Empowering Malaysian-Indian Youth Through Skills Training: Launch of the Malaysian Indians Skills Initiative (MISI) 

The allocation of RM30 million by the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) and the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (MITRA) to implement the Malaysian Indians Skills Initiative (MISI) is a step in the right direction. MISI seeks to upskill Indian youth in critical areas to meet both industrial and national needs. This will allow for more effective matches between jobs and skills, facilitating employment for Indian youth and productivity for industries.

Thus, the government’s effort towards uplifting the Indian community, in particular its youth, through MISI is most certainly a welcome move and worthy of commendation. 

However, in implementing MISI, there are a few matters that must be placed at the forefront of our policymakers minds. These are as follow.

Accessibility

To ensure accessibility of all Indian youth to the skills programmes that will be implemented under the auspices of MISI, there must be clear guidelines set by KESUMA-MITRA on entrance qualifications, application procedures, and if any additional fees is payable. The application process must be straightforward and transparent. Applicants should be able to have a clear understanding of eligibility criteria and the process to apply for the programme. Keep it simple. Keep the bureaucracy at bay.

With these criteria’s being set by KESUMA-MITRA itself, instead of by the organisations that will be implementing the programmes, accessibility to the trainings can be enhanced whereby more youths will be able to participate and drive benefit from them. The said criteria can be made public so anyone is able to access and know of the same. A dedicated complaints mechanism to KESUMA-MITRA can also be set up to channel complaints on non-compliance of these criteria by implementing organisations or where applicants are unable to gain entry to the skills programmes. This will allow for effective monitoring and allow for action to be taken in the event of non-compliance of the criteria set.

Integrity, transparency and accountability

To ensure Integrity,  transparency and accountability, there must also be a transparent and accountable process of grant distribution to organisations that will be implementing MISI trainings. There must be sufficient safeguards in place where comprehensive audits and background checks must be conducted by KESUMA-MITRA to ensure that the organisations proposing to conduct these programmes are legitimate and that the programmes are indeed being implemented to train Indian youth. Lessons learned from distribution of MITRA grants in the past must serve as guidance. A good reform in this regard would to be publicly publish a comprehensive report on the use of the funds including details of which organisation has implemented it, who runs the organisation, what programmes were run, and how many youth were trained.

Additionally, a detailed timeframe for disbursement of the RM30 million fund is also equally important. The entirety of the money must be spent on skills trainings programmes to ensure as many Indian youth as possible can benefit from the same. There must not be a scenario where the funds are unused and returned to the Ministry of Finance. Such would be unacceptable. The RM30 million has been allocated and must be completely used.

Monitoring outcome

KESUMA-MITRA must establish a mechanism to monitor the outcome of MISI. There must be a system put in place to record and collect data on how many graduates of these skills training programmes are employed upon graduating, who employs them, the timeframe for to gain employment, the pay received, if the training received meets industry needs, and most importantly, if the training has in fact uplifted the graduate socioeconomically. A similar monitoring system is being practiced by the Ministry of Higher Education at present. It is called the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia Graduates Tracer Study. This can be emulated by KESUMA-MITRA.

Further, there must also be clear achievement aims set for MISI programmes. These targets should be measurable and aligned with KESUMA's 3K aspirations — enhancing skills, success, and welfare of workers. It must set out aims such as what skills participants should gain, how many participants are to benefit and which industries are to be prioritised for skills training.

Skilled workforce

A skilled worker can and will be paid a better and more competitive salary. Moreover, skilled workers will also enjoy greater mobility in moving upwards within the labour market. 

At present, only about 29.6% of the workforce in Malaysia have some form of skilled qualification. In comparison, nearly 60% of Singapore’s workforce is skilled. The 12th Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review has aimed for a 35% increase in the number of skilled workers in the country by 2025.

Many Indian youths are uncertain about their career paths. MISI can thus serve as a guiding light, helping them train themselves to be skilled workers and in a position to increase their income once they acquire essential skills. By emphasising technical and vocational education and training (TVET), skills gaps can be bridged to prepare Malaysians for jobs of the future, including within artificial intelligence and cybersecurity roles.

MISI is therefore a crucial initiative toward a more skilled workforce, and I truly look forward to its successful implementation.

Tip of the iceberg

While MISI is laudable, it is hoped that this RM30 million allocation is only an initial investment by the government in Indian youth. The Malaysian-Indian community stands to benefit significantly from skills training and resultantly there must be more financial support in the future towards this cause.

When discussing MISI, one cannot also ignore the other initiatives that the MADANI government has formulated to benefit Malaysian-Indians. This includes RM100 million to MITRA for socio-economic development programmes, RM50 million through Amanah-Ikhtiar Malaysia to empower Indian women entrepreneurs, and RM30 million under the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (TEKUN) to provide fast and easy micro-financing facilities to Indian entrepreneurs. It is hoped that more such initiatives will be formulated to benefit the Indian community in Malaysia. 

In recognition of the above, let us work together to craft a brighter future for the Indian community in Malaysia and for a more prosperous and inclusive Malaysia –– our home. 

M. Kula Segaran

Ipoh Barat MP

4thMay 2024