Shafie launching the Sabah IT Symposium.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will prioritize job creation in new sectors with the impending rise of automation that will be brought forth by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) in the state, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Shafie said Sabah must be directly involved in the inevitable process of industrialization to prevent the state from being left far behind.
But he stressed the state government will not only adopt the system of automation (the use or introduction of automatic equipment in a manufacturing or other process or facility) in various industries but also remain job-centric to prevent unemployment in the state.
“We will see from which framework, which sector that we need to make space. Job opportunities must also be created. It cannot be just automation, job-centric must also be there. We need to ensure the creation of jobs,” he responded to the press when asked about a decrease in job opportunities due to automation taking the role of human in the workforce.
“We understand there are 5,000 children coming out (graduating) from universities each year. Where are they going to get jobs if we focus on less labour intensity and a lot of automation usage.
“This is what we look into. There must be a balance. We don’t want to make our people redundant, unemployed. At the same time, we cannot be lagging behind.
“We must need to have an indepth look into and deal with this because I don’t want many of our youths left behind in terms of available job opportunities,” he added.
The Chief Minister said this after launching the Sabah IT Symposium, organized by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) with Sabah State Computer Services Department and Sabah.net, themed Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Beyond: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward for Public and Private Sectors.
“This (Sabah IT Symposium) is a good effort that we have to look forward to and, besides that, I hope whatever resolution gathered from this symposium will be communicated to the state government so we can take advantage of it,” said Shafie about the event.
UMS vice chancellor Professor Dr Taufik Yap Yun Hin stressed Sabah must figure out ways to prepare future generations for a world that require minimal human workforce with the rapid advances in internet communication speed and computing technology.
“Which is why, UMS hopes that this symposium will be able to contribute to Sabah in preparing itself for IR4.0,” said Taufik.
“We must be able to define the challenges ahead, the resources Sabah already has in our disposal and the people and agencies that will be involved, and, ultimately prepare a plan of action for all public and private partners in Sabah to follow.
“I will fully support and provide the resources we have at UMS to make these efforts a success,” he pledged.