‘State govt serious in honing skills of grassroots leaders’
KOTA SAMARAHAN: The state government is committed to enhancing the knowledge and skills of various grassroots leaders in line with its Rural Transformation Programme.
This is to ensure that they possess the necessary know-how in leadership otherwise people on the ground would lose confidence in them, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said.
“We have increased the salaries of various grassroots and community leaders, and we want to see enhanced productivity too.
“When your salaries have increased, it is natural that you should do more for the community,” he pointed out when closing the Certificate in Rural Administration course at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas) campus here yesterday.
The two- day course was jointly organised by the Institute for Rural Advancement ( Infra), Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and the Chief Minister’s Office.
Abang Johari added that the government was working on granting a diploma for grassroots and community leaders who attend similar courses in the future.
“Presently, we issue you with a certificate but in future, you will be getting a diploma. And this diploma is issued by UniKL.
“We want as many grassroots and community leaders as possible to be trained because way back then, these people did not have access to education.
“When there is an upgrade in their qualifications, we can talk about another salary hike, because we cannot be giving you a diploma holder’s salary when you’re of Form 3 qualification,” he pointed out.
He appealed to grassroots leaders to equip themselves with technological skills considering that the state is heading towards digital economy.
It is because Malaysia had successfully transformed itself that young people from African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana had chosen to take up tertiary education in the country, he added.
“They have come to learn from us to develop their own countries because we have transformed our country.”
At a press conference later, Abang Johari expressed confidence that the Infra Campus in the state “will help us to train our leaders at the grassroots level”.
“This is human talent development, and I must thank the federal government for establishing a campus in Kota Samarahan to give trainings to our grassroots leaders who will be trained to administer their villages and longhouses,” he said.
He believed that the institute would teach them how to administer and use technology in their administration.
“This is part of our transformation process. While you transform the rural areas in terms of economic development, you also have to transform the leadership in those areas,” he added.
Among those present were Abang Johari’s wife Datin Patinggi Dato Juma’ani Tuanku Bujang, Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom and Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian.