Prison and industry players should work to reskill, upskill inmates 

SHAH ALAM - Prison authorities and industry players are encouraged to develop the skills of prisoners while the inmates are serving their jail sentences, says Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).

Its President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said such action will help the inmates learn required skills before being reinstated into the job market..

"The opportunities for inmates acquiring proper industrial training to reskill and upskill is critical so that they are able meet skills required by the employers.

"Otherwise, employers may be reluctant to hire ex-convicts and the government's initiatives will be gone to waste," he reasoned.

Based on Syed Hussain, under the Second Chances and Opportunities for People to Excel (SCOPE) programme, inmates who had completed their sentences are given skills development training and employment opportunities.

SCOPE is an initiative by HRD Corp in collaboration with the Malaysian Prison Department to support current and former detainees by providing them with income-generation and employment opportunities.

"With skills training and employment opportunities, SCOPE will assist to reduce the number of repeat offenders and eventually the prison population.

"SCOPE can also reduce Malaysia’s dependency on foreign workers," he said.

Commenting further, Syed Hussain said Phase 1 of SCOPE initiatives has seen more than thousand former convicts offered jobs in various sectors such as construction, transportation, farming, services, plantation, as well as mining and quarrying.

He further said, the tourism industry including hotels, restaurants and the retail trade are prepared to employ parolees.

"Employment would depend on the skills they possess and if they do not they will be hired in low skill jobs.

"However it should be noted that not all vacancies could be filled by parolees and ex-convicts as it would depend on their skills or how quickly they could learn the required skills," he reasoned.

It was reported that Human Resources Ministry is aiming for 15,000 ex-prisioners and Henry Gurney school inmates and convicts due for release to be given employment this year.

Human Resource Minister V Sivakumar said there were currently 77,000 prisioners who could become productive workers and be hired upon their release, saying that this would reduce the country's dependence on foreign workers.