Malaysia Needs To Focus On Developing Talent And Expertise - PM's Wife

By Nani Rahayu Yusof NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- The wife of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Rosmah Mansor, said the challenge now is not simply to provide basic education alone, but it should be more focused on providing and developing talent and expertise. She said the concept of knowledge is not just empowering knowledge, information and skills but in a wider context it involves an endless process of searching and exploring. "Individuals who have the wisdom can think and act in accordance with maturity, suitability and rationale for their benefit and those around them," she said. Rosmah, who is patron of the Permata programme and chairman of Yayasan Permata (Permata Foundation), said this at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Malaysian oil and gas company, Petronas and Yayasan Permata at a hotel here on Sunday. She said knowledge can help individuals prevent themselves from committing acts that are against the law, as well as religious and moral values. Rosmah added that history showed that those who were successful were always exploring, creating and expanding new knowledge. Therefore, she said for Malaysia to become a high-income developed nation by 2010, focus is needed on talent investment among Malaysians. She said developed nations like the United States already realised that they need to focus on developing labour and talent to maintain their developed status. This, she said, will produce new innovation to help the country improve the people's quality of living in the future. Besides that, she urged students to improve themselves by keeping abreast on their field of study by reading more. "If students previously read only to pass exams, now we must make it a culture, books are teachers when we are ignorant, lonely, and a source of entertainment and inspiration," she added. Rosmah has been spearheading the Permata programmes since 2007 by providing quality education in an enjoyable environment for pre-school children from the age of four. The programmes are based on pre-school education in developed countries, such as the United States, France, Australia and New Zealand, which have been adjusted to the local culture and national education philosophy. --BERNAMA