Sarawak has come to the stage of development, the era of massive industrial development that relies more and more on the initiatives and sustained efforts of the private sector for success. Essentially, the State has to move up to a much higher level of industrial development as reflected in SCORE Master Plan in order to keep on the right track to attain the status of a developed State by the year 2020.
It has to shift the kind of workforce from the normal reliance on cheap labor to those that are oriented towards professionalism and having technical skills, expertise and scientific knowledge. Hence, the structure of the workforce can be expected to change immensely.
Obviously the State has to do much more in creating initiatives at the lower levels. For example, the implementation of the education policy must permeate down to the grass root level as it is no longer sufficient just to give basic education to the people, the new generation in particular. The State and country must adjust to the mind of the world market.
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| Ship building industry in Sibu |
Sometimes, investors can guide the government on their requirements. Generally, they require people with technical skills and expertise to work with them. Normally, they invest on industries that are dictated by the considerations of technology in order to produce goods or provide services that can meet the standard of the world market.
However, parents still have the deference for degree qualification; it is the legacy of the old colonial days. They tend to think that degree qualification is the best for their children. In other words, to have a university degree is better than to have diploma qualification in technical subjects. This may be so but the pattern of development is changing very fast in a developing country like ours.
Therefore, young people must understand that the world is changing. For example, they must appreciate that if they are not good enough to pursue a degree in engineering degree, they can settle for a diploma course in the field. That is the changing feature of the world today.
The State, on its part, must get the training program on the ground as soon as possible in anticipation of the demands of industries. In this connection, it is advisable for the government to interact with representatives of industries in order to get better input from them.
Obviously, conscientious efforts must be made to train people in technical skills, update them with the latest development in technology and create skills that are needed for the manufacturing industry.
Besides, efforts must also be made to exploit the full potentials of market for ship building industry. For example, ship builders must explore the possibility of supplying ships to ASEAN region and those in the island nations in the Pacific.
Obviously, the State has not really gone into high end jobs namely building more and bigger ships probably even luxury yacht, which is a very intensive in terms of requirements of skills both in the metal and non metal works.
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| Tanjung Manis Deep Sea Port |
Therefore, the State Government has decided to make ship building as a core industry of SCORE. It will construct a deep-sea port at Kuala Paloh, a strategic site in Pulau Bruit, to serve the ship building industry. The port, once completed, will be the deepest sea port in Sarawak. It will be able to berth bigger ships for the convenience of ship building industry within the next 20 years.
Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech, during the recent convocation of Unimas, says Sarawak is entering a new era of economic development that gives a new meaning to industrial development through development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy or SCORE. For example, the development of industries at Samalaju alone has the potentials to attract about RM300 billion worth of investment in the next 20 years.
Besides, the national agenda for the transformation of the economy has the objective to carry out the overall development in various sectors to ensure no segment of the society should be left out in the development. A number of initiatives have been introduced such as the concept of IMalaysia, New Economic Model, Government Transformation Program and National Key Results Areas to move the people, regardless of their ethnic origins and States, forward.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib assures that the government both at the federal and state levels will continue to give proper attention to people in rural and remote areas of Sarawak and Sabah taking into consideration the situation and huge sizes of both states. Otherwise, questions like what has been carried out at the grass root level in implementing transformation program will persist. Obviously, efforts to reduce the rate of poverty and at the same time raise the understanding of the people on the government transformation program are being handled quite efficiently.
He says feedback from the people on the agenda of the transformation program is positive. In this regard, graduates are not only expected to help in contributing expertise but giving the necessary feedback on ways to improve the systems in order to increase productivity and efficiency in services.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib assures that the government is more open to suggestions on ways to ensure that there will be no leakages in the delivery system and doing away with little napoleon if they exist in the government. This policy deserves the support of the people as it focuses and explains in a more thorough manner whatever problems from various angles, not from one angle or one view only.
He says the rate of poverty has been reduced from 60 per cent 30 years ago to three per cent now. In other words, the State has successfully come out of the clutches of poverty. Before, children did not know how a university looked like but now education and a university are close to the heart of the society. For example, Kota Samarahan, at one time, was a wild jungle but it has been transformed to become a centre of excellence that hosts a number of institutions of higher learning like UiTM, UNIMAS, Tun Abdul Razak Teachers’ College and INTAN Complex.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says Samarahan can also boast of a number of high-rise buildings, shopping complexes, a good network of roads and modern residential and shop houses to its success in socio-economic development. There is a significant increase in the population during a short period of time. Samarahan is a good example of the transformation, which is happening in Mukah, Betong, Bintulu, Samalaju, Tanajung Manis and other places now.
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| River Bus to Kuala Paloh |
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the development of SCORE alone will require about 50% skilled workers or the human capital of high quality. The State is fortunate to have UNIMAS, which has made thorough preparations to produce high quality human capital, which are needed for the development of the economy from now onward.
He is happy that, generally, graduates from Unimas are well prepared to play their roles in development, which, admittedly, is getting more challenging, to hasten the attainment of the status of a developed nation by the year 2020.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the State government has been implementing a number of initiatives and development programs within the framework of the national economic transformation program. The policies and programs must be understood and supported by the people in order to meet their objectives by the year 2020 and beyond.
For example, the national innovation program, which has the primary objective to develop the characteristics of being innovative in the human capital, will not be successful if it is not being understood by the people. Generally, it is very difficult to mould creativity in a community if people do not understand the investment on innovation.
He believes a university can help to spearhead the development of the national economy by producing graduates, who are innovative and having active involvement of academicians in the process. Basically, all aspects of learning and innovation can make the process to become a culture and human capital to become more competitive.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib thanks UNIMAS for its active involvement in the development of projects in mid region of Sarawak. For example, the university helped to prepare a comprehensive report on the manpower being required by SCORE.
Efforts to develop the mid region of Sarawak to emerge as the nerve centre of economic development in future will be successful with the commitment of all parties, with the emergence of more qualified manpower from local universities in particular.
benuasains
*Photos Source: google.com.my
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