KUALA LUMPUR: The government aims to produce more policymakers and leaders among technical professionals to ensure that the country's direction is in line with current technological developments.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia's technology-based agencies and companies must be helmed by technical professionals.
He said to strengthen the profession, reforms should start from the early stages of education.
"For a start, the government is striving to strengthen the quality of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (education) and Technical Education and Vocational Training graduates.
"Students and youth need to be encouraged to make this field their future career choice, not only to meet the country's industrial future (needs) but also to produce a viable technical profession in line with global developments, especially the Industrial Revolution 4.0," he said in an address in conjunction with the National Technical Profession Day celebration yesterday, aired on Radio Televisyen Malaysia's Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme.
Muhyiddin said the younger generation's interest in technical fields, especially engineering, which is often associated with the terms "dirty, difficult and dangerous" (3D), must be nurtured.
He said these fields would offer more job opportunities in the near future.
"Technical field graduates are expected to become a hit in the job market in the future. Future trends indicate that (jobs in) technology-related fields will
become high-demand professions.
"The use of the latest technologies will turn this '3D image' into a prestigious one because the technical profession requires deep knowledge and expertise," he said.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia has many world-class technology-based companies, such as Petroliam Nasional Bhd, UEM Group Bhd, Pharmaniaga Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Celcom Axiata Bhd and Maxis Bhd, where the majority of employees are in the technical profession.
He said this was the result of the government's careful and decades-long planning to produce a skilled technical professional workforce.
"At the public sector level, we can be proud of the country's leading technical agency, such as the Public Works Department, which has contributed a lot to the country's infrastructure development."