KOTA KINABALU: A top Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leader has called on the federal government to fill a key vacancy in the Customs Department with a Sabahan.
The post of deputy director-general (Customs and internal taxation) has been vacant since April last year.
PBS secretary-general Datuk Johnny Mositun said there was no better Sabahan candidate for the job than the current state Customs director Datuk Dr Janathan Kandok.
“We would be very grateful and proud if this post is again held by a Sabahan,” he said
Mositun said Dr Janathan who had risen up the ranks over 30 years of service, and had vast experience in various capacities in Sabah, Labuan and the peninsula.
“I believe he (Dr Janathan) is very qualified for the job,” added Mositun.
Apart from an Arts PhD, Dr Janathan, 56, also holds a degree in Business Management (US) and a Master’s degree in Training, Education and Development (UK).
While thanking the federal government for appointing previous Sabahans to senior positions in federal departments and agencies, Mositun said choosing another Sabahan would be recognition of the state’s contribution to national development and nation building.
“And after all, you will be promoting someone who is really qualified,” he said.
Mositun added that this was also to honour the “Borneonisation of the federal service” as outlined in the Malaysia Agreement.
And he recalled it was the federal government’s preference to give priority to PhD holders in any promotion exercise.
Under Dr Janathan’s leadership, the state Customs Department collected RM837 million in taxes last year.