APRIL 4 — Under the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad Act 2001 (PSMB Act 2001), the Board of Directors of the Corporation or HRDF —which shall be responsible for the policy and general administration of the affairs of the Corporate and the Fund, shall comprise of the following members who — notwithstanding the provisions of section 128 of the Companies Act 1965, shall be appointed by the Human Resources Minister:

(a) Ten persons representing employers;

(b) Three persons representing the Government and public sector agencies responsible for manpower development or training;

(c) A representative of the Ministry of Human Resources; (d) A representative of the Ministry of Finance; and

(e) The Chief Executive.

In addition to this Act, the Human Resources Minister may also appoint not more than two persons — who, in the opinion of the Minister, are able to contribute to the work of the Corporation. The Minister also has the prerogative to appoint a Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Corporation.

During my tenure as the Human Resources Minister, I assured all Malaysians that the Ministry and related agencies under the Ministry (including HRDF) become more transparent and accountable to taxpayers.

As a result, I encouraged many town hall sessions, independent committees to decide on foreign workers and also formed HRDF’s Governance Oversight Committee (GOC) on 28 June 2018 to look into the shortcomings of the Fund for immediate improvements.

The HRDF GOC was tasked to review all aspects of the Fund’s governance framework; ensuring it functions in an effective and efficient manner, to support the operations of the Fund and to take care of the interest and well-being of its main stakeholders which are the Fund’s registered employers and Malaysian employees. The entire findings of the GOC were made available online for public viewing, a first in Malaysian history — oversight-committee-summary-report/

Following the publication of the HRDF GOC Summary Report, I called for a Townhall with the Fund’s registered employers, employer associations and members of the media; intended to inform on the observations made by the GOC on the Fund; as well as to assure them that transparency, meritocracy and the best interest of registered employers and their employees will remain the cornerstone of the Fund’s Vision, Mission and Objective. Towards this, I would like to place on record my appreciation to the Fund’s Leadership, including its former Chairman, Dato’ Noor Farida Binti Ariffin.

I also take this opportunity to wish the new Minister of Human Resources and the Ministry all the best and look forward to seeing all the agencies and departments under the Ministry continue to deliver their mandates in a transparent and clear manner.


* M. Kula Segaran is a member of Parliament for Ipoh Bara National and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Action Party

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