New community leadership proposal to be tabled by special committee in Q3 2025
KUCHING (May 26): The Sarawak government has reviewed 923 applications for new community leader posts from all divisions across the state, says Minister in Sarawak Premier's Department Dato Sri John Sikie Tayai.
According to him, this proposal for these Ketua Masyarakat and Ketua Kaum (KMKK) posts will be tabled at the Special Committee on the Management of KMKK Affairs meeting, set for the third quarter of this year.
In Sarawak 'Ketua Masyarakat (community leader) hierarchy, the post of 'Ketua Kaum' or 'Ketua Kampung' corresponds to village headman, similar to 'Tuai Rumah', who leads a longhouse.
Going up are the 'Kapitan' (clan/neighbourhood/group chief), the 'Penghulu' (sub-division or settlement chief), the 'Pemanca' (district or regional chief), and the highest 'Temenggong' (paramount leader).
Adding on, Sikie said the applications were reviewed based on general guidelines, including jurisdiction area size and the rising number of households.
One general criterion for the creation of a Ketua Kaum post would be the minimum of 20 households in a village, or 20 'doors' (units) in a longhouse.
'The Sarawak government is aware of the need to increase the number of KMKK positions across the state.
'This is to further enhance the effectiveness of government service delivery to the people,' he said in his winding-up speech at the DUN sitting earlier today.
On salary and allowance adjustments for KMKKs, the Kakus assemblyman said the last revision made by the state government was in 2018, which set an increase of RM100.
'As such, a new proposal to revise the salaries of community leaders and the allowances for Ketua Kaum has been tabled at the special committee meeting, which has decided that the proposal should be further detailed.
'This is to ensure the proposed rates are reasonable and commensurate with the responsibilities and roles of KMKKs,' he said.
In this respect, Sikie said the government acknowledged the increasingly important roles and responsibilities of KMKKs in line with the state's aspiration of achieving the developed status by 2030 under the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030. community leader DUN sitting John Sikie Tayai Ketua Masyarakat lead
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