Petronas gives sponsorships to 44 Sarawak students

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Raiha (10th right) and Jaul (11th right) join the Petronas scholarship and sponsorship recipients in a group photo. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: Forty-four Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) holders from Sarawak have received scholarships under the Petronas Education Sponsorship Programme (PESP) from Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

They are among the 300 successful candidates from all over the country from the total 8,280 applicants this year. Petronas has also awarded 41 additional sponsorships to deserving Sarawakian students studying at Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Sarawak this year.

Sixty-one selected trainees currently undergoing technical training under the Vocational Institution Sponsorship and Training Assistance (VISTA) programme have also received sponsorships from Petronas this year.

Petronas senior vice-president of group human resource management Dato Raiha Azni Abd Rahman presented the scholarships and sponsorships during a ceremony at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.

In her address, she pointed out PESP as one of Petronas’ distinctive programmes that have benefitted 782 Sarawakian youths so far. She was pleased to announce that Petronas allocated RM8.9 million this year for 44 students from Sarawak to pursue undergraduate studies at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, as well as other top universities overseas.

“To date, about 1,200 highly-skilled young professional Sarawakians have benefited from Petronas VISTA since 2007.”

Adding on, Raiha said Petronas is navigating in a ‘Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous’ (VUCA) world further impacted by Industry Revolution 4.0.

“Although oil prices are currently showing steady improvement, we are not out of the woods just yet.

“Having said this, Petronas remains committed in providing sponsorships through PESP for the benefit of the nation. As the oil and gas industry continues to grow rapidly with new technological and digital breakthroughs, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to them too.

“The Industry Revolution 4.0 brings about technological disruptors that can only be overcome by increasing our ability to adapt and adopt these digital revolutions to improve the way we operate. You must not forget to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn to be able to survive in this environment,” said Raiha.

Apart from education, she said Petronas also seeks to empower and uplift lives through its various programmes that are customised to address specific needs of the local communities.

She said the ‘Water for Life’ programme, which installs and connects pipes from a water source to Kampung Gayu in Serian, has benefited 1,000 households. She said in 2016, Tatau in Bintulu was crowned winner of ‘Petronas All About Youth’ (AAY) programme through the team’s ‘Green Toilet’ invention, aimed at saving energy and water bills.

“Earlier this year, a total of RM2 million was contributed to various Sarawak non-governmental organsiations to create awareness, and for advocacy programmes on community wellbeing,” added Raiha.

Deputy State Secretary (Rural Transformation) Datu Jaul Samion was also present.