TEAMWORK will be of paramount importance as the Penang state executive council (exco) continues to spearhead efforts to take the state to further heights following the recent mid-term exco reshuffle, says Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy.
As the state exco braces itself for the second half of its term under very challenging times, Dr Ramasamy remains calm and confident that more can be achieved for the people.
In the reshuffle, Dr Ramasamy relinquished his Economic Planning portfolio to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who has combined it with the Land Matters portfolio as economic planning and development at the state level is tied to land management.
Retaining his Human Resources (formerly known as Human Capital Development), Education, and Science & Technology portfolios, Ramasamy relishes the task ahead though no one knows how things are going to pan out with Covid-19 still a threat.
“We all work as a team, rather than in silos,” said Dr Ramasamy in a recent interview with Buletin Mutiara.
“That’s the whole idea of the restructuring. We’ve an integrated approach because there are a lot of issues that overlap with one another.
“You cannot prevent too much of overlapping but you can reduce it to some extent.
“Having a portfolio does not mean you are confined to that portfolio. You also have to look into other issues that are related.”
Education, which comes under his portfolio, is dear to Dr Ramasamy’s heart. He runs the Tamil schools committee and is also the board chairman of the Penang Tech Centre Berhad.
Dr Ramasamy said STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is an important concern of the Penang government.
For that reason, Penang STEM was established, bringing together clusters like Tech Dome Penang, Penang Skills Development Corporation, Penang Science Centre, Penang Digital Library, Penang Math Platform and Connect, Accelerate, Transcend (@ CAT).
“The whole basis of having Penang STEM is to inculcate the interest in science and technology amongst students in particular.
“We feel there is a decline in interest in science and technology, resulting in reduction in students taking up science studies. The whole idea is to make science learning interesting,” he said.
“The whole idea is to make science learning interesting. That is why we try to engage schools and students, and we have exhibitions and workshops. But Covid-19 has complicated matters; we are not really performing what we should have been performing,” Dr Ramasamy said.
Dr Ramasamy said the state government is aware of building a good ecosystem whereby investors will look to Penang for vibrant activities in the realm of science and technology.
“We want to make sure that future generations are more inclined to taking sciences. I think Penang has been at the forefront when it comes to putting efforts on science and technology.
“Because hi-tech investment requires students knowledgeable in sciences and mathematics, we want to produce graduates who are skilled and competent to meet the demands of the industry.
“A lot of hi-tech industries are coming to Penang. And the first question they usually ask us is do you have skilled personnel.”
Talking about human resources, Dr Ramasamy lamented that the national average of the country’s skills hover around 30% to 32%.
He said there was a need to create a skilled and competitive labour force. In this respect, he said universities ought to play a crucial role by producing and equipping graduates with relevant skills for the needs of the industry.
For now, he said the state is monitoring the unemployment level as some of the establishments have closed due to Covid-19 disruptions.
He said they would also get input from the Malaysian International Trade Council, Free Industrial Zone Penang Companies’ Association (Frepenca), Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and Penang Labour Department on how to deal with the unemployment issue.
“We want to make sure unemployment is at a manageable level. However, I must say there are still a lot of opportunities in Penang. The manufacturing industry has many vacancies for engineers and technicians,” Dr Ramasamy said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud