Selangor focusing on business-friendly approach, TVET towards a high-income state - Amirudin

SHAH ALAM – A business-friendly approach is vital to move forward in terms of investment, expresses Dato' Menteri Besar Selangor Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.

He said it is the indicator apart from aspects from the affairs of integrity and so on.

"Alhamdulillah, in Selangor I want this to be put into practice, maybe there might be some weaknesses here and there but the big incentive usually comes from the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) and also under the Finance Ministry.

"This aspect of the incentive will attract the investors, in addition to providing facilities and labour resources which are important," Amirudin said when he responded to a question from the audience at the Sinar Town Hall Rakyat held at Karangkraf Group Complex on Tuesday.

He said that the incentive aspect was important, apart from providing facilities and workforce as the country could no longer depend on mass-level investment.

"We can no longer depend on a mass level investment, we should go to high-tech and change to better skills, hence technical and vocational are the key to it.

"In Selangor, we have explored this since 2019 and stopped for a while in 2020 but immediately resumed it in 2021. We have conducted training with Siemens, Festo, Apple and Insya-Allah this September (training with) the Dassault Systemes.

"This will give opportunities to provide good workers. Festo and Siemens have trained more than 500 people so far and Apple has around 200 to 300 people in Southeast Asia," he said.

The programmes, he said, were beneficial and would be the administration's direction and it helped that there was a good relationship between state and federal governments.

Previously, it was reported that Selangor successfully garnered up to RM60 billion in investments over the past year. For the past five years, Amirudin said it led to the creation of over 89,000 job opportunities.

Amirudin said the success of bringing in RM60 billion in investment was the result of the service and manufacturing sectors which formed the core of the economy in Selangor.

He said the existing seaport and airports make the core sector important and acted as a buffer for the economy during the pandemic.

The food delivery sector, an aspect of e-commerce, was also crucial during the pandemic to resume lives and stabilise the state's economic position so that it did not fall too far behind.

"Usually, if our country's economy falls negative five per cent, Selangor's economy will lose more, which is seven to nine per cent.

"But for the first time in 2020, our (country's) negative is at 5.6 per cent, but Selangor recorded negative 5.2 per cent due to the good service sector and our preparation in terms of digitalisation," he said.

Amirudin also revealed that Selangor received an investment of RM 3 billion from an Australian data centre company and another RM 2 billion from a company in Section 15, Shah Alam.

Despite investment figures being lower from Johor, which had reached RM70 billion this year, Amirudin stressed that Selangor always contributed to the largest workforce, which had seen people migrating or visiting the state.

TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET)

On another matter, Amirudin said technical and vocational were always considered as a second chance in Malaysia, whereas in developed countries they prepare these students from secondary schools.

"Hence, we have done this since secondary school and would like to strengthen the industry in tertiary education.

"In fact, Unisel (Universiti Selangor) changed its direction, however in the past, it was named Universiti Industri Selangor and it is the direction for the technical and vocational workers to pursue and sharpen their skills.

"After this, we want to go to the tertiary education level, hopefully, will continue and prepare skilled workers who are capable and who can earn a high income.

"This is our way and solution for Selangor to become a high-income state," he said.

He expressed, if the federal government did not have time, Selangor will prepare a model that may be used and applied at the level of the federal government.

"The model would be on how we made free tuition and now we have up to 63,000 students this year who received the free tuition programme in Selangor," he said.

FOOD SECURITY

Meanwhile, Amirudin said the state government had identified three new development areas including Sabak Bernam Development Area (Sabda) under the First Selangor Plan (RS-1).

Amirudin said Sabda was primarily made up of agricultural lands, and the state government planned to develop it specifically for food security.

"It has been identified, but we are still waiting for the environmental impact assessment because it involved peat soil areas which are very sensitive.

"We do not want the role of peat land to be affected especially when the area involved agriculture," he said

Amirudin added that the relatively small land used for agriculture required improvement in quality and technology for production.

"For example, Sekinchan is the first place in Malaysia to produce rice five times in every two years," he said.

Amirudin said that their initial project for maize grain had already commenced, but needed to further develop and expand it while complying with the required quantity and area.

He stressed that a strong relationship between the federal government and the state was crucial to resolve the issue collectively; otherwise progress may be impeded.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

On another note, Amirudin highlighted the state's pressing need for waste management.

He revealed that the state dealt with 7,000 tonnes of trashes and one of the solutions being considered was waste-to-energy conversion, which had been implemented in Jeram, Kuala Selangor Mukim Tanjung Duabelas, Kuala Langat and might be introduced in Rawang in the future.

"We can actually alleviate the pressure on landfills because these landfills eventually disrupt our land usage, which is a primary concern.

"Secondly, the government must establish an efficient waste segregation system, for example in South Korea, they will not collect the rubbish if it is not sorted into designated bins.

"I believe we still have a way to go in that regard, but I agree that it's a step forward towards the sustainable management of domestic waste," he said.

The Sinar Town Hall Rakyat programme held on Tuesday was hosted by actor Azhar Sulaiman.

Audiences who participated in the programme were given the opportunity to ask questions in relation to the development of the state to the Amirudin, who had helmed the administration since 2018.