A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN (People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service) ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:          Contents provided by:	Message from Editor-in-chief Datu Wilson Baya Dandot Deputy State Secretary for Planning & Development EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR Education and training in the annals of Sarawak Civil Service started off from humble beginnings. The first "Training School" was situated in a building proximate to the historic fortress at Pengkalan Batu at the now famous Kuching Waterfront. It was part and parcel of the "Secretariat" but was later upgraded to become the State Public Service Training Centre (SPSTC). As a direct response to the YAB Ketua Menteri's winding-up speech at the Dewan Undangan Negeri on 26 November 1993, the Centre was privatized and transformed into the Centre for Modern Management (CMM) in March 1994. The rest, as they say, is history. In order to catch up with the fast technological change, the public sector of the 21st century has to surmount a broad range of challenges ranging from globalisation to good governance. This avid competition and competitiveness that characterised the global economy require workers to be both highly and multi-skilled, possess a broad spectrum of competencies and a readiness to transform themselves into knowledge-workers, technophiles and webheads. These new challenges have to be tackled in an aggressive, definitive and decisive manner. It also calls for greater emphasis and focus on human resource development, the desired mix of skills needed by civil servants and charting their overall education and training. Essentially, the emphasis on the investment in people via education and training is the evolvement of world-class workforce in tandem with Sarawak's preparation for a shift from production-based to a knowledge-based economy. To this end, CMM has undertaken a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to ensure the courses at the centre are relevant and professionally facilitated. A revisit to the previous TNA is perhaps in order. An update is equally important. The right investment in people will spawn the desired quality of human capital needed to achieve the development goals of the public sector as well as the government. These investments, amongst other things, include the pursuit of postgraduate degrees in Human Resource Management, MBA and Policy Sciences. In the coming years more relevant disciplines like Development Economics and Environmental Management will be offered to officers. Such disciplines reflect the policy areas and proclivities that the government chooses to concentrate in the wake of managerialism and the continuous emphasis on planning and development. Knowledge is now recognised as a priceless asset that determines the future comparative advantage of a nation-state. Knowledge, marshalled by teams of skilled workforce, will undoubtedly be the cutting edge in this century. Winston Churchill once said that "The empire of the future are the empire of the mind." The task that lies ahead of us is gigantic indeed. It demands a paradigm shift. The acquisition of skills, education and training of civil servants have to be in tandem with the potential niches of Sarawak. In this context, let us together create, develop and sustain a civil service that is knowledge-driven, innovative and competitive in order to confront the onslaught of global changes.
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