Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Sukarti bin Wakiman was the 8th State Secretary of Sabah from 3 July 2008 to 8 July 2018.
He was born and bred in Labuan to an ethnic Malay family of two parents with distinct ethnic ancestries, being born to an ethnic Javanese immigrant father from Java, Indonesia and his local-born ethnic Bruneian Malay wife.
Educational background
Sukarti started his early education in Kerupang Primary School, Labuan in 1960, before he continued his secondary schooling at Sabak Bernam Secondary School, Selangor in 1967, and later finished his fifth form at Sekolah Alam Shah, Kuala Lumpur in 1972.
In 1974, he furthered his studies at University of Malaya and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology in 1977.
Career
He joined the Sabah state civil service on 14 July 1977, at the young age of 21 as a Manpower Officer at Sabah Ministry of Manpower and Environment Development, before promoted to the same post as the senior one. In 1980, he was appointed as an Senior Administrative Officer with a Division II rank in the state ministry.
On 26 September 1982, he was promoted as Ceremonial and Protocol Officer at the Ceremonial and Protocol Division, Chief Minister's Department, before he was again transferred to the State Development Department as Senior Administrative Officer of Coordination on 1 September 1984.
After 23 days on 24 September 1984, at the age of 28 years and 2 months old, he was chosen to hold the office as the Private Secretary to the state governor, Mohd. Said Keruak, until 6 May 1994. He was then promoted to the post of the Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (on 7 May 1994) and in the State Ministry of Rural Development (on 16 May 1996). On 22 March 1998, he was appointed as the Director of the Sabah Public Service Department (JPANS) and was reappointed back to the same post once again on 24 April 2000. Before that, on 16 January 2000, he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Works, Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development, for he was on secondment to the said ministry.
On 3 July 2008, he was appointed as the eighth Sabah State Secretary succeeding KY Mustafa (born 1948), who compulsory retired upon turning 60 years old that year. He retired on 8 July 2018, after a minimal two-year contract extension (as he was above the retirement age of 60), amongst other factors was the change of government and chief ministership from Musa Aman to Shafie Apdal and was replaced by another senior civil servant cum retired schoolteacher, Hashim Paijan (born 1963), who retired optionally a year later at 56, for he was appointed as the CEO of a state-linked GLC known as the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA), after his successor, Sr. Safar Untong (born 1964) was nominated into the said position, who remained in office as of 2024.
Honours
Family
He is married to Puan Sri Datin Seri Panglima Hairani Hussaini, an ethnic Bajau from Tuaran, and is currently settled in his wife's hometown even after retiring from the Sabah state civil service.
