NOVEMBER 2 — Budget 2019 demonstrates that Malaysia is stepping up its commitment to accelerate the development of Industry 4.0.

We commend measures such as the Industry Digitalisation Transformation Fundas well as the Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to help small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) invest in automation and modernisation.

As Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes mainstream, human capital is still the core driver of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Thus, we laud the government’s move to strengthen digital talent and industrial-relevant capabilities by introducing tax incentives for Industry 4.0-related scholarships and trainings. A Cisco and Oxford Economics joint study revealed that by 2028, 1.2 million fewer workers are required to produce the same output as today[1].

Advertisement

The same technological progress powered by Industrial 4.0 will cut production costs, raise spending power of the ‘rakyat’ and allow them to consume more goods and services. This in turn will create demand for new jobs.

Hence, the RM2 million allocation for Knowledge Resource for Science and Technology Excellence (KRSTE.my) to enable greater collaboration between public and private sectorswill be instrumental in re-skilling the existing workers especially in manufacturing and agriculture sectors.

Our findings also revealed that the workforce are lacking in IT skills across all sectors of the economy in the future and our most significant challenge is to upgrade our softer, foundational and interactive skillsets. In this context, computer and data skills are the new literacy.

Advertisement

Every job will require this foundation. They will be table stakes for participation in the workforce – necessary and insufficient.

Thus, there is a need to re-think of STEM education even at both primary and secondary school levels coupled with emphasis on developing skills which are considered the most human like curiosity, creativity and empathy.

Overall, our first budget by the new government is a landmark in itself and we applaud the significant emphasis on our B40 constituents which make up the bulk of our workforce and driver of our digital future in the in the country.

*Albert Chai is Managing Director of Cisco Malaysia.

This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.



[1]Technology and Future of Malaysian Jobs, Sep 2018