The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) recently launched its Human Capital Strategic Initiative, aimed at contributing towards the national human capital agenda of creating 35 percent skilled Malaysian workforce by the year 2020.

Human Resources Minister Dato’ Sri Richard Riot Anak Jaem launched the four initiatives — the 1Malaysia Outplacement Centre (1MOC), the Train and Replace Programme (T&R), the Graduates ENhancEment pRogrAmme for Employability (GENERATE), and the Rural Accelerated Industrial Skill for Employment (RAISE) at the event, which was held at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

The initiatives will be funded via the 30 percent HRDF Pool Fund, government allocation as well as private partnerships, and will run on a continuous basis based on industry requirements.

Along with other existing programmes driven by HRDF, these programmes will collectively serve several objectives which are:

• To reduce Malaysia’s dependency on foreign workers in semi-skilled and skilled areas of work
• To reduce the nation’s unemployment rate and related social ills
• To increase the local household income as well as the national income per capita and
• To produce skilled Malaysian workers for employers with businesses in the country this, in turn, will simultaneously increase company productivity and wages earned by Malaysians.

“Investments in both education and re-skilling and up-skilling of the local talent are pivotal towards improving social mobility and the wellbeing of the Rakyat, as a whole,” said Riot at the launch, adding that this is where strategic agency partners such as the HRDF, which is under the purview of the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, comes into action.

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“It is our local talent who will provide us with a strong platform to sustain the rapid growth of the economy and enhance our global competitiveness,” said HRDF Chief Executive Dato’ C.M. Vignaesvaran Jeyandran during his opening address.

He further added that, “HRDF will continue its mandate of catalysing the development of a competent Malaysian workforce that is effective, efficient, productive and innovative. This will help us achieve our end goal of becoming an advanced and inclusive nation by the year 2020.”

Currently 17,585 HRDF-registered employers and nearly two million employees from the Manufacturing, Services and Mining & Quarrying sectors are benefitting from the organisation’s initiatives. These numbers are set to rise when the expansion of the PSMB Act, 2001 comes into effect from 1 April 2017.

Yang Berhormat Dato’ Sri Richard Riot presenting the ‘Majikan Prihatin Award’ to employers.

Some 1,000 participants comprising top government officials, employers, employers’ associations, training providers, retrenched workers, and trainees who participated under strategic initiatives were at the event.

The event also featured a job showcase, featuring HRDF and eight selected employers to showcase their vacancies. The employers were: Finisar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Serba Dinamik Sdn. Bhd., Sentoria Group Berhad, Mctronic Industries Sdn. Bhd., Prasarana Malaysia, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd, Sophic Automation and Johor Petroleum Development Corporation Berhad.

Also read: Skilled Workers are Most Impacted by Retrenchments in Malaysia