“HAVING a job is not only about earning a living but equally important it is about honour and it is about self-respect and self-esteem,” said Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awg Hj Mohd Yasmin bin Hj Umar, Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office, as he laid emphasis on the focus and goal of the Oil & Gas Job Fair 2011 yesterday.
Inaugurating the country’s first-ever five-day job fair, which is being held at the BRIDEX Exhibition Hall and specifically geared for the oil and gas industry, the Energy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office set the scene for what the event was all about by emphasising that Brunei’s peace and prosperity were blessings from Allah the Almighty from which “we cannot be complacent or take it for granted” and that these blessings were also “the result of the hard work, wisdom and leadership of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam”.
Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Yasmin went on to underline His Majesty’s recent birthday titah whereby the monarch spoke of the need for “planning of human resource development (to) be more composed” as “the world is facing an extraordinary challenging future”.
Zeroing in on the monarch’s point, the minister reminded everyone involved in the oil and gas industry’s public-private partnership “to grow our economy and to provide employment opportunities to the young generation”, where in this day and age, “having a job is one of the ingredients to make a person a complete being”.
Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Yasmin called on the industry to change their recruiting mindset and to take responsibility “to ensure we will all continue to enjoy the peace and share the prosperity”, which “should not be regarded just as a by-product of your business activities but rather it is your duty”.
As spelt out in the country’s recently-published Energy White Paper, the energy sector is aiming for a target of 50,000 employment opportunities by 2035, of which 5,000 have been allocated for professional Bruneians, 35,000 skilled or semi-skilled workers and the remaining 10,000 specifically filled by guest workers, whereby the main growth areas for these employment avenues, other than in the upstream industry, would be provided in the downstream industry, as well as the oil and gas service sector.
“Today we already have around 15,000 employment opportunities in the oil and gas service sector but, unfortunately, only 40 per cent are Bruneians,” the minister pointed out. He further hammered home the point that other than creating more job opportunities, “equally important, we must create good quality jobs that pay reasonable salary and offers career development opportunities”.
Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Yasmin then listed out the key initiatives that the Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office would implement in further ensuring the success of this ambitiously noble project.
An overarching Energy Industry Competency Framework to align the training needs with the industry’s requirement is currently being prepared, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, as well as the Department of Economic Planning and Development, to ensure that training providers have the capacity to generate competent Bruneians for the jobs offered by the industry.
What the minister had in mind were not only those with the technical knowledge and skill to meet the industry’s standard but also “those who have the right attitude and personal and leadership skills”.
The second capacity-building initiative, following the consent of His Majesty, is the formation of the Brunei National Energy Research Institute (BNERI) that is hoped to provide an avenue for local scientists, engineers and business leaders “to develop our energy industry to a new level and be able to compete within the region”. It also serves to provide a platform for research work with the industry that could be “patented within the country and with this, commercialisation of its associated products and processes” that would further open up another avenue career path for Bruneians.
A new Local Business Development framework will also be introduced early next year that will regulate the creation of a more conducive environment for local companies by motivating them to employ more local talent as a means for them to be “more genuinely involved in the oil and gas sector”.
The fourth initiative is the facilitation of more key investments in the industry to spur on more local business opportunities as a way to generate more employment opportunities.
Although the minister admitted that many of these new initiatives would “take a bit of time for full implementation”, Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Yasmin voiced out his hope for the more than 80 per cent of school-leavers without any tertiary education each year “would want to work if you give them the(se) opportunities”, who could then be trained by local companies through the smart and careful utilisation of the government’s Human Resource Development Funds.
The minister further highlighted the 10,000 employment opportunities currently available that are supported “by our guest workers” and the commitment of business owners and management team “to ensure the continued prosperity of Brunei Darussalam”.
Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Yasmin then reasoned that “all the components are here and there should be no reason why we cannot act together and be able to work together to increase jobs for Bruneians”.
