Malaysians eat 980,000 tons every year. That’s the same weight as 4900 jumbo jets. It is USD1.97billion industry.

On this week’s episode of Biz Unlimited we’re going to take a look at just some of the opportunities in this huge industry. Specifically at innovations in production in reaction to changing consumer trends.

Zain HD goes on a journey to find out more about opportunities in the chicken industry. He visits the market, a chicken broiler where most of our chickens come from and an organic farm.

We are all aware that the world’s population continues to grow and so does the average calories consumed per person, driving steady demand for agricultural produce. Between 2010 and 2015, global food demand is expected to increase by 10 percent, while both production and supply will respectively increase by a mere 1.6 percent. While these figures and trends points to positive prospects for global agriculture, increased consumer affluence and governmental response to climate change are driving key changes in the demand for agriculture produce. These trends are:

1. Concern for health and food safety
2. Demand for convenience
3. Concern for environmental sustainability
4. Increased willingness to embrace exotic foods

The message is clear: there is significant market potential that Malaysia can tap, but unless we customise our products according to market demands and change our practices to embrace food safety and environmental requirements, the market will be inaccessible.

There are some weaknesses and converting them to strengths is ongoing and a continued work in progress, it has to be if the Malaysian agribusiness environment is to evolve. The nae sayers will argue that Malaysian agriculture and agribusiness has major economic potential, whose transformation will need to be guided by social change and improvements. Improvements such as,

•  The lack of scale of economies
•  The ageing farmer community
• The lack market centricity
• Focus on low value products

There is a lot of work to be done and ground and to be covered, but in and amongst all this frenetic activity we have some wonderful success stories,

Datuk Yap: “My parents were very poor, and my education was only up to Form 3…”

Yap started his dairy farm 18 years ago on a 0.8 hectare land in Kampung Ansip, Keningau with only two cattle, loaned by the Department of Veterinary Science. Today, Datuk Yap’s company, Evergreen Sdn Bhd runs the largest private dairy farm in Malaysia, with 5,000 cattle, 2,000 deer, an integrated milking house and an accredited halal abattoir.

Among his success factors were establishing his own breeding programme using artificial insemination techniques. Sexed semen is sourced from the USA to ensure female offspring and strong quality breeds. In addition, strict culling is practiced whereby only cows producing 12.5 litres of milk a day or more are kept for the dairy, while the rest are slaughtered for meat. Good animal husbandry practices are adopted such as prevention of in-breeding and ensuring the quality and sufficiency of feed by planting fodder on the farm.
Datuk Yap’s farm supplies 60 percent of Sabah’s dairy milk requirements and it is a successful model for the local dairy industry to emulate.

The goal is to have more stories that represent and showcase the success of the government’s effort to transition from agriculture to agribusiness.

In order to do this five key enablers are required to support the implementation of the EPPs and business opportunities:

1. Provide incentives for anchor companies;
2. Strengthen the adoption of good agricultural practices (GAP) and good manufacturing practices to enhance market access;
3. Change regulations and policies;
4. Strengthen logistics infrastructure; and
5. Ensure sufficient pipeline of human capital.

Sounds simple enough, just remember but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

**Photo credit: superwebdeveloper

With more emphasis being placed by the Government on the services sector, education has no doubt become an exciting industry to watch.

Although a smaller contributor to the economy compared with drivers like the oil and gas industry and the palm oil sector, the education industry, is a key enabler for all National Key Economic Areas.

Efforts have been made to encourage private sector’s involvement in providing industry-relevant education so that Malaysia can become the world’s sixth biggest education exporting country by 2020 with a target of 200,000 international students.

The education arm under the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) has been keeping tabs on the progress. Last year, it targeted 85,000 foreign students but the figure was surpassed when 93,000 students enrolled.

Director of the education National Key Results Area (NKRA) Tengku Azian Tengku Shariman says the next phase of growth for education is expected to come from the private sector.

“As we head towards 2020, we want the services sector to be the catalyst of our economy. The Government sees education as one that is going to propel the economy,” Azian tells StarBizWeek.

Education, which makes up 8% of the services sector and 4% of gross domestic product, is expected to contribute an incremental gross national income (GNI) of RM34bil and a total GNI of RM61.6bil by the end of 2020.

“To become a high income nation, it is important that a more Malaysians achieve higher education because research has shown that the higher one’s education, the higher is his or her lifetime earnings,” Azian says.

The private sector has been encouraged to get more involved in shaping the future the workforce and making Malaysia an education exporting country.

“The trend has always been that Malaysian school children go to Singapore for education but with Iskandar Malaysia, the reverse would happen,” she says.

Azian says that Pemandu plans to clear the roadblocks like immigrations issues for foreign students and expatriate teachers.

The Higher Education Ministry is setting up a marketing arm to assist international students coming to the study in the country.

The ministry would corporatise its international marketing divisionto become the Malaysian Education Global Services (MEGS), which would most likely be launched sometime this year.

Seamless effort

The board of MEGS would consist of representatives fromthe Higher Education Ministry, Education Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry to set up a portal where student enrolments and visa processing could be done.

“We are trying to streamline the immigration process so that it becomes a seamless affair for the students,” Azian says.

Besides branch campuses being brought into Iskandar Malaysia, other universities are also interested to set up branches in areas beyond EduCity. Azian points out that there is another Entry Point Project under the Economic Transformation Programme with Heriot-Watt University opening a branch campus in Putrajaya.

Azian also says that many institutions have approached Pemandu for assistance to set up a branch in Malaysia.

“We work very closely withthe Higher Education Ministry. Pemandu clears a lot of issues. Sometimes we link the institutions up with KLEC, EduCity or a developer to make it easier for them to do business here,” she says.

MEGS is modelled after the Australian global marketing set-up IDP Education Australia Pty Ltd and Australia Education International.

“There are so many institutions, where are they going to get the students? That’s why we always tell the institutions that they cannot depend solely on Malaysian students.

“We tell them that they should strengthen their curriculum and go out there to bring in more students,” Azian says.

Under the ETP, Pemandu has set up a consortium headed by the International Islamic University and Bank Negara to develop a curriculum for generalised programmes such as Islamic finance and business as well as specialised courses in takaful, wealth management and the capital markets.

The Asian Institute of Finance, the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia and the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance are among the bodies involved in the Islamic finance education development.

“We can raise the bar by having Bank Negara as an oversight audit, and when you raise the bar you make it industry-relevantto produce graduates required by the industry,” she says.

Azian says that Pemandu aims to make Malaysia the first-choice for Islamic finance and banking with curriculum that is internationally-recognised.

Besides Iskandar EduCity, there is also the Kuala Lumpur Education City (KLEC) which started in 2007.

KLEC was modelled after the Dubai Academic City and Qatar Education City.

However, it has taken a different direction, providing world-class education for school children and working adults.

Stand out

KLEC group deputy chairman Kahlil Anwar Kamal admits that although KLEC has a bigger market, it must stand out from the cluster of colleges and universities in the Klang Valley.

“We were looking at Kuala Lumpur because we wanted the connectivity to the KL International Airport. The main attraction is not only to Malaysian students but also those in the region,” he says.

“Our first project is the Epsom College through a collaboration with (AirAsia chief) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes who is an alumni ofthe college,’ he said.

KLEC is in the midst of setting up an Epsom’s branch here, which would be a replica of the independent boarding school for 13-year-old to 18-year-old students from Surrey, UK.

The college provides a learning environment similar to that in the UK. It is a feeder college to top universities in the UK.

“There is always an attraction for schools to set up a branch here. I was from Epsom and it is looking to expand its brand overseas,” Kahlil said.

KLEC signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 and received a licence from the Government to build the college in 2010.

The college, a replica of the school in UK, aims to have about 200 students for its first enrolment by end of this year. At full capacity, the branch could accommodate 900 students.

The RM150mil Phase 1 of the college is completed and the campus would be ready for its September intake next year.

Anwar says that KLEC intends to leverage on Epsom’s location near the KLIA.

“Our target is regional students. They make use of our boarding facilities,” he says.

While private universities and colleges focus on undergraduate studies and public universities concentrate on undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, the KLEC fills the gap by training working professionals.

“We have Kuala Lumpur as our background so we thought we should try to be more innovative. The next thing we looked at is executive education which is quite developed in Singapore under the National University of Singapore and INSEAD.”

KLEC’s education for working adults ExecEd offers two to 10-day courses in collaboration with prestigious institutions like the Cambridge Judge Business School.

“We feel that there is a huge market here that is under-served as many government-linked companies and multinationals are expanding,” Kahlil says.

“We’re talking to as many parties as possible because the whole idea about executive education is to open up opportunities.”

For ExecEd, KLEC has engaged SME Corp and plans to discuss with the Multimedia Development Corp as there are a lot of opportunities for training under small and medium enterprises and the information technology industry.

Education can provide support to other sectors in the economy.

Some of the positive spillover effects from having reputable education institutions is thatthey would feed talents into other parts of the economy and attract expatriates as there are opportunities for their children to get quality education.

Headmaster of the Epsom Malaysian branch Gareth Eynon says that the growth in the expatriate community along with the relaxation on the cap in the number of Malaysian students at education institutions has encouraged more colleges to set up branches here.

“Pemandu has identiρied the growth of international schools at a rate of 10% over the last five years.

“This climate of growth in the international and private education providers in Malaysia has provided an ideal opportunity for Epsom,” he says.

International institutions will offer an alternative to families and top students to help plug the talent leakage.

“With acompetitive fee structure and with the convenience of being in the country, families will appreciate the savings and having their children closer to home,” Eynon says.

As the focus in the industry shifts from mere academics, it seems the promotion of education would take a less scholarly approach and the industry would market education institutions as brands and companies.

If all plans come to fruition, the local education industry would not only produce a quality workforce but also create a more diversified society with talent input from other countries.

*** Article taken from The Star

*** Photo credit: j.o.h.n. walker

I wish I could tell you that the government and economic transformation programmes will affect all of you directly and immediately and that you would have enjoyed tremendous effects from them. But no, that’s not the case, that’s not true – not always.

There are people who have been affected positively by transformation but you may not be one of them because while it will eventually reach everyone it may not have reached you yet.

Or to put it more accurately, it may have reached you but you may not know it yet. I am not trying to be mysterious but sometimes the fact that things have not changed for you may actually indicate that the transformation programme is working.

Now, before you call me a confidence trickster, a charlatan or worse, let me explain. There are many things we are doing simultaneously in our endeavour to bring about a better life for all of us Malaysians.

They cut across many sectors and cover many areas and involve many people – millions – but they may not have a palpable effect – something you can see, feel and touch – on each and every one of 28 million Malaysians yet.

To take one example, the world economy is slowing in the aftermath of the US sub-prime crisis and subsequently the Eurozone crisis. We are not out of the woods yet. But how many of you feel the pain from a world in deep economic crisis?

No, I am not saying that the Government is totally responsible for insulating you from the vagaries of the world economy, but believe me, we have tried behind the scenes to ensure exactly that – that our economy still grew by a respectable rate even in the midst of uncertainty.

That’s why I say things may actually be working even if you don’t feel anything – in this case deprivation and that’s what I meant too when I said that you may not realise that the effects of the transformation have reached you. You may not be the typical person whom transformation palpably affects.

Let’s look at our economic performance in 2011 and how we fared relative to the rest of the world. Despite the economic turmoil in the US and Europe, our economy has done well based on the figures released by Bank Negara/Department of Statistics:

• In 2011, our GDP and GNI continued to grow to set new national records of RM852.7 billion and RM830.7 billion respectively. In 2010, our GNI per capita was US$ 8,126 and this rose to US$ 9,508, a 17% increase in 2011. We are well on track to reach our high income target by 2020.
• Trade was at one of our historic highs, rising 8.7 per cent to RM1.27 trillion. There were only 2 years in our history that we have reached this figure
• Private investment was up 19.4 per cent to RM94 billion in 2011, the highest in the last 10 years
• Confirmed investments will create 313,700 jobs.
• Gross domestic product (GDP – goods and services produced in the economy) continued to scale a new height, albeit a modest growth of 5.1%. Compare that to other economies in the same upper-middle income bracket e.g. Thailand (2.4%), Mexico (3.8%), Russia (4.2%), and we have done well.
• Government revenue reached a new national record of RM185.54 billion, allowing the Government to deliver on its ETP and GTP promises, and at the same time, beating its fiscal deficit target.

Why are these figures on the economy relevant to all of us? I would say economic growth provides growth of income which does many things – it makes us more developed, it gives government more money to spend on worthwhile projects for the people and it leads to a better quality of life. If we have more, we spend more and increase economic activity in the process – the so-called virtuous cycle.

We do these things in thousands of ways, big and small. We focus on big-ticket items to get results, we focus on the areas where people want results, and we put in place measurable key performance indicators to keep track of our achievements.

But make no mistake about it – millions benefit directly from our efforts too.  Based on our estimates, Government’s efforts to build rural basic infrastructure (roads, electricity, water, low cost housing) have directly affected over 3.2 million people. But town folk won’t feel the impact yet.

However, they do feel the effects in other ways as our efforts in the area of urban public transportation have seen a 36% increase in commuters using public transportation at peak hours in Kuala Lumpur. We are also taking further steps to totally revamp the face of urban transportation in the capital city which will positively affect over 5 million people in the Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley area.

In response to rising cost of living, the BR1M financial aid of RM500 has benefited more than 4 million households.

The PM’s announcement on minimum wage last week is estimated to positively impact about 3.2 million employees.

Individual lives have been turned around through our transformation efforts. We have helped sundry shops become mini-markets, we are aiding the commercialisation of local herbs, we are changing the face of childcare and getting palm oil growers to obtain higher yields. Look up our annual report on our website for more details.

Last year, while in Seoul, I met with the CEO of a Korean company, who came into the meeting with an air of absolute confidence that he and his team could do anything, no matter what the task was.  We need some of that.

Even when we have achieved much, we continue to be cynical and disbelieving about it. Why? By 2020, we have a goal to make our country rich for everyone and for a long, long time. Surely no one can argue with that.

Surely we should all put our cynicism aside and work towards that common good. Surely, we must not put off living any longer which also means we should do the things now which will make us happier later.

Let me finish by quoting that eternal optimist, Dale Carnegie: “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”

Even as we enjoy the roses outside our window, let us plant more so that we can enjoy more of them in future.

Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.  Fair and reasonable comments are most welcome at idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my.

In 2011, tourist arrivals increased by 137,128 to 24,714,324 compared to 24,577,196 in 2010, while receipts increased by RM1.8bil to RM58.3bil compared to RM56.5bil the previous year.

In addition, the sector contributed a total of RM37.4bil to the Gross National Income (GNI) of the country.

Among the top ten tourist markets for 2011 were Singapore (13,372,647), Indonesia (2,134,381), China (1,250,536), Australia (558,411), United Kingdom (403,940), and Japan (386,974).

Malaysia has premised itself as a diverse tourist attraction that offers world class attractions such as culture & heritage, ecotourism, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE), shopping, international events and health tourism, which affords visitors from all over the world a plethora of choices to enjoy.

Realising this potential, the Government, through various initiatives under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) has mapped out a set of deliverables for the Tourism Ministry in order to stimulate sustainable tourism as the nation races to achieve its high-income status by 2020.

Under the Ministerial Key Results Area (MKRA), the Tourism Minister has been tasked and held responsible for delivering targeted outcomes set.

The establishment of the MKRAs itself is a transformational change in the way Government delivery is executed. It is a more transparent and engaging process, one which focuses on Ministerial responsibility and delivery.

The MKRAs and its attendant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are about identifying priorities and setting targets for individual Ministers and their respective Ministries.

The Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said: “There is still untapped potential within the tourism sector that can provide a viable growth platform for the country.

“We have set targets via the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan 2020 of achieving 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168bil receipts by the year 2020.”

One of the most successful programmes that have been identified by the Ministry is the Homestay programme which surpassed its target of 23% of occupancy rate and achieved a rate of 32%.

The Homestay programme was conceived to increase the participation of the rural population in the tourism sector.

In addition, homestay programme participants procured an additional income of RM15.7mil against the RM14mil target set for the year.

Ng said: “Participants of the homestay programme have been able to earn a substantial income and the activity has helped to generate more economic activities at the local level for the people.

“The focus of the homestay programme is not merely about accommodation but also showcases Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage lifestyle in a unique and interesting manner.”

The country’s renowned and modern malls are also earning themselves accolades.

The international shopping attractions have also earned a place in the hearts of the international tourist community, as evidenced by the growth in shopping spend for the year 2011.

This was apparent by the Ministry working closely with the private sector to achieve a 30% rate in shopping expenditure against the 29% set under its KPI, resulting in a significant boost to the nation’s economic landscape.

“Promoting Malaysia as a shopping haven will further solidify the position of our country as a preferred destination to visit, shop, dine and relax,” she said.

Also, to further propagate shopping spend, efforts will be intensified to promote Malaysia as a duty-free shopping destination.

The growth of the tourism sector has also opened up new employment opportunities across diverse industries such as retail, food and beverage, accommodation, transport and handicrafts.

In 2011 alone, a total of 55,565 jobs were created.

For 2012, the Ministry’s target is stretched to 90,542 jobs.

Moving forward in 2012, the Ministry is pushing itself to ensure that the sector drives transformation in both the social and economic landscape.

There are plans to increase room supply of up to 3,000 rooms with new 4 and 5 star hotels coming into the market.

The spa industry will also be given a boost with the addition of 300 new local spa therapists under a training programme at two national Centres of Excellence (COEs).

With more concentrated efforts in capacity building and rating of the spa industry, it is set to contribute RM0.4bil to the GNI of the country.

In the coming year, the Ministry’s KPIs also include boosting revenues through enhanced packaging and clustering of international sporting events such as F1 Grand Prix, Moto GP, Le Tour de Langkawi, Monsoon Cup and Autobacs Super Japan.

The hosting of international events is expected to generate revenue of RM900mil in 2012.

Recognising that business tourism is a dynamic developing sphere in the world today, the Ministry is revving up efforts to make Malaysia a prime choice for international world conferences.

It is targeted to achieve 45 conference events in 2012 with an economic impact of RM17.6bil.

Ng said, “Economic diversification and niche tourism activities will characterize the way we move forward for the tourism industry.

“We will enhance our promotion and marketing campaigns through our global brand “Malaysia Truly Asia’ celebrating diversity to energize the tourism industry and provide the enabling framework to attract and increase tourist arrivals.”

She added, “the tourism sector’s immense potential has yet to be fully tapped as further growth can come from innovative tourism products such as the 1Malaysia International Shoe Festival, Malaysia International Night Floral Parade, 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism, Fabulous Food 1Malaysia, Parks & Gardens Tourism, Helicopter Tourism, Bicycle and Motorbike Tourism.

“We have to constantly develop more tourist-friendly products and services to meet the needs and preferences of tourists and must continue to promote Malaysia through our warm Malaysian Hospitality,” she said.

*** Original article take from The Star

*** Photo credit: CW Ye

Comprising palm oil, rubber, timber, cocoa, pepper and tobacco, the sector has become one of the country’s major export earnings source contributing to the country’s economic well-being.

In 2011, the exports of commodity-based products alone were valued at RM141.2bil, an increase of 23.7%.

To shape the movement of the sector to complement the Govern¬ment’s aspirations, goals were outlined for the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities under the Government Transformation Pro¬¬gramme’s (GTP) Ministerial Key Results Area (MKRA).

The MKRA and its attendant Ministerial Key Performance Indicators (MKPIs) identified priorities and set targets for individual Ministers and their Ministries to deliver on in 2011.

For the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, the goal was to fully leverage available opportunities within the sector and nurture programmes that aim to strengthen Malaysia’s competitive advantage against other commodities–producing countries.

The programmes needed to address the following: generating new sources of growth to enable the creation of new job opportunities, facilitate multiplier effects to other sectors of the economy, create new business opportunities and increasing income, especially for smallholders.

To achieve this, Plantation In¬¬dustries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok recognised that the sector needs to keep find ways to be in sync with globalisation.

This means that the industry as a whole needs to embrace innovation in order to nurture sustainability, expansion and growth.

Dompok said: “As we set our targets on becoming a high-income nation, we need to embark on aggressive steps to expand our export markets and improve productivity of the overall sector.

“Under the GTP and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), our vision is to push the sector to be rapidly responsive to economic change by diversifying into niche business activities, introducing new techniques, new crops, improving efficiency, engaging new mechanisms and facilitating technology transfer.”

In 2011, Malaysia was the second largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) globally with a production of 18.9 million tonnes.

This was an increase of 11.18% compared to 17 million tonnes in 2010.

In terms of export earnings, palm oil exports in 2011 was recorded at RM83.4bil, an increase of 34% compared to RM62.2bil in 2010.

Malaysian palm oil is currently exported to more than 150 countries worldwide including China, the European Union, Pakistan, the United States and India.

Exports to these countries were valued at RM37.50bil in 2011 and account for 47% of Malaysia total global exports.

Taking into account the important role assumed by the palm oil industry in the economy, this industry has been selected as one of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) and given new focus under the ETP.

This industry will be one of the core economic drivers to transform the national economy into a high income status by 2020.
The palm oil NKEA focuses on improving the upstream and downstream sectors towards generating higher productivity and new sources of income.

The implementation of the eight Entry Point Projects under the NKEA will further enhance the industry’s contribution to the Gross National Income to RM178bil by 2020.

As it is expected to play a crucial role in contributing to the nation’s economic wealth over the next 10 years, the Minster is working hard to push the sector up the value chain by employing innovative methodologies across the board.

Dompok said: “To date, we have 154 technologies that have been commercialised and made available to oil palm plantations in the form of farm mechanisation, production of oil palm biomass products, animal feed, food formulations and oleo chemical products such as cosmetics and detergent.”

One of the major achievements for the Ministry has been the supply of new fuel, bio-diesel or B5.

The B5 programme, a blend of 5% palm biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel has been implemented from June last year.

With commercial implementation of B5 in the Central Region, Malaysia became the second country to implement the use of B5, which is higher than the mandatory B2 and B1 blends in neighbouring countries.

Dompok said the roll out of B5 in Kuala Lumpur would involve B5 supply by 247 petrol stations, and about 890 tonnes or 1.03 million litre palm oil biodiesel to be used per month.

“This would contribute to saving close to 12.4 million litres of fossil diesel per year in Kuala Lumpur alone.”
For this sector, the Ministry has achieved its target of constructing six blending facilities which are stationed in the central region.

In 2012, 31 new blending facilities are targeted for completion.

While productivity and profit characterises the transformation of the plantation and commodities sector, the livelihoods of the smallholders is also an important aspect of the Ministry’s programme.

“In our race to achieve a high-income nation status, our efforts must be in line with the concept of inclusiveness and sustainability.

There is a real need to increase productivity and enhance the earning capacity of smallholders in the plantation sector of palm oil.

One of the ways to do this is by accelerating the replanting of oil palm.”

The target area for planting and replanting by smallholders in 2011 was set at 26,500ha.

The Ministry was able to achieve a total of 19,769ha.

For the other commodities sectors namely palm oil, pepper and cocoa, smallholder cooperatives were established for capacity building initiatives to help farmers reach greater markets and acquire new skills.

In the year under review, the Ministry successfully established 11 co-ops for palm oil, two for pepper and two for the cocoa sector respectively.

For 2012, the Ministry aims to set up 7 new co-operatives for the palm oil sector.

Moving forward, the Ministry is targeting smallholders to undertake the replanting of 40,000ha of palm oil and 51,000ha of rubber.

Dompok said: “Malaysia has a rich pool of expertise in various areas of commodities development.

“The goal is to establish Malaysia as a future centre of excellence for the commodities sector and a major producer of high value-added commodity-based products for global markets.”

As the Minister helms the way forward, the increasing scarcity of resources, reliable workforce and challenges such as limited land for plantation has brought on the need for the Ministry to develop a sustainable roadmap to maximise the output for renewable resources.

He added: “In this regard, there is a golden opportunity for Malaysia’s palm oil industry to develop further the technologies of energy production and usage because we are in the enviable position of having access to an abundant source of biomass.

“This is just one of the ways that we can develop and implement a sustainable and viable action plan to ensure long term benefits to the nation as well as resilience within the sector.”

*** Original article taken from The Star

*** Photo credit:Weegolo

The Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) Annual Report 2011 was announced on 2 April 2012. The results were reviewed by a globally respected panel of experts representing global institutions, national governments and think tanks . As an International Performance Review (IPR) committee, their task was to examine the scope, efforts and the results of the ETP, and to provide an independent and unbiased external evaluation.

The IPR committee went thru a full two-day review session of the ETP and Government Transformation Programme (GTP) on Feb 7-8 2012. They was generally positive on ETP’s  first year of achievements but also challenged us on areas for improvement. You can download their feedback here on the ETP Annual Report 2011 site.

Key to our ethos of transparency, we also engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an independent third party, to conduct a series of Agreed-upon-Procedures to ensure accuracy of our reporting. You can check out the verification statement here.

We also conduct regular Progress Updates, Townhall sessions, Open Days and monthly Steering Committees to ensure continued transparency and that we are on track in achieving set targets. Critical to ETP’s success is to continue to work closely with the Ministries, public and private sectors to achieve our aspiration of high income nation status by 2020.

US trade chief Ron Kirk described Malaysia as a magnet for investments and its ongoing economic transformation plan enhances its attractiveness.

And, the benefit of that all is the Malaysian people, he said.

American businesses want to be in Malaysia as they are comfortable in this country, which is one of the reasons that the US wants to engage with Malaysia in the multilateral Trans Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement.

“We heard from businesses here that if we can do this well with the structured engagement that we have now, imagine how dynamic it would be if it’s fully liberalised,” he said in an interview with Business Times yesterday.

“We understand that there are some sensitivities that have to be addressed. But we see extraordinary expansion of American businesses here, not only from energy and technology sectors, but also in retail.”

Malaysia attracted RM32.9 billion in foreign direct investments last year, of which the US contributed RM2.5 billion. Kirk, who leaves for Singapore yesterday after a two day working visit to Malaysia, said the Economic Transformation Programme makes it more attractive for more American investments.

“That is a win, not only for our businesses but also for the Malaysian people.”

Kirk who called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the latter’s office in Putrajaya yesterday, was impressed that the involvement of American businesses in one sector alone has provided 80,000 job opportunities.

Malaysians have often sought American attention, saying it is a small and growing nation.

“But when I sit here in your capital, it is like Disneyland! This place is incredible. Seeing is believing – the transformation of the economy as well as the investment in the people,” he quipped.

The view from the skybridge at the Petronas Twin Towers showed Malaysia has made itself a magnet (for investments) with the likes of buildings such as Exxon Mobil and Bank of China in its midst.

“You can feel the energy here that Malaysia is on to something special. Not many economies in an economic tsunami are blessed with such a structural ability, natural resources and intellectual property.”

Malaysia’s growth in the last 20 years and attractiveness in investment increased when it embraced an open market, rule of law, good governance without concerns of corruption.

And, on the path towards liberalisation, it would fuel growth further, he added.

Kirk said it was fun to watch the growth of economies such as Malaysia happening. “We have a big economy but it is good to have the energy and dynamics that you got right here … you got to let it go, you cannot restrain it.”

*** Original article taken from Business Times

*** Photo credit: Business Unusual

Talent Roadmap 2020 is set to ensure a large pool of professionals to meet the needs of an advancing Malaysia, especially in the critical areas of the Economic Transformation Programme.

The roadmap that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak unveiled has three Strategic Thrusts: Optimise Malaysian Talent, Attract and Facilitate Global Talent and Build Networks of Top Talent.

The Prime Minister said that Strategic Thrust One focuses on recognising that Malaysian talent is ultimately the most important and sustainable pipeline of talent to meet the needs of future development.

“Strategic Thrust Two recognises that with the fast-changing economic requirements, Malaysians abroad and foreign talent are an important source to complement Malaysians in the country to drive transformation.

“Strategic Thrust Three is in relation to TalentCorp (Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad) building networks of top talent by key sectors and geographies to better enable leading employers to engage and source needed talent,” he added when presenting the roadmap here yesterday.

To optimise Malaysian talent, including engaging fresh graduates entering employment, Najib said TalentCorp has set out a three-pronged approach to create awareness of job and career opportunities; to enhance the transition from school to workplace including through internship; and to optimise talent through platforms such as the management of government schools.

Under the second approach, the Government had agreed to extend the double deduction tax incentive for approved structured internship to companies under the Petroleum Income Tax Act 1967, he added.

“TalentCorp and the Economic Planning Unit will collaborate and coordinate upskilling programmes for graduates to ensure resources are invested according to our priority sectors.

“These programmes are projected to benefit close to 10,000 graduates per year, mainly engineers, and will involve an allocation of about RM200mil per annum across various ministries,” Najib said.

Najib also announced that scholarships to university would from this year be awarded on the basis that scholars meet their bond obligations upon graduation.

“This is by securing employment either with the public sector or an approved private sector company in Malaysia,” he said.
Now, scholars not provided jobs with the public sector are released from their bond obligations.

Under Strategic Thrust Two, TalentCorp would focus on raising the awareness of Malaysians abroad on the employment opportunities in Malaysia through career fairs.

Facilities under REP (Returning Expert Programme), previously driven by applications by individuals, will be made available to Malaysian professionals that companies had headhunted from abroad, he said.

On enhancing expatriate facilitation, he said the resident’s pass would be extended to successful entrepreneurs engaged in knowledge-intensive activities.

He said TalentCorp, the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department would collaborate on all expatriate-related policies.
Under Strategic Thrust Three, he said TalentCorp would work on a three-pronged approach building networks of future leaders, developing diaspora network platforms and engaging the expatriate community.

*** Original article taken from The Star

*** Download Talent Roadmap 2020

There is a need to step up the implementation of the 51 policy suggestions of the six Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) in order to lift the country’s competitiveness levels higher.

Datuk Seri Idris Jala told StarBizWeek on the sidelines of the third edition of the Merdeka Award Roundtables that the focus on the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) alone would not help in boosting competitiveness.

The Merdeka Award, founded in 2007 with the participation of Petroliam Nasional Bhd, ExxonMobil and Shell, aims to promote though leadership and innovation, foster a culture of excellence and encourage a worldview.

This edition’s roundtable would feature the topic “Building a Globally Competitive Malaysia” and besides Jala, the other panelists include Merdeka Award recipient and architect Datuk Dr Kenneth Yeang and McKinsey & Co South-East Asia managing partner Oliver Tonby.

Jala said while the NKEAs focused on the country’s inherent strengths or strong presence in certain industries and sectors, the conditions for competitiveness must be created as specialisation alone would not be enough.

The SRIs come under the New Economic Model portion of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) with the NKEAs coming under the project-based portion.

“There’re 51 policy suggestions under the SRIs, they’ve not been fully implemented since last year was the first year of the ETP,” Jala said, adding that the results from the first year had been “very good”.

He acknowledges that Malaysia needs to be a lot more competitive as it is harder now for the economy to move to the high-income bracket from the middle-income bracket.

“We’re on the right track where implementation is concerned but we certainly need to do a lot more in implementing the SRIs because once we step up on the implementation, more investments will come and more importantly, our net trade value will continue to rise,” Jala said.

He said despite the gloomier global economic outlook, the progress of the ETP had shown that the country was going in the right direction. “Last year, we achieved RM830bil in gross national income, surpassing the RM797bil target. We achieved RM94bil in private investments whereas our target was RM83bil although we fell a bit short in jobs creation, achieving 313,700 job creations from a target of 330,000,” Jala said.

He added that trade levels, in particular net trade value (exports minus imports), would need to be increased as this was the other hallmark of a high-income economy.

“Although our total trade (at RM1.27 trillion) is twice the size of our gross domestic product (GDP) last year, our net trade is only 9% of our total GDP,” Jala said, adding that domestic demand comprised 69% of GDP with investments comprising another 22%.

Although having a largely domestic-driven economy was not necessarily a bad thing since the economy would not be fully exposed to a drop in external demand, he pointed out that to become a high-income nation by 2020, trade and exports would need to be increased.

Jala said that total trade value last year was one of the highest achieved in the country’s economy, with the RM1 trillion mark only surpassed twice before while government revenue and foreign direct investment (FDIs) were also the highest in 10 years.

“We even managed to reduce our deficit to 5% while the target was 5.4%. All these tell us is that we’re on the right track, the indicators are clear that our competitiveness levels are growing and the investments are coming in,” he said.

Jala said the FDIs showed that foreign investors were confident of the reforms the country was undergoing. “Its no surprise to me that the World Economic Forum has raised our global competitiveness ranking by five notches,” he said.

*** Original article taken from The Star