Comment: Create the right kind of human capital
Lim Kok Wing
April 9, 2006
New Straits Times

April 9: A PLAN is only as good as its execution. This is true of any plan, even one as comprehensive as the Ninth Malaysia Plan. If fully implemented, and its objectives are achieved, the 9MP will be a vital impetus on our road to developed-nation status.

It is clear that an important pillar of the 9MP, and one that will determine its success, is human capital. It is a testimony of Malaysia’s remarkable progress that the physical part of our development has reached such a high level that we can now turn our focus to the "soft" side of development — human capital growth.

While physical infrastructure spending is still substantial, education and training will gobble up RM50.6 billion in development expenditure in the 9MP, compared with RM43.8 billion in the 8MP. Education and training remain the largest single item in our development spending. Given the emphasis on human capital, this feature is likely to be maintained in our five-year plans in the foreseeable future.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is right on target, of course, in allocating so much for education and training to uplift our human capital resource. If we slacken in developing human capital in the broadest manner possible, Malaysia risks losing whatever advantage and competitiveness that we still possess over other countries.

Newly emerging economies like China and India have low-cost advantages we cannot hope to match. But we can stay ahead by continuously raising our skills, productivity and knowledge.

Malaysians, whether young or old, living in urban or rural areas, must all strive to excel in whatever they do and they have to start by adopting a culture of excellence. They must not be content with mediocrity. Only the best will do; not even second best. They must inculcate a spirit of innovation, creativity and a thirst for new ideas, attributes which can only come with a basic change in our thinking and approach to life and work.

The school is where we begin moulding minds to have the self-confidence to compete and fight for our place in the world. Therefore, we should continuously monitor our education and manpower training policies, programmes and facilities to ensure the right human capital products are turned out.

There is much to be done. The increasing personal distress of unemployed and unemployable graduates is something that needs remedial action quickly, before it becomes a social burden.

Building imposing physical infrastructure to educate our young is one thing, but make sure the graduates have the right skills and values that meet market demand and are imbued with the spirit of resilience to be able to find their way in the world.

The Prime Minister has often reminded Malaysians, in particular young people who are given to complaining a lot despite enjoying the good life in a good country, that nobody owes us a living whether as individuals or collectively as a nation. That is the hard truth.

In drawing up the road map to raise the quality of our people and workforce, private education deserves to be given better recognition and support.

Besides expanding educational opportunities and contributing to the nation’s pool of human capital, it is private education that has played a catalytic role in bringing in the many foreign students now studying in the country. It is also largely the private universities and colleges that are leading Malaysia’s drive to become a regional centre of excellence for education in competition with foreign countries.

The reality of the business, however, is that it cannot always find the people it wants. Granted that talent cannot always be found in abundance, it is all the more necessary that talent should be sourced from wherever they are found. If we can’t find them locally, then we have to cast the net and recruit them from abroad.

We have to attract talent to Malaysia to develop our training capability and upgrade the quality of our education. But there seems to be too many restrictions and difficulties standing in the way of an enlarged foreign talent pool in Malaysia. It goes without saying that we need to improve and expedite the recruitment of foreign talent to add to what we have produced locally.

It is good that the 9MP will build new and better schools in rural areas to uplift the education and training of rural people. This will broaden the absorption of new knowledge and skills among more people, and at a faster rate.

We must have more educated and technology-savvy farmers, fishermen and agriculture workers. The ultimate objective must be to enable every Malaysian to optimise his or her skill and talent to build this nation. The population must be mobilised and their human potential marshalled to take the nation forward. It can be done. We have the political will to do that.

It effectively means building the educational and infrastructure capacity nationwide so that every citizen can maximise human capital by being educated in the field or area of interest that best suits him or her.

The plan covers almost every level and aspect of the country’s education and training institutions essential to bring Malaysia to a higher stage of human capital development.

The programmes and targets are certainly impressive. It is expected that the total ICT skilled workforce will increase to 300,000 by 2010 as against 183,000 in 2005.

This is an increase of over 10 per cent per year during the five-year period. By the end of the 9MP, all secondary school teachers are expected to be graduates. But we must remember that paper qualifications aside, good teachers must also be dedicated, hardworking and sincere.

At a higher level, research and development will be the key in moving Malaysia into the league of developed nations. If we don’t succeed in creating a crop of highly-trained and talented local scientists and research engineers, Malaysia will be unable to reach advanced nation status.

The 9MP has taken due account of this. By 2010, the target is to have 50 research scientists and engineers per 10,000 labour force. Money-wise, RM5.25 billion will be set aside for science and technology in the 9MP as against RM3.34 billion in the 8MP.

The private sector is expected to increasingly contribute to the nation’s R&D efforts. This is not surprising as many of the innovations and discoveries in science and technology in developed countries were made in privately-run research laboratories.

Malaysia has to encourage the private sector — whether companies or private universities — to spend more on R&D. Better tax incentives and financial assistance to the private sector for R&D is certainly welcome.

There is also the entrepreneur side of human capital. This is equally or, perhaps, more important than skilled workers in the long run. A person who is an entrepreneur creates value and wealth not only for himself but for many others by giving them employment.

Therefore, education and manpower development should have, as part of its curriculum, the training of young minds to be critical, creative and adventurous. When they grow up, they will dare to venture out on their own and become entrepreneurs who are employers, rather than being satisfied to be employees. This is the challenge of our education and manpower training institutions.

At the end of it all, it is not the quantity that counts but also the quality. We can churn out more and more graduates and diploma holders, but if they cannot find employment because of lack of certain skills, then we are not creating the right kind of human capital. The individuals affected will feel frustrated and lost. When they lose, the nation loses.

* Tan Sri Lim is president, Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology.