SEBERANG PERAI, July 16 — Malaysia needs to improve its labour force’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to produce more skilled workers that will attract more foreign investors, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.

He said his recent meeting with the management of Tesla and Geely of China has shown that Malaysian manpower is skilled, disciplined and is multilingual, but added that its educational strategy for TVET can be strengthened further.

"We have the capabilities but we still need to improve it more,” he said at a community session on TVET at Bertam Square in Kepala Batas here.

He said that with better skills, TVET graduates in Malaysia can command a higher salary.

"It is our target for TVET graduates to earn a basic salary of between RM2,500 and RM3,000, higher than the current salaries of between RM1,800 and RM2,000,” he said.

He also said the training provided by TVET institutions like Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) is relevant to the industry needs.

"If TVET students continue to improve their skills like the training provided by PSDC, they will be able to get salaries of between RM2,500 and RM3,000,” he said.

He said higher salaries promised by multinational companies such as Tesla and Aramco that had shown interest to invest in Malaysia.

"Those working in Petronas are already getting a salary of almost RM3,000,” he said.

Therefore, to continue to upgrade the skills of TVET graduates in the country, he said the Finance Minister will approve additional funding for UniKL to train more lecturers.

He warned all ministries not to interfere with the TVET programmes as these are important to train up skilled workers for the country.

"We are moving away from conventional academic education as TVET is relevant during this Industrial Revolution 4.0,” he said.

He said Germany now leads in technology because of their focus on TVET.

"Their TVET graduates earn higher than other graduates,” he said.

He said private companies can also take over to provide TVET programmes.

"We will not force the private sector to do this but we will ensure there is no obstacle in allowing more TVET programmes to train up our workforce,” he said.