YOUNG talents in Sarawak will be given proper training to ensure the digital economy in the state is developed mostly by Sarawakians.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said this is to provide them with good jobs and ensure the state’s cyber security is good and tight.
“Of course, there are Sarawakians who have studied or are studying subjects such as Electrical and Electronic Engineering and other areas of electronic technology.
“These are obviously qualified engineers who will form the core of the Digital Economy Cluster in Sarawak. They are important talented local resource for us,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.
The Chief Minister believes the digital economy is a very wide area of business which involves all kinds of people, including those who are good in coding, so that they can develop and maintain programmes and other software.
He said the focus of coding is not only for websites but increasingly on mobile devices.
“These mobile applications are the ones that are driving the digital economy – which we can see from service industries such as banking, ride-sharing and even the Digital Government.
“We also need people who are artistic so that they can design programmes that are user-friendly and are attractive to users,” he said.
At the same time, he pointed out that psychology of user experience has become an art which, when combined with technology, has developed into big businesses, citing Apple as the best example as it could combine ideas and art beautifully with technology.
Saying that in Digital Economy there is a need for all kinds of talent, he believes there are many technical areas in the digital economy that are really job opportunities for our young people when they are properly trained in the required skills.
“It is for training our young people and graduates with the necessary technical skills required by the digital economy that Sarawak signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Huawei last week on Nov 10.
“The programmes will deal with current technologies including wireless, microwave and fibre, and other areas such as data centres, telecommunications, energy supply, hardware installation, as well as mobile application development. I think this is necessary and a good step for the digital economy in Sarawak,” he said.