PM: Face the real world

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 May 2011 08:38 Written by The Star Monday, 17 May 2010 21:52

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 May: Graduates joining the workforce must discard the drag-your-feet culture (budaya menunggu dan pasif) and face the real world, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The Prime Minister said the nation needed capable manpower, especially highly-skilled workers.

His speech was read out by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin during the launch of a career and entrepreneurship carnival for graduates at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

Najib said graduates needed to be bold and creative in grabbing and exploring new job opportunities, particularly those created by the New Economic Model.

He added that they were the country's economic front liners since they had been equipped with the required knowledge and soft skills.

Najib said Malaysia needed a quantum shift in churning out between 35% and 50% of professional workers if it were to achieve developed status and compete with countries such as Taiwan, Korea and Singapore.

He said those countries already had more than 30% of workers in the professional field.

Najib said statistics showed Malaysia had a worker population of 10.6 million, of which eight million were aged between 25 and 45, and the rest under 25.

“Out of the total, only about 2.8 million are in the professional and management groups while the remaining eight million are in the low-skilled or general worker category,” he said.

Najib also said, as Malaysians, graduates should have a high spirit of patriotism and always look forward to serve the nation.

“A true satisfaction of a citizen is when he is able to serve his own nation,” he added.