- 3 months ago
Malaysia memasuki 2026 dengan fokus besar terhadap reformasi tenaga kerja di bawah kerangka Ekonomi MADANI. KESUMA dan TalentCorp memperkukuh ekosistem bakat negara melalui strategi padanan pekerjaan, peningkatan produktiviti, pemerkasaan TVET–universiti, serta penyertaan wanita, belia dan tenaga kerja berkemahiran tinggi bagi memenuhi permintaan industri digital dan hijau.
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00:00Malaysia kini memasuki tahun 2026 dengan tumpuan besar terhadap reformasi tenaga kerja sejajar dengan hala tujuh belanjawan 2026 di bawah kerangka ekonomi madani yang meletakkan rakyat sebagai pusat pembangunan ekonomi.
00:13Kementerian Sumber Manusia Kesumah bersama Talent Corp kini menggerakkan pelan yang lebih terarah untuk mengukuhkan ekosistem bakat negara di tengah-tengah perubahan struktur ekonomi yang menuntut kemahiran lebih kompleks dalam sektor digital, teknologi hijau dan industri bernilai tinggi.
00:30Data Pasaran Buruh menunjukkan keperluan mendesak untuk memperbaiki badanan pekerjaan, meningkatkan produktiviti pekerja dan menangani isu upah permulaan graduan yang masih perlahan meningkat.
00:40Dan pada masa yang sama, Malaysia perlu mempercepat penyertaan tenaga kerja wanita, belia serta memperkasa laluan mobiliti kerjaya melalui TVET dan universiti.
00:49Dan dengan cabaran global seperti automasi, AI, mobiliti bakat serantau dan persaingan menarik pelaburan, strategi tenaga kerja kini bukan lagi soal menyediakan pelatih tetapi memastikan setiap ringgit pelaburan latihan memberi hasil yang boleh diukur termasuk peningkatan gaji, produktiviti dan daya saing firma.
01:06Jadi kita bersama dengan Raja Hamzah Abidin, Raja Nungcik, ahli lembaga pengarah Talent Corp untuk kita mengulas selanjut.
01:12Baik, selamat pagi Hamzah. Untuk tahun baru ini, 2026, mungkin kalau Hamzah boleh kongsikan apa tiga strategik prioritis Talent Corp di bawah kerangka ekonomi madani dan bagaimana kejayaannya akan diukur secara kuantitatif.
01:24Selamat tahun baru pun ada semua.
01:28I think now is an interesting time for Talent Corp dengan Menteri Baru, Tafsir Ramanan dengan some of his strategic initiatives as well.
01:36Tapi I think into the Talent Corp, it's business as usual.
01:40Three things that are the big focus, which is one, bridging the talent gap.
01:45Kita dah menyumbang banyak ke dalam talent gap di Malaysia.
01:50But at the same time, we have created this Future Skills Talent Council.
01:53So, it's a council that's sector dependent.
01:57So, there's a focus council on data center, aviation, on a lot of different sectors.
02:04Consultation is done.
02:05So, again, I think the one focus is how do we bridge the talent gap between different sectors.
02:10Number two is improving employability.
02:13So, finding the AI skills gap.
02:17For example, how do we train up our online sellers, our social sellers.
02:23and this is done through a program called MyMahe, bridging the talent gap.
02:28I think one other strategic initiative which is actually very impactful is empowering the new workforce, right?
02:35So, talking about bringing women back to the workforce, bringing army people back to the workforce.
02:40I think, again, a lot of people think when you hear about the talent gap is about bringing talent back to Malaysia.
02:45But actually, a lot of it now we do work is to improve talent in Malaysia and to upskill talent in Malaysia.
02:53So, new year, new minister and perhaps new goals as well.
02:57So, kalau kita lihat ekosistem bakat sebagai satu sistem lah.
03:01Di mana binding constraint paling besar hari ini?
03:04Kalau Hamzah lihat, mungkin dari segi skills mismatch, a weak signaling between education and also industry,
03:09or is it limited career mobility?
03:11And what are the few high impact interventions that Telecorp is prioritizing over the next 12 to 18 months?
03:17I think all the factors you mentioned, other, contribute to the constraints.
03:24Whether it's a skills mismatch, whether it's, you know, between industry and between government.
03:32That is always, everything plays a part.
03:35But I think there are tremendous opportunities out there now from a talent perspective.
03:40So, I think this generational change in terms of AI, in terms of what the industry needs, is affecting all industries.
03:48I just, yesterday, was to meet the talent gap that they're having.
03:56So, I think a lot more focus on practical talent.
03:59But I feel that, you know, this means that all industry and stakeholders like us have to work a bit closer together
04:07versus before.
04:09Because now, a lot of what we talked about before, but the last 10 years is no longer relevant in this market.
04:15And we know that Kesuma and Telecorp always emphasize on whole of government coordination.
04:20So, practically, bagaimana kita boleh move towards a single view of talent berentas HRD Corp, Perkeso, MUHAI, dan juga TVET,
04:29especially dari segi data interoperability, and also shared KPIs and accountability at the same time?
04:36I think that's a difficult part.
04:38I think, for example, TVET, the summa there, there are the KBS and a few other ministries that also manage TVET.
04:47is one of the more, obviously, difficult issues to manage, yeah.
04:51But I think the key part now, as a talent ministry, you know, we are in charge of talent and talent corp,
04:58we are in charge of a lot of developing the think tank for the ministry.
05:04I think in terms of how we, we always work with different ministries.
05:08I think last year, in Q4, we worked with the Ministry of Women to launch a program in MW, World Economy Forum,
05:15on bringing back women to the workforce.
05:17I think we also do a program with, I think, other ministries as well.
05:22So, again, there's no choice.
05:23I think we, we have to be from the hub of a lot of the talent initiatives.
05:28But at the same time, we can't do it ourselves.
05:30We have to work with the different ministries.
05:32But I think the key part is always, as an agency, we are a bit more flexible.
05:36We are able to work with different ministries quite effectively.
05:40But again, semua can add value lah.
05:42Kalau we do add value, the other ministries will not want to work with us.
05:45So, I think we always be very clear that the outcome we want,
05:48and we also have a different stakeholders, both government and non-government stakeholders.
05:54Hamza, we always talk about upskilling and also reskilling.
05:57So, daripada pelbagai skill list yang wujud hari ini,
05:59mungkin apa 10 skills lah that truly matter for Malaysia in 2026,
06:04bukan secara umum, tapi yang ada clear demand signals from industry.
06:08And how will skills passport and also micro-credentials reduce friction in hiring,
06:13also shorten time to productivity?
06:16Okay.
06:17So, in terms of skill list,
06:19I think that actually, we actually did a study and see which are the skills that are lacking in the market.
06:25One anecdote I always like to tell to people is one of the skills that is needed
06:30or there's a shortage in the market now is actually social sellers online.
06:34I was speaking to one of the online companies.
06:38There's about 2 million social sellers online at the moment.
06:42So, I think one in every 15 Malaysians are selling something online.
06:46So, I think in terms of the skills list, I think that's still dynamic.
06:51I know you asked our top 10, but I think we have a full list of, you know, jobs that we need,
06:58skills that we need in the market that we have published online.
07:01But in terms of where we see it, that's how we work very closely.
07:05Industry, I mean, in the likes of the semiconductor industry, like Inari,
07:09in the local companies like Boeing, in terms of international companies,
07:13it's also a local company where we have like, I'm fresh.
07:16So, again, work with everyone to identify what the skills that are needed
07:19and then work with the different institutions to develop those skills accordingly.
07:25And another thing we want to look at is dari segi latihan tenaga kerja yang
07:29bukan dilihat sebagai cost saja, tapi sebagai investment juga.
07:34Tapi bagaimana Talent Corp nak pastikan peralihan kepada outcome-based training models
07:38di mana funding is tight to employment outcomes, productivity gains or wage progression,
07:43and how do we audit real impact after six to 12 months?
07:49So, I think our approach is always cost-sharing with the industry.
07:54What does that mean is, anything we do, we don't do it ourselves,
07:59but we also make sure the industry don't do it themselves.
08:02I mean, the internship is one example, right?
08:04We give sort of a subsidy for every internship that's given the market
08:08so that employees who still pay an internship fee will subsidise part of the cost.
08:14So, again, the idea is always to empower the industry to hire more.
08:19So, again, talent is always, in a way, a cost,
08:24but good talent means investment.
08:27And good talent is what determines between a good company and a not-so-good company.
08:30So, kalau you think of what Talent Corp is doing,
08:33I think it's very much focused on what industry wants
08:36and what industry to bridge part of the gap.
08:41So, again, for a company wanting to invest,
08:44you do have to invest as much as you need
08:46so that you actually can get quicker ROI.
08:49So, that helps create a win-win situation for both us
08:52as a government agency and also them as a corporate or a company.
08:58I understood.
09:01But in a world where talent is mobile,
09:03how does Malaysia compete not just to attract
09:06but to retain also security talent?
09:08So, what is Talent Corp?
09:10Strategy on domestic mobility,
09:12diaspora engagement, also earn-alent pathways,
09:14and are there sector-specific targets from 2026 to 2028, Rajah?
09:20So, if I look at it from a larger perspective,
09:24I think there's a big focus on empowering local talent.
09:29As much as we try to encourage as much expats to come in,
09:33I think local talent is key to creating a strong and high-income society.
09:38Bringing good talent back to the workforce is important,
09:41meaning that we have women who have been out of the workforce,
09:45good army people who have been out of the workforce,
09:47how do you bring them back, empowering them back to the talent?
09:49Number three is being very focused.
09:52We, as a country, have limited bullets.
09:54So, we want to work with industries that are growing.
09:57So, I think that's why we speak a lot to the semiconductor industry,
10:00the data center industry.
10:02We can't talk to every single industry,
10:06but we try to empower high-impact industries
10:08to grow and to help bridge their talent gap.
10:11But again, I think in terms of every sector,
10:14we do have slightly different targets.
10:16But the good part is we are talking to the key stakeholders of each sector.
10:19so we are not doing it ourselves.
10:20It's not, you know, the talent call ourselves thinking of X, Y, Z to do.
10:24We work with industry to do it.
10:26And again, the idea is always be industry-focused
10:29versus re-shocks and redoing it ourselves.
10:32Okay, one last question, Hamza.
10:33In one minute, if you had to name at least one non-negotiable deliverance for 2026,
10:39what would they be and who owns them?
10:41And what are the key execution risks
10:43and how does talent call ensure delivery discipline,
10:45so productivity and also wage outcomes stay on track?
10:49I think the thing, what we talk a lot about at the board meetings and all that,
10:54again, I don't speak for management.
10:56I just speak for, I think, for me personally,
10:57I think the AI talent gap is the key, right?
11:00In the government, it's already giving good subsidies in terms of trading for AI.
11:04We also push that very aggressively.
11:06So I think in terms of where we're going, where the industry is going,
11:10we have to bridge this AI talent gap because it may cause huge disruption in the job market.
11:16But again, at the same time, we have to be ahead of the curve because it is extremely competitive.
11:21The likes of Singapore, Vietnam, our peers are all catching up or are ahead of us, right?
11:26So we always have to catch up with us where our talents play.
11:29But again, at the same time, some tailwinds,
11:32I think there's a lot of companies looking at Malaysia now,
11:34given the stability and the growth in the past few years.
11:38So I think we are basically at the forefront of growth in Southeast Asia.
11:42and I think there's a lot of companies going on in the past few years.
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