"Iban Dayak Has No Place In the Malaysian Armed Forces"
Despite our past and present contribution to this nation especially our perfect record and services in the Malaysian Army, ironically Malaysian Armed Forces still do not have trust on us. This can be clearly seen by the number of Iban Dayak Army Officer being promoted to the rank of General so far is remained none.
In the 90s we had one Colonel Dunstan Nyaring but left after being told by Datuk Abang Abu Bakar , the then Defense Minister , that he has no chances to be promoted to the Brigadier General for being an Iban and a non-Muslim. So he left and worked as a Political secretary to the later.
Colonel Stephen Mundau the most eligible Iban Officer to be promoted to a one star general in Malaysian Armed Forces
As of today, Colonel Stephen Mundau is the highest ranking Iban Army Officer that still serving the Malaysian Armed Forces. Some of his squads (military term for peers) who are less capable than him have been promoted to the "two star " general. Col Stephen is a capable and experienced Army Officer. He underwent his Army Officer Cadet Training in Sandhurst, UK (One of the elite Army Officer Training College in the world). But why has he not promoted to the one star general (Brigadier General) ? Is it because of the qouta System which is unofficially practice in the Armed Forces ? (especially in the army)
When I applied to discontinued my services with the army about 11 years ago, one of the reason that I gave to my boss was on the chances of being promoted beyond the rank of Leutenat Colonel (Lt Col) .
Being the Iban and a non-Muslim, the most one can get promoted in the army is to the rank of Lt Col. For example, in the Royal Ranger Regiment (RRD) there's some qouta system for promotion. This qouta is based on the races and religion such as Iban, Indian, Malay, Chinese and Muslim. But any Army General if you ask them about the qouta system, I am confident that none will be able to provide you with the positive answer , because the system is practiced secretly.
The Malaysian Army should abolish the qouta system. Every serving army officers must be given the equal opportunity for promotion.
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will create history on 1st July 2009, when for the first time they are going to promote Colonel Ishak Ismail to a rank of Brigadier General. Singapore is one of the nation in Asia that practicing the policy of not giving the officers from the minority ethnic opportunities to rise to the highest ranks due to concern over their loyalty. Other than Singapore, the other nation that also practising the same policy in term of promotion in the army because of loyalty concerns is Brunei Armed Forces. In Brunei Armed Forces the non-Muslim Officers cannot hold the Commander job. They are only allowed to hold the Administrative and Logistic job.
Malaysian Armed Forces should follow the footsteps of SAF by promoting Colonel Stephen Mundau to Brigadier General, thus will become the first Iban dayak to be promoted to the rank of general in MAF.
MAF should not worry about our loyalty. Since Emergency in 1948 until today, the Iban Dayak have served this nation with full-hearted. This is evident by the fact , the number of the PGB and SP reciepient amongs us (the Iban soldiers/warriors) is exceeding the other main races in Malaysia such as Indian, Chinese and even the Malay if we may compare its with the total populations of Malaysia. If this is not sufficient, among all the races in Malaysia, which one had been looking high by the US general during the second world war ? was it not the Iban soldier ?
We are not asking for our son to be promoted straight to Armed Forces head but just request for Colonel Stephen Mundau promotion to the rank that he deserves , the Brigadier General at the shortest time as possible...
Mupok Aku
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