KUCHING: Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datin Fatimah Abdullah is worried about one thing when it comes to the proposed Tanjung Manis Halal Hub.She is worried about a possible mismatch of jobs and job-market requirements, as well as labour shortage when the halal hub comes on stream.
That is why she is urging school leavers to pursue higher education and become professionals or skilled technicians so that they could fill up the potential 24,800 job openings available at the halal hub within the next 20 years.
Fatimah said the potential vacancies at the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) had been identified, and it was her duty as chairperson for the Human Resource Development for School Leavers Council (MPSMLS) to advise the younger generation on this matter.
“The Labour Department has briefed us on the matter. In fact, the actual vacancies will be put up on Jobs Malaysia’s web portal along with the registered industries.
“Once SCORE goes full swing, we need to work hard to be able to provide the skilled manpower required.
“The supply and demand of the job requirements need to be disseminated to all school leavers so that they know the potential career and industry to undertake when pursuing their studies,” she said at a press conference after the annual MPSMLS meeting at her office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia yesterday.
Currently, the halal hub had about 1,500 jobs.
To make sure that the state would be able to provide the local manpower for SCORE, Fatimah highlighted that it was MPSMLS’ duty to get through to the school leavers and encourage them to pursue quality education or professional training.
She stressed that students should pursue English, Science and Mathematics with zeal as these subjects would enable them to have a solid foundation when they pursue higher education in future.
Touching on the recent Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) result, Fatimah said she was concerned with the results for Mathematics, Science and English obtained by the 37,668 full time candidates.
“Overall, taking into account those who barely passed the subject, only 42 per cent managed to pass Science.
Math and English scored only 32 and 36 per cent respectively.
“The achievement in these three critical subject is quite poor and we need to improve on the matter,” Fatimah stressed.
She believed the main problem lied in the Bumiputera’s mentality of only setting a “moderate target” in their pursuit of education.
She added that most of the students probably did not set their sights high on the three subjects because they were only targeting jobs in the government sector once they finished schooling.
“The local mindset has to be changed because once SCORE kicks in the private sector would be making up for most of it.
“The jobs availability would be from the private corporations and they are the prioritised industries.
“Private sector participation would be increasing significantly apart from offering more lucrative incomes,” Fatimah said.
The labour department’s briefing during the MPSMLS annual meeting yesterday also touched on jobs availability in its web job portal ‘Jobs Malaysia’.
As of yesterday, about 4,139 positions were filled by those seeking jobs through the web portal (jobsmalaysia.gov.my).
Newly registered job seekers stood at 71,641 while registered employers were 15,753.
In 2009, a total of 28,915 registered users manage to secure new jobs.
Employers registering (posting) employment on the web were 78,421.
Through the department’s statewide job placement tour last year, about 4,229 people manage to find new jobs.
The tour was a success as it managed to reach about 20,274 job seekers throughout the state.
Fatimah applauded the good service provided by Job Malaysia in reaching out to help the community.