreatment to Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) worst defeat in the state in the recent six states election (PRN) “which had piled pressure on PH till having to resort to victimise civil servants.
“Such attitude is indeed a cowardly act, not to mention acting which can be likened to baling batu sembunyi tangan (literally, throwing a stone while hiding the hand),” he chided.
“They can’t hide a bad and despicable attitude like this for it will eventually be exposed. If in the past, the government was said to be cruel to civil servants, the current government is even more terrible.”
What Fawwaz has highlighted somehow bears semblance to concerns expressed by former Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy recently that there has been “systematic purge” of Indian employees once roped in by him at Penang state government agencies.
The former DAP stalwart who was a three-term Perai state assemblyman cited examples of the termination of two employees of the Penang TechDome on flimsy grounds.
“The real reason had to with the fact they were hired when I was the chairman of Penang TechDome,” fumed Ramasamy who is now the chairman of the Urimai (United Rights of Malaysian Party) interim council.
“However, those non-Indians who were hired including the present CEO were untouched. Presently, the two employees have taken the matter of unfair dismissal with the industrial relations department of the Human Resource Ministry.” – Jan 18, 2024
