KUCHING: Negotiations are still ongoing with the federal government to get back Sarawak’s autonomy on education under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Education autonomy is a matter the state will continue to negotiate for, assured Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
“It is so important to us because as I mentioned, education has a very important role in Sarawak and our Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has talked about the possibility of free education.”
Even as negotiations continue with the federal government, the state has already started five technical colleges under Centex, three foreign universities under Yayasan Sarawak and international school, he said.
“And the Premier has emphasised that to move toward 2030 under the Post COVID Development Strategy (PCDS), we need a lot of talent,” he said to reporters after the FAME International College 18th Graduation Ceremony at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
Therefore Sim said, it is important that both public and private universities, including FAME College, help the state government to produce talents.
“In Sarawak we need both technical and political leadership because even if we have political leadership, you still need the technology, you still need the talent, you still need the people to have it. So hopefully by 2030 we will be ready.
“So it’s a natural progression that we want the next step to be to get back our autonomy so that we can accelerate our process, our technology, our talents to fulfill Sarawak’s 2030 strategies,” he said.
Earlier, a total 307 of the college’s graduates received their scrolls at the ceremony.
