KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — The administrative and diplomatic officer (PTD) scheme in the civil service has been opened to people with disabilities (OKU) this year, an historic first under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.
Public Service Commission (SPA) secretary Ikhbal Hanam Mukras told the Health parliament special select committee (PSSC) in a March 17 hearing that SPA aimed to achieve 1 per cent OKU appointments in government service.
“We’ve never opened up the PTD scheme to OKUs before, but we opened it to them this year. So 20 OKUs will undergo assessment of their suitability for the administrative and diplomatic officer (PTD) scheme,” Ikhbal Hanam told MPs during the Health PSSC’s inquiry into a proposal to establish a Health Service Commission.
The SPA official was responding to Health PSSC member Oscar Ling Chai Yew (PH-Sibu), who highlighted a case of a disabled person who initially received approval for appointment in the civil service, but was rejected by SPA during a job interview, allegedly due to their OKU status.
“In this context, when SPA determines whether or not a person is qualified, we look at guidelines by the Social Welfare Department (JKM) that, for example, sets conditions for an administrative assistant or clerk – if that person is an OKU, do their disabilities hinder them from doing their job? So we have a guideline,” said Ikhbal Hanam.
“I’m not sure if it’s a particular disability or performance during the job interview that caused that person not to get the job. This is because performance in an interview is also an indicator of whether or not the applicant is competent and suitable for the job, unrelated to their disability.”
PTDs number at only 10,000 plus officers (0.6 per cent) out of 1.7 million civil servants. The exclusive PTD scheme is a shared-use service, in which officers can be posted across federal ministries or agencies, as well as state departments.
According to a 2024 report by the Public Service Department (JPA) on a PTD professional development plan, PTDs are responsible for planning, drafting, implementing, and monitoring public policy in various fields, including human resource management, government finances, and international relations and foreign affairs, among others.
PTDs, which are categorised in the management and professional group, have wide career opportunities for strategic positions in the public service under the prestigious Jusa grades.
Civil society groups and advocates have called for the OKU right to freedom from workplace discrimination, including public sector jobs.
Citing official data, they noted that OKUs only comprised 0.3 per cent of the civil service across federal ministries and state governments as of end 2022.
Last month, JPA posted a photo of a 26-year-old PTD named Johan, describing PTDs as the “main bulwark of the civil service” before deleting its Facebook post following a torrent of criticism of PTDs in general.
The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) human resource division (BSM) is mainly staffed by PTDs and headed by division secretary Noor Azman Abdul Rahman, who is also a PTD.
Noor Azman told the Health PSSC in a February 27 hearing that the government limited doctors’ on-call allowance increase of RM55 to RM65 to the now-axed Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) pilot project, as giving the raise to all medical officers performing on-call duties would cost RM75 million to RM80 million a year.
Limiting the on-call allowance raise to doctors implementing WBB in select hospital departments or units would reduce financial implications to RM20 million or RM21 million annually, he said. The Cabinet ended up cancelling the unpopular shift system pilot in January.
Noor Azman did not specify to parliamentarians if the MOH had decided to self-restrict the on-call claims increase to the WBB project or if the Ministry of Finance (MOF) had directly rejected a request from MOH to provide the raise for all doctors.
