‘Collaboration between government and research institutes necessary’
IPOH: There is a need for collaborative efforts between the government and research institutes, such as the Institute of Labour Market Information and Analysis (ILMIA), to build the country's socio-economic resilience, says Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar.
Speaking at the Pangkor Dialogue 2017, Wahid said socioeconomic resilience could be built with a constant focus placed on the development of human capital and workforce.
“There is a need for collaboration between the Human Resources Ministry and ILMIA to come out with an annual state of the workforce report.
“The report will be able to analyse Malaysia’s skills gap and outline enhancements needed, if any, regarding specific sectors,” he said.
He said improving entrepreneurial skills could also help improve the people’s socio-economic resilience.
“Entrepreneurs who are key exporters of frontier products need to be identified.
“They must share their knowledge and provide comprehensive professional services to other entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that the initiative could be done via the Entrepreneurship-in-Residence (EIR) programme, which was found to be successful in Chile and San Francisco in the United States.
The former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department added that the nation must also leverage on the digital economy, as e-commerce could create job opportunities, increase income and promote business efficiency.
The four key areas of the digital economy are Big Data Analytics (BDA), the Internet of Things (IoT), e-commerce, and data centres and clouds.
Wahid noted that the government had taken the lead by launching the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to promote the growth of e-commerce by providing a state-of-theart platform.
Malaysia’s DFTZ, which is the world's first, was launched in March by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma.
“By implementing the sharing economy, people and organisations can connect online to share goods and services.
“In this regard, PNB has made improvements to the business transactions of Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad’s (ASNB) products,” said Wahid.
The session was moderated by Ankar Capital executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Kamal Salih, who is also Adjunct Professor of Economics and Development Studies at University of Malaya’s Faculty of Economics and Administration.
Other speakers at the session were SME Corporation Malaysia deputy chief executive officer Rizal Nainy, former Khazanah Research Institute director of research Dr. Muhammed Abdul Khalid and Asian University of Bangladesh vice chancellor Prof Abul Hasan M Sadeq.