KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Education and Innovation Ministry said the use of robotic technology will help resolve the issue of dependency on foreign workers in future.
Its Minister Datuk Dr Yusof Yaakob said this could reduce the number of foreign workers in the state and added that youth should take up jobs, especially in the plantation sector.
“I envision that in the future, we would be able to use drones to pick up oil palm fruits and young people will be operating this technology. This will eventually reduce our dependency on foreign workers,” he told the state assembly sitting here, today.
He was responding to a supplementary question by Tambunan assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan of Gabungan Sabah Bersatu (GBS) on the government’s efforts to resolve the increasing number of foreign workers in the state.
Yusof said the use of modern technology was an excellent step to resolve the issue of the large numbers of foreign workers currently working in the plantation sector in Sabah but noted that implementation required views from experts.
Responding to an additional question from Calvin Chong Ket Kiun (DAP-Elopura) on efforts to produce ready-to-be-employed graduates, Yusof noted his ministry has discussed with public and private learning institutes to provide courses required by the current workforce.
“Although it is not their job to ensure graduates get jobs but learning institutes can assist by working together with industries and offering suitable courses according to their needs,” he said.
In replying to Choong’s main question on government efforts to reduce unemployment, Yusof said the ministry has taken short-term approaches such carrying out career carnivals and setting up job portals to speed up the job seeking process, among others.
He noted that unemployment in the state was due to a mismatch between job seekers and openings.