Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Dato’ R. Segarajah“Malaysian job seekers,especially those retrenched,should be willing to havea positive outlook aboutacquiring new skills throughvarious courses under theTrain and Place Programmebeing implemented bythe ministry through 162training providers currentlyapproved”Despite the softening of the Malaysian economy, jobs are still aplenty in certaineconomic sectors.Malaysian job seekers, especially those retrenched, should be willing to have apositive outlook about acquiring new skills through various courses under the Trainand Place Programme being implemented by the ministry through 162 trainingproviders currently approved.Such training would provide them the opportunity to secure new skill sets, thuswidening their prospect for better employment and employability.However, to date, only 9,098 have signed up in the past two months for theprogrammes. The slow response to the Train and Place programmes is indeedpuzzling as there appears to be no reasonable justification to explain why.Malaysian job-seekers, who are either unemployed or retrenched, do not take upthe challenge to go for training and accept alternative employment, especially whentraining facilities are available at their doorstep and job opportunities, maybe onlya hop, step and a jump away.Have we as a nation grown so complacent?35