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KUCHING, July 9: Sarawak needs to reach a certain level of economic might in order to prevent brain drain, says Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Abang Johari said apart from that, there must also be practical education policies to develop the young generation.
“In other words, what I am saying is in order to curb the brain drain phenomena, our economy must be at a certain standard and that is what the Sarawak government is doing now.
“Otherwise, there will be a mismatch of training and job availability,” he said.
Abang Johari was replying to a question from Satoyama Farm and Construction Sdn Bhd director Malcolm Yap regarding the Sarawak government’s plan to combat brain drain, during ‘Sunday with Premier 2.0: Dialogue Session with Young Entrepreneurs on New Economy’ held at Imperial Hotel here today.
Organised by DayakDaily and Persatuan Wartawan Bebas Kuching (Pewarta), with the support of the Sarawak government, the dialogue was attended by some 130 young entrepreneurs as well as top Sarawak government officials and heads of departments.
Citing the advancement of technology in other regions such as Taiwan and China as an example, Abang Johari said, there is also a need to learn the Mandarin language in order to utilise their devices and programmes.
He also said that this is why the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem during his time as chief minister previously, recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), because the UEC syllabus places emphasis on mathematics.
“All this technology relies on the strength of your mathematical understanding and command of Mandarin language.
“You need to have these people in the private sector because their strength will help our industry,” he explained.
Minister of Sports, Youth and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Tebedu assemblyman Dr Simon Sinang Bada, Deputy Secretary (Economic and Development Planning) Datu Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel and Sarawak Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director Lester Matthew were among those present. — DayakDaily
