JOHOR BARU, July 11 — Pos Malaysia has suspended a Pos Laju staff yesterday pending investigations into a racial slur he allegedly posted in the online postal tracking system last month.
It was learned that Pos Malaysia Berhad’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur had ordered the suspension.
The staff has been identified as a 24-year-old man working in the Pos Laju Skudai centre here.
A Pos Malaysia official confirmed that the staff member in question has been issued suspension orders and investigations are underway.
“We view the allegations based on the report lodged by a complainant as a serious matter.
“The management has also reached out to the complainant to apologise and settle the issue in an amicable manner,” the official told Malay Mail today on condition of anonymity.
It was learnt that Pos Malaysia took action based on an official complaint made by the affected party several days ago at the general post office in Jalan Datuk Onn here.
Initial investigations revealed that the issue arose after a commonly used local racial slur was typed by a Pos Laju staff member into its online postal tracking system on June 25.
Malay Mail was made to understand that Pos Malaysia’s internal investigation team is looking into a serious non-compliance of the standard operating procedure. At the same time, Pos Malaysia is taking the allegations seriously and the staff member may be sacked.
Subsequent to that, the furious female complainant was believed to have visited several Pos Laju centres in south Johor over the past few days, demanding an explanation for the racial slur.
After locating the centre, the complainant posted on social media a video and photograph of the derogatory slur, accusing a Pos Laju employee of racial insensitivity.
The 10-minute and 32-second video shows two women approaching a Pos Laju collection centre in Pos Malaysia’s building in Skudai and demanding to know who was responsible for the offensive word.
The video, snapshot and also copy of the Pos Laju staff’s identity card has been circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp groups here for the past several days.
The issue caused a stir in Johor, with some people criticising the Pos Laju staff for being insensitive.
Pos Laju connects over 80 per cent of populated areas across the country.
The company currently has the widest network coverage and the largest courier fleet in Malaysia and is available at more than 1,000 outlets comprising of 704 Pos Malaysia outlets.
Of late, Pos Laju has come under heavy criticism, with many people complaining that its service has deteriorated.
It was reported on June 22 that Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the ministry was working to improve Pos Laju’s quality of service.
