Create employment, CM urges UMS graduates
KOTA KINABALU: Graduating Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students are urged to utilise all the experiences they have garnered while at UMS to their advantage.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal said that this was because they would now have to compete with other graduates from throughout the country and abroad in search of job opportunities to support themselves and their family.
Shafie who is also UMS prochancellor, also urged them to abstain from blaming others for the difficulties in getting jobs.
“You must be positive and proactive in creating spaces and opportunities for yourself. Become a job creator and not merely a job seeker,” he urged during the UMS 20th Convocation Ceremony yesterday.
In his speech, Shafie also spoke of the new Sabah government under his leadership.
He explained of the endeavour to bring back Sabah’s excellence and stressed that this is translated in the Budget 2019 tabled recently on Nov 9.
He said that the focus of the budget is to raise Sabah’s economic growth, that is balanced with efforts to raise the people’s welfare.
He said that several practical and redressal actions have and will be taken including the setting up of new ministeries such as the Education and Innovation Ministry, Health and People’s Welfare Ministry and Law and Native Affairs Ministry.
He added that in the context of the people’s education, human capital is a prized asset, not just for Sabah but throughout Malaysia.
Developed countries such as Japan, China, Korea and Singapore had been successful in building their human capital who are experts in various fields while possessing high self-values and ethics, he said.
Shafie said that the 2019 Sabah Budget also focused on the development of the human capital.
“The State government is committed to invest in human capital who are competent, innovative, balanced and harmonised in the aspects of intellect, physical and spiritual based on faith and adherence to God,” he said.
To realise this aim, the Sabah Government has allocated RM238.37 million, he said.
“Our determination in the agenda of building the human capital is proven with the setting up of the Education and Innovation Ministry,” he said.
He also said that the government had also raised the allocation for scholarships, bursary and students’ assistance in the State.
“The allocation, which has been placed under the ministry, has been raised by RM15 million to RM52 million in 2019 as compared to only RM37 million in 2018,” he said.
He said that the government hoped the increased allocation would enable more Sabahan children to pursue their students and training at higher levels within and outside the country, including at UMS.