KUALA LUMPUR: Police will conduct a special recruitment drive to encourage more non-Bumiputeras to join the force as constables.
Federal Police Management director Datuk Seri Ramli Din said in an unprecedented move, they decided to open a special two weeks recruitment drive, starting March 18, following low non-Bumiputera participation in its recent intake.
He said police have made special requests to the Public Service Department to lower the acceptance criteria.
"Among the obvious reasons many non-Bumiputera fail to qualify is because they don't have at least two credits including for Bahasa Malaysia in their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
"But, in this special intake, the applicants are only required to have one credit, in any of the SPM subjects to be eligible for the constable position," he said at Bukit Aman today.
He said the recruitment is namely for Grade YA1 (men and women) and Grade YP1 for (native Orang Asli men and women) who can apply via the police's website.
"Interviews will be carried out at designated police headquarters in major cities and towns nationwide starting from March 18 till March 31.
"Those who qualify and pass the interview process will be notified via post whereas those who failed will be noticed on the spot. For those who pass the interview, physical and medical assessment, they can expect their Constable 2021 intake training session to start in June," Ramli said adding that it's a good opportunity for the non-Bumiputeras to join the police.
He added that priority will be given to those who qualify in the basic assessments and able to converse well in their mother tongue.
"We have requested the PSD to loosen the requirements from two credits to just one in any of the subjects because many non-Bumiputeras do not have credit in Bahasa Malaysia.
However, in this special intake we are giving them a chance to re-sit for the Bahasa Malaysia SPM paper and get a credit in it, within the first six years of joining the force.
"Failing which, after six years they still do not successfully get a credit in Bahasa Malaysia SPM examination, they would be terminated from the force," Ramli said.
At present, he said nearly 80 per cent in the force are all Malays and Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak.
"To be more precise there are only 2.9 percent or 3,422 Indians, 1,959 Chinese or 1.66 percent and 18,929 or 16.06 percent of others, at the moment," Ramli said.
When asked if the constable recruitment for the non-Bumiputeras had any quota to fulfil, Ramli said no.
He said there isn't any specific quota but generally there are fewer non-Bumiputeras, especially the Chinese joining the force in recent years.
"A constable will get paid a basic of RM1,441, followed by allowances such as housing RM300, public service allowance RM115, Cola allowance RM350 and RM200 special police allowance.
"If they are posted to a specific department, for instance if the constable is posted to the general operations force (GOF) department, there they would receive a special GOF allowance of additional RM400. For detective it is RM300 and if traffic department is RM200 extra, monthly," he added.
Ramli said the department has identified a decline in the number of new recruits from the native or Orang Asli community.
"It was brought to our attention that, in the past many Orang Asli who had applied to the force were disqualified because of their height.
"As we already know, the natives are small in size and many may not meet the height criteria set by the PSD. But this time, the police department has made a special requests to them to lower the height requirement for those interested and eligible".
He said in the past, for women the height requirement used to be 1.57cm but this time they have lowered the height criteria to 1.55cm to allow more applicants to participate in the Constable intake interview.