James Kon & Rokiah Mahmud
Unemployment must be addressed with foresight, Legislative Council (LegCo) member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi bin Haji Osman said during the deliberation of motion of thanks during yesterday’s meeting of the 19th LegCo session.
Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi noted that providing local employment is an important issue, as the country’s investment in education will be wasted if youth who have completed their studies are not able get a job or are forced to work abroad because of the lack of opportunities.
“It is hoped that the issue of unemployment will be discussed transparently and openly to find ways to increase employment opportunities through various strategic policies,” he said.
“We must has a solid strategic plan to address the unemployment issue for upcoming five to 10 years and identify in which sectors that employment opportunities will exist.
“This is so that educational institutions will be able to provide appropriate curriculum, courses and areas of expertise for students looking for jobs in the future, and the current situation where our students who have completed their studies finding it hard to get employment, will no longer happen,” said the LegCo member.
Meanwhile, LegCo member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Adanan bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Haji Mohd Yusof said it is important for job seekers to be given training and an opportunity to upgrade their professional skills to meet the needs of the current job markets.
He said the issue of unemployment is not only related to those with academic and technical qualifications, but also job seekers without qualifications such as school drop-outs.
“What we need to do for them is to find an opportunity for employment, as unemployment is much related to social problems, including poverty, crime, drug abuse, family problems, divorce and others,” he said.
MSMEs and exports
Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Adanan said they must look at how to help local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) export products.
An access to infrastructure including electricity, water, logistic and manpower management will also enhance the probability of success towards efforts in exporting local products, he said.
He added that solid strategies in the aspect of packaging, high technology machine usage, large-scale productions, and marketing strategies and skilled manpower management are needed to successfully export products overseas.
