Social transformation through education and sports
FOR decades, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has played a pivotal role in pushing its social mobility through education and sports, apart from being the prime mover in powering the nation.
It is the catalyst of Malaysia’s transformation from the traditional era into an ultra-modern state with glittering light, as it edges towards a fully developed country.
Since its Central Electricity Board (CEB) days, TNB has offered scholarships. Yayasan Tenaga Nasional (YTN), formed in 1993 has sponsored 2,014 students with sponsorships valued at RM53.1 million.
TNB, one of investee companies owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, has also spread its wings in education.
It established Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) in 1997. Uniten now boasts two campuses, the first in Putrajaya and second in Muadzam Shah, Pahang. To date it has produced a total of 27,729 graduates in Engineering, IT and Business Management.
The university was ranked eighth in Malaysia and 371 in the world, in the QS World University Rankings in engineering and technology.
Its graduates are highly soughtafter by major agencies and almost all practical students are absorbed as permanent staff by their respective organisations.
A tracer study on employability rate by the Malaysian Education Ministry in 2016 shows that 95 per cent of Uniten graduates were hired within six months upon course completion.
TNB’s technical training institute, TNB Integrated Learning Solutions Sdn Bhd (TNB-ILSAS), has a stellar three decades of experience and an outstanding track record in the field of utility engineering training.
The quality of training delivery and administration at ILSAS is reflected by the certification of ISO9001:2008 and UKAS standards by Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM).
ILSAS’s trainers have also attained recognition as Certified Training Professionals by the Institute of Training & Development (ITD).
The national utility corporation also provides opportunity for youth to grow in sports, especially hockey.
Hockey is in the company’s DNA since the grass field days, with a respected team in the local league, ensuring a bright future for the players by hiring them, sponsoring various tournaments and developing budding youth from the school level.
TNB has produced hundreds of great hockey players since the 50s. Over the years,TNBhasproducedhockeylegends such as the Shepherdson brothers, Mike and Christie, Sidek Othman and Ismail Bakri (in the 50s), followed by Kuldeep Singh, Jack Johnson and Harnahal Singh (1960s), Poon Fook Loke, Razak Leman, Brian Sta Maria, Foo Keat Seong, Sulaiman Saibot, K. Rajan (1970s); M. Surenthiran, Sarjit Singh and Mohd Sayuti (1980s); Nor Saiful Zaini, K Embaraj, S. Sivabalan, K. Dharmaraj, Mirnawan Nawawi and Lailin Abu Hassan (1990s).
The legend continues with present day greats such as M Kaliswaran, Nor Azlan Abu Bakar , Madzli Ikmar Mohd Noor, Chua Boon Huat, S. Kumar, Mohd Amin Rahim, Faizal Shaari, Muhamad Firhan Ashaari, Mohamed Ramadan Rosli and Syed Mohd Syafiq.
Since 2006, TNB has nurtured players through its Thunderbolts Hockey Development Programme involving four schools. These are Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (formerly Sekolah Sukan Bandar Penawar) (joined in 2007), SMK Seberang Temerloh, Pahang Sports School (2015), Anderson Secondary School (2016) and Bukit Jalil Sports School (2016).
The four schools have competed in the Malaysian Junior Hockey League (MJHL), securing the top four positions, out of 32 competing teams from all over the country.
With a tagline “Powering Champions”, the programme focused on assisting and guiding participants to become quality players, under the watchful eyes of former national players who were also TNB employees.
The top players will then be absorbed for intensive training under experienced TNB coaches such as Nor Saiful Zaini, Lailin Abu Hassan, Nor Azlan Bakar, M. Kaliswaran, Madzli Ikmar, Amin Rahim, Fairuz Ramli, among others, to be considered for Division 1 or Premier for the TNB team and later to the national team.
Other contributions by TNB in hockey sports development include a total sponsorship value of RM20 million or RM4 million per year to host hockey tournaments at national level and grassroots development for five years between 2015 and 2019.